The training program with information shown below operated from 2018 through 2021.
TRAINING
Our training program in Spirituality and Public Health has been offering support and training since 2018 to graduate students in public health at the U.C. Berkeley School of Public Health. As of summer 2020, we are seeking applications from prospective trainees for the 2020-2021 academic year. Details are below.
FUNDING
Funding for U.C. Berkeley School of Public Health graduate students is available for the 2020-2021 academic year. Inquiries and applications are welcome and encouraged as soon as feasible for the applicant. In the 2020-2021 academic year we are able to offer supplemental support for approximately four new graduate student trainees. Requirements are modest and outlined below. This training project grows out of work by an earlier Berkeley-based working group. For questions please contact Doug Oman (dougoman@berkeley.edu).
TOPIC/FOCUS
Trainees should anticipate or be engaged with a research project or dissertation that non-trivially (but usually not exclusively) addresses spiritual and/or religious factors as health factors. Most commonly the trainees’ research is the culminating project (e.g., dissertation) for the program through which they were admitted to the School of Public Health. The traineeship supports completion of that aspect of their research at a high level of excellence.
Such support is needed and valuable because spiritual/religious factors are the focus of a large and rapidly expanding research base (3000+ empirical studies, 100+ systematic reviews, 30+ meta-analyses) and these factors are of demonstrated relevance to virtually every subfields within public health, as show in detail in a book published in 2018 by Springer, available electronically and in hardcover through the UC Berkeley libraries (editor: Oman). Trainees will learn about concepts, theories, empirical findings, and practical public health implications of spiritual/religious factors, and be supported in applying this knowledge to their research project.
ELIGIBLE BERKELEY STUDENTS
Applications are encouraged from incoming or ongoing students in any of the Berkeley SPH’s degree programs, ranging from Epidemiology and Environmental Health Sciences to Health Policy, Infectious Diseases/Immunity, the DrPH program, and others. As documented by thirteen empirical review chapters in the recently released book, the research base demonstrates the relevance of spiritual/religious factors to each of these subfields.
REQUIREMENTS
Successful applicants will be expected to address spiritual/religious factors in a nontrivial way in their research or dissertation work, although such factors need not be the sole or primary focus of their work. For example, in a three-paper dissertation, one paper might include nontrivial and systematic empirical work on spiritual and/or religious factors and one or more health variables.
Funding recipients will also have the opportunity/expectation to attend a weekly integrative seminar (PH298.27 in Fall 2020; meeting with PH281 through March in Spring 2020). Scholars and students from other universities who want additional information or wish to visit should contact the instructor (dougoman@berkeley.edu).
SUPPORT LEVEL
For the academic year 2020-2021, we have secured funding to offer one-year support to four incoming student trainees at a level of approximately $6000 per student per year. We are grateful to the generous funder who has so graciously made this training program possible (link). There is a possibility that additional funding may be procured to provide a second year of support (i.e., for the academic year 2021-2022).
APPLICATION PROCEDURE
Please send inquiries at your early convenience to Professor Doug Oman (DougOman@Berkeley.edu).
Thank you,
Prof. Doug Oman
Prof. Leonard Syme