Program Overview

Program Overview

The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Nursing is a thesis-based program that develops nurse scientists who are expert clinical scholars equipped to provide leadership in nursing practice, research, and education. The degree is designed to educate professionals for excellence in nursing scholarship through original research.

Completing the Program

• Courses: Topics include philosophy of science in nursing, contemporary issues, e-portfolio development, health policy and advocacy, quantitative and qualitative research, and others.
• Thesis: Students will be required to submit and defend an original research thesis.
• Candidacy: Students will complete both oral and written candidacy exams.

Outcomes

The program prepares students for careers in healthcare, community health, advanced practice nursing, pediatrics, gerontology, mental health, acute care, ICU, oncology, palliative care, maternal/child health, NICU, pulmonary care, clinical simulation, nursing research, nursing education, critical incident stress, health policy, and spiritual care.

Program Structure

• Thesis-based program: Students are required to prepare a thesis and successfully defend it in an open oral defense.
• Courses: Five courses are required.
• Classroom delivery: Details about classroom delivery are available in the Academic Calendar.
• Time commitment: The program typically takes four years full-time or six years maximum to complete.
• Supervisor: A supervisor is required and must agree to oversee the student's research before admission will be granted.
• Fees and funding: Information on fees and fee regulations, as well as awards and financial assistance, can be found in the Graduate Calendar.

Admission Requirements

• GPA: A minimum of 3.0 GPA on a 4.0 point system, over the past two years of full-time study.
• Minimum education: Normally, applicants must be a Registered Nurse and have successfully completed graduate-level research courses, including at least one qualitative research methods course and one quantitative research methods course.
• Work samples: Samples of written scholarly work are required.
• Documents: A current resume/curriculum vitae and a letter of commitment from the identified supervisor are required.
• Reference letters: Three reference letters are required, one of which must be from the Master's degree supervisor.
• Test scores: None are required.
• English language proficiency: Applicants whose primary language is not English must fulfill the English language proficiency requirement through one of the following tests:
  • TOEFL ibt: Score of 97 (Internet-based, with no section less than 20).
  • IELTS: Score of 7.0 (minimum of 6.0 in each section).
  • Pearson Test of English (PTE): Score of 68 or higher (Academic version).
  • Canadian Academic English Language test (CAEL): Score of 70 (70 in some sections, 60 in all other sections).
  • Academic Communication Certificate (ACC): Score of A- in one or two courses, “B+” on all other courses.
  • Cambridge C1 Advanced or Cambridge C2 Proficiency: Minimum score of 191.

Deadlines

• For admission on January 1:
  • Canadian and permanent resident: Applications open June 1, with a September 1 application deadline and a September 15 document deadline.
  • International Students: Applications open June 1, with a September 1 application deadline and a September 15 document deadline.

Supervisors

A list of available supervisors and their research areas is provided, including but not limited to:

• Karen Benzies: Parent-Child Relationships, Early Childhood Development, Family Integrated Care, Welcome to Parenthood.
• Merilee (Meredith) Brockway: Early life nutrition, breastfeeding, health systems, Patient-Oriented Research.
• Colleen Cuthbert: Health Services Research, Cancer Survivorship, Mixed Methods.
• Añiela dela Cruz: HIV Cascade of Care; Vulnerable Populations; Population Health Promotion; Social Determinants of Health.
• Tam Truong Donnelly: Health services research; Women’s health; Multicultural/Cross-cultural health; Population health, health promotion, and disease prevention; Mental health; Cardiovascular health; Cancer prevention; Infectious diseases; Mix-methods (qualitative and quantitative) research.
• Andrew Estefan: Mental Health/Psychiatric Nursing, Gender, Sexuality, Sexual Orientation, Narrative Inquiry.
• Kathryn King-Shier: Cardiovascular health, ethno-culture, gender, access to care, secondary prevention.
• Catherine Laing: Pediatric and adolescent oncology; psychosocial oncology.
• Nicole Letourneau: Vulnerable children, Social support, Parent-infant/child relationships, Maternal mental health, Domestic abuse, Family environmental effects on child development, Genetics and epigenetics.

Related Programs

If you're interested in this program, you might want to explore other UCalgary programs, including:

• Nursing Course-based Certificate
• Course-based MN
• Thesis-based MN
• DN