Research Associate II

Position: Research Associate II

Department:  Institute for Better Health

Status: Temporary, Part-Time

Duration: 12-months

Hours of Work: Up to 18.75 hours / week, Monday - Friday

Hourly Rate: $37.42-$46.77 

Internal Deadline:  December 12, 2025

External Deadline: December 26, 2025

Trillium Health Partners and the Institute for Better Health

Trillium Health Partners is one of Canada's largest community-based teaching hospitals, serving the growing and diverse populations of Mississauga, West Toronto, and surrounding communities through the Credit Valley Hospital, the Mississauga Hospital, the Queensway Health Centre, the Reactivation care Centre (Church Site) and the new THP-UHN Reactivation Care Centre. Guided by our values of compassion, excellence, and courage, and through our strategic roadmap, Plan to 2030, we are creating a new kind of health care - defined not by illness, but by the health and well-being of people and communities.

As THP's research and innovation engine, the Institute for Better Health (IBH) is a core enabler of THP's mission of a new kind of health care for a healthier community through the application of scientific expertise, innovative thinking and partnerships. Focused on generating cutting-edge science and innovation in health service delivery and population health, IBH leads practical research and innovation that shapes how we engage, design, deliver, and finance health care to solve problems stretching from the bedside to the system. IBH operates within a Learning Health System Model, with specific thematic areas of focus in population health, patient and family engagement, innovative models of care, and implementation and evaluation science.

Our Commitment to and Progress Towards Anti-Black Racism 

THP and IBH have made a commitment to becoming a safer and more inclusive environment with a dedicated focus on dismantling anti-Black racism and white supremacy at THP. This commitment is in response to the recognition that Black people systemically experience the organization differently than their white and non-Black colleagues. Similarly, Black scientists and research staff experience the research ecosystem differently. Anti-Black racism is the starting point as Black individuals and communities are disproportionately impacted by the harms of systemic racism and white supremacy culture. In this work, we are committed to disrupting and reconstructing the processes, practices, and systems that contribute to anti-Black racism.

 THP established its Equity Secretariat Office in 2020, providing education and training on anti-Black racism, and establishing a THP Circle on Anti-Racism and Inclusion. Today, the Equity Secretariat has become the Equity, Anti-Racism and Inclusion Office, with a current staff of four whose specific focus is on dismantling anti-Black racism and white supremacy and advancing other dimensions of inequity within THP. This office supported the completion of an externally-led Anti-Black Racism Climate Review and resulting report, which includes recommendations and actions that are being integrated into THP's operating plan.  At IBH, the Anti-Black Racism Allyship Initiative (ABRAI) was established in 2020 to understand the experiences of Black staff within IBH and develop an action plan in partnership with Black staff to address anti-Black racism. The action plan has been translated into operational objectives that support the recruitment, retention, and career development of Black staff. As part of this plan, IBH has established an optional, monthly Black Excellence meeting for Black staff at IBH where the purpose is to provide a safe space where all hold power and attendees can connect, network, and support each other. 

The Role

The Institute for Better Health is seeking a Research Associate II to support Dr. Marissa Bird's research portfolio focused on upstream enablers of learning and innovation in healthcare. This role offers a unique opportunity to contribute to high-impact, real-world research that examines and strengthens the conditions, cultures, and workforce capabilities that enable learning health systems.

The successful candidate will support a range of projects aimed at understanding and advancing the enabling environments that drive continuous learning, innovation, and health system transformation. This includes research on how organizational culture, knowledge and capacity building, data, governance and policy, and funding shape learning processes and improvement outcomes across multiple levels of the health system.

Working at the intersection of organizational science and systems thinking, the Research Associate II will contribute to mixed-methods studies, case studies, comparative analyses, and evaluation initiatives that inform how to design and scale learning health system capabilities across teams, organizations, and sectors. Dr. Bird's program of work aims to build the scientific and practical foundation needed to create healthcare environments where learning is routine, embedded, and aligned with the Quintuple Aim.

Responsibilities

• Collaborate with Dr. Bird and the research team to identify key research questions related to enabling environments, learning health systems, and health system transformation; contribute to methodological design aligned with study protocols and evaluation frameworks.
• Lead and support day-to-day research activities across the project life cycle, including developing study materials (e.g., protocols, ethics submissions, recruitment scripts, consent forms, and data collection tools); coordinating data collection; conducting analyses; and supporting project close-out activities.
• Conduct and support mixed-methods data collection and analysis, including qualitative interviews, focus groups, observations, document review, surveys, and basic quantitative analysis.
• Support knowledge translation and capacity-building activities, such as preparing manuscripts, conference abstracts, presentations, infographics, curriculum and tool development, and engaging partners in co-design and dissemination.
• Other responsibilities as assigned.

Qualifications

• Completion of an undergraduate degree or college diploma in health sciences or social sciences related field and a minimum of 4-years' experience in health research; OR completion of a master's degree in health sciences or social sciences related field.
• Experience coordinating research activities and logistics across projects and stages of research, including coordinating ethics applications, protocol development, recruitment, data collection and analysis, and reporting results. 
• Experience planning and executing mixed methods and qualitative research, including conducting interviews/focus groups and proficiency with analysis software.  
• Demonstrated initiative, independence, and organizational skills.
• Strong collaboration, communication, and relationship skills.

The following areas of experience are an asset to the role and should be highlighted in the cover letter:

• Mixed methods or qualitative research experience.
• Experience supporting development of academic knowledge products (e.g., manuscripts, reports, presentations).
• Experience working and collaborating with multidisciplinary teams, professionals who work in the health system, and health policy/decision-makers in government and non-government organizations.

Please submit the following application components in a single file (PDF preferred):

• Cover letter detailing your interest in the role and the related area of research
• Resume / CV
• Sample of a knowledge product (peer-reviewed publication, abstract, report, or learning module) for which you were the primary author or contributor

Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis throughout the posting timeframe until the position is filled or the posting is closed. 

Equity and antiracism are essential to academic excellence, and fosters the inclusion of voices that have been underrepresented or discouraged. We encourage applicants from members of groups that have been marginalized on any grounds enumerated under the Ontario Human Rights Code based on race, gender identity or expression, sex, sexual orientation, disability, political belief, religion, marital or family status, age, and/or status as a First Nations, Métis or Inuk/Inuit person.

Trillium Health Partners is an equal opportunity employer committed to fostering a healthy, safe and respectful environment for healing, based on our values compassion, excellence and courage. To be Better Together, we commit to fostering a respectful workplace culture that promotes a safe and supportive environment for everyone who provides care, supports caregiving, receives care or visits the hospital.

In accordance with the Accessibility for Ontarians with Disabilities Act, 2005 and the Ontario Human Rights Code Trillium Health Partners will provide accommodations throughout the recruitment and selection process to applicants with disabilities. If selected to participate in the recruitment and selection process, please inform Human Resources of the nature of any accommodation(s) that you may require in respect of any materials or processes used to ensure your equal participation.

All personal information is collected under the authority of the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.

Trillium Health Partners is identified under the French Language Services Act.

We thank all those who apply but only those selected for further consideration will be contacted.