Trusted research, with reach and impact

The Institute for Work & Health (IWH) is an independent, multidisciplinary, not-for-profit research organization located in Ontario, Canada. IWH conducts and mobilizes research that supports policy-makers, employers and workers in creating healthy, safe and inclusive work environments.

Latest news & findings

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New partnership research project examines AI’s impact on the quality of work

IWH has been awarded funding from SSHRC to lead a seven-year partnership research project to study artificial intelligence, job quality and worker wellbeing. The research team, led by IWH Associate Scientific Director and Scientist Dr. Arif Jetha, comprises nearly 40 researchers spanning occupational and public health sciences, engineering, business, policy, ethics and other disciplines.

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Telementoring program addresses return-to-work challenges for Ontario health-care providers

An IWH study has found that Ontario health-care providers face a range of challenges when treating workers with a work-related injury or illness and helping them return to work—from communication issues with compensation boards to the complexities of working with multiple parties. The researchers also found that a telementoring program called ECHO Occupational Environmental Medicine helped providers overcome some of these challenges.

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Blocks with workers' silhouettes, one with a trophy is picked up by a hand.

IWH’s Mustard Postdoctoral Award recipient announced

IWH is pleased to announce Dr. Cherise Regier as the new recipient of the Mustard Postdoctoral Award. This award aims to support the development of outstanding new and interdisciplinary researchers in the field of work and health. Throughout this two-year award, Regier hopes to continue her research on the intersections between job quality, mental health and labour market transformation.

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Image of panel members from the March 2024 Opioids and Work workshop hosted by OCRC and IWH

New report shares insights on addressing opioid-related harms among workers

Last spring, IWH co-hosted a workshop with the Occupational Cancer Research Centre on opioid harms among workers. The event aimed to share evidence and diverse perspectives on opioid-related harms among workers, discussing contributors to these harms and identifying actions to address them in the workplace. A report is now available that summarizes the workshop and the insights shared by panelists and attendees.

Read the report

IWH Speaker Series

Learn directly from IWH researchers themselves about their latest findings in health, safety and disability prevention. The IWH Speaker Series is a livestream webinar series that features new study findings from the Institute for Work & Health. The webinars are usually held once a month, on a Tuesday at 11:00 a.m. EST. Recordings are also available to watch on demand.

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Tools and guides

Integrate evidence-based policies and practices into your occupational health and safety, return-to-work and rehabilitation programs. IWH has created a number of tools and guides based on our research findings that can help improve program outcomes.

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Impact case studies

Find out how IWH research is making a difference. Read our impact case studies, in which policy-makers, workplaces and other stakeholders in health, safety and disability prevention tell how IWH research helped improve their policies, programs and practices.

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Research summaries

Whether it’s a policy briefing, a systematic review summary or the highlights of a specific research project, we’ve compiled a number of plain-language summaries to help you understand the research we’re doing, what we have found, and how we found it.

Get the summaries