Recreation and Leisure Studies - Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) at University of Waterloo

Turn your passion for recreation and leisure into a research or teaching career. The PhD in Recreation and Leisure Studies program will provide you with the training you need to be a scholar, researcher, or a policy analyst across the public and private sectors, while contributing to the growing body of knowledge in the field. Develop your ability to conduct high-quality independent research.

Faculty: Faculty of Health  |  Department: Recreation and Leisure Studies  |  Duration: 48 months (full-time)  |  Study mode: full-time  |  Intake: Fall (September - December); application deadlines: February 1 (for admission in September)*; *Note: Applications submitted after this date will be considered on a rolling basis until all available spots are filled.  |  Location: Waterloo, Ontario, Canada

What you will study

Research fields: Leisure, health and well-being, Leisure and community, Leisure, space and place, Leisure and social justice, Leisure organizations, services and policy, Research project opportunities for this program, Risk, Injury, Sport, & Equity (RISE) Youth Sport Lab, Seeking motivated Master's and PhD students to join the Risk, Injury, Sport, & Equity (RISE) Youth Sport Lab. We study the ways in which athletes feel safe and included in sport, recreation, and leisure environments and how they experience injury and risk within these spaces. Ongoing funded projects explore sport-related concussion reporting for youth girls, safe sport practices in community sport organizations, stories of belonging for Black girls and women in hockey, and concussion communication and management efforts. Our work aims to foster athlete well-being, and emphasizes community-oriented partnerships that drive positive changes in youth sport experiences., Gender Intelligence Lab, The Gender Intelligence Lab (GIL) conducts and translates academic expertise in gender studies, equity, technology, and transformative social change., Rooted in feminist scholarship and social justice principles, the lab serves as both an incubator and amplifier of research, advocacy, and applied knowledge that interrogates how gender shapes – and is shaped by – systems of power, representation, and resistance., The REC: Radically Embodied Collective, Like mushrooms popping up in a field, this collective springs into action in response to widespread and ongoing anti-life doctrines that reverberate across the nation and globe (e.g., anti-trans legislation, rolling back queer and disability rights). The REC, directed by Dr. Aly Bailey in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies in the Faculty of Health at the University of Waterloo, is a collection of research, scholars, and activists centring bodymind differences by queering, cripping, and thickening leisure, fitness, and health. Bridging theory and practice, building bodymind coalitions (across fat, disabled, queer, racialized, Mad communities), and working with powerholders invested in access and inclusion, The REC demands for research and teaching that challenges power, subverts oppressive structures (e.g., ableism, racism, fat hatred, anti-queer, etc.), and celebrates embodied diversity. Graduate students at The REC engage deeply with theory, bring research to action, and strive for justice.. Study option(s): Thesis.

Career pathways

Turn your passion for recreation and leisure into a research or teaching career.

Official programme page