The 2025 Research and Grants Program will focus on making it better, easier and faster to work with the WSIB. Three considerations for the competition include:
- How we work
- How we approach health and safety
- How we support return-to-work and recovery
How we work
Workplaces are evolving. It is important to understand how the changing nature of work affects work-related injuries and illnesses. Topics of interest include:
- How do flexible work arrangements / remote-work impact work-related injuries and illnesses?
- Topic of interest: Mental health and remote work
- What are the effects of compressed weeks or longer work hours?
- How will the changing labour market impact future claim types and volumes?
- How will the internet platform economy impact future claim types and volumes?
How we approach health and safety
Organizations that invest in occupational safety perform better, reduce turnover, and help people do their jobs more effectively. Topics of interest include:
- Which programs, guides, and tools are effective to support occupational health and safety in remote and hybrid-work environments?
- What are the unique occupational health and safety risks of the internet platform economy?
- Which behavioural interventions are effective to support change and build capacity within Ontario employers to improve health and safety practices?
- What are effective self-screening tools and technologies to improve early recognition of occupational injury and or hazards?
How we support return-to-work and recovery
Delivery of effective and efficient care can support early and sustained return-to-work and recovery following a workplace injury or illness. It is important to leverage research to support the WSIB and the workers’ compensation system to improve services and support Ontario health care providers. Topics of interest include:
Mental health injuries and illnesses
- How to identify those at risk of developing mental health injuries caused by a reaction to the initial injury or illness?
- How to support return-to-work and recovery for individual who develop mental health injuries caused by a reaction to the initial injury or illness?
Physical injuries
- For injuries beyond 6-months:
- What are the unique challenges for this population and how may they be addressed through practical tools and services?
All injuries
- How can those at risk of experiencing a duration beyond 3-months and 6 months be identified?
- What are successful tools, programs, and services that facilitate return-to-work for individuals who experience workplace mental health injuries and illnesses?
- What are tools, programs, and services that can build the capacity of Ontario businesses to work to support return-to-work outcomes?
- What are tools, programs, and services that can support early and sustained return-to-work in a remote or hybrid workplace?
The WSIB cannot actively support recruitment or refer individuals to a program for the purpose of a grant project.
The use of the WSIB’s administrative data can be requested for the purpose of a grant project. To strengthen a proposal, prospective researcher(s) should consider how requested data may be linked to other data sets outside of the WSIB to create insights otherwise unavailable to internal analytics.