Health: Science, Society, and Policy Program

If you are motivated to delve deep into a topic and analyze a body of material from the field creatively and originally, as a senior, you may consider writing an independent research project or Senior Honors Thesis. Such work can be a highly rewarding experience that requires commitment and perseverance and can fulfill the HSSP Hands-on Experience (HOE) requirement for majors. More info here.

COMPACT’s Community Health Internship Program (CHIP) provides impactful internship opportunities for Brandeis undergraduate students committed to advancing population health in Waltham. Recognizing that the social determinants of health are embedded in the places where we live, work, play, and raise our families, CHIP offers an innovative, place-based, mentored, team internship model. Previous and current organizations in Waltham include: 

• Charles River Community Health Center
• Community Day Center of Waltham
• Waltham Boys and Girls Club
• Waltham Family School
• Waltham Fields Community Farm
• Waltham Partnership for Youth
• Waltham Public Schools

While all CHIP internships focus on the social determinants of health, they include very different projects! In addition, all interns will meet weekly, as a team, with Professors Sara Shostak and Darren Zinner. Team meetings will provide you with structured opportunities for reflection, skill building, and professional development. They will also allow us to think together, as a team, about what you are learning about the social determinants of health in Waltham, from the perspective of the organization where you are working and the population that it serves.

Each year, CHIP sponsors 5-7 interns, which can count for HSSP’s HOE requirement. Selected CHIP interns will receive $4,500 as a stipend for 200 hours of work over 8 weeks (this includes the hours spent in team meetings).  CHIP is generously supported by the Louis D. Brandeis Legacy Fund for Social Justice, which supports a wide range of activities that reflect the University's commitment to social justice.

The Heller Graduate School for Social Policy and Management offers research opportunities for motivated undergraduate students to work directly with social policy researchers as they conduct social policy projects.  Each spring, up to eight Brandeis juniors and seniors are selected and assigned to a research mentor in one of the Heller School research institutes to assist on primary research.  Many of these areas overlap with HSSP themes, including research in health policy; economic and racial equity; global or behavioral health. The students will also participate in group instruction on topics related to conducting applied research in social policy.  The goal will be to introduce students to the research process and policy analysis.

No specific research experience is required, but it is preferred that students have taken at least one course that includes conduct of research or research methods.  Fellows will be selected based on interest and fit with specific ongoing projects at Heller. Fellows will be expected to work approximately 8 hours per week during the semester.  Each will be awarded a stipend of $2000 for the semester.  Work may include:  conducting literature reviews, attending interviews with research participants, analyzing data, and participating in research leading to publications.  Students will also participate in institute meetings and research updates.  Each student will prepare and present their research at the end of the semester to institute fellows, and at a symposium with other Atkins Fellows.

The call for applications and a list of potential research topics is typically announced in early December for spring semester projects, with applications due by December 31.  Students email their resume, name of a professor as a reference, and research preferences to Darren Zinner (dzinner@brandeis.edu).

As society's understanding of disability policy develops, new research questions about the needs, experiences, and unmet needs of people with disabilities will arise. Tackling those questions requires new ways of conceptualizing disability as a social, political, cultural, and medical phenomenon. To develop the next generation of disability-policy scholars, the Lurie Institute for Disability Policy has created the Student Fellowship in Disability Policy. Established in 2019, the fellowship offers Brandeis University undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to develop research skills and expand their knowledge of disability policy through direct research training with established Lurie Institute investigators.

Fellows are compensated $18 per hour and are expected to work about six to eight hours per week with Lurie Institute senior researchers during the fall and spring semesters of the academic year. The Institute pairs fellows with Lurie Institute mentors based on their research interests. Fellows work on disability-policy research projects alongside their mentors. In addition, fellows may participate in local disability-community events, attend research conferences on disability, and co-author a peer-reviewed publication. Toward the end of the fellowship, we expect students to present their research publicly at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management and create a dissemination product related to the topic they have been studying. 

Applications are announced each spring for the following academic year, allowing freshmen, sophomores, juniors, seniors on the 5-year track, and Heller MPP students to work on a project for both fall and spring semesters. To apply, students will need to submit a completed application form, one-page statement of interest, résumé, letter of recommendation from a Brandeis professor, and a Brandeis transcript. 

• ENACT Research and Advocacy Fellowship - This fellowship provides students with the opportunity to engage in original research, with the ultimate goal of creating evidence-based policy. Usually, each year, several HSSP students apply and are accepted.

• Jerome A. Schiff Undergraduate Fellowship - This fellowship offers undergraduates funding to perform an innovative research, creative, or pedagogical project over the course of the academic year under the guidance of a Brandeis faculty mentor.

• COMPACT Community Engaged Pedagogy Fund - This grant supports recipients in bringing ethical, reciprocal and sustainable community engagement into Brandeis classrooms.