The Program

The Collaborative Program in Addiction Studies (CoPAS):

The field of addictions cuts across virtually all fields of study, and represents a significant burden of disease and death in Canada and globally. The CoPAS Program provides students a valuable opportunity to integrate core knowledge on addictions within their fields of study. Note that students apply to the CoPAS program after being accepted into graduate studies; please see the FAQs on the CoPAS website for more information http://www.phs.utoronto.ca/c_copas_faq.htm

The goal of the Collaborative Program in Addiction Studies (CoPAS) at the University of Toronto is to develop and integrate graduate training in the multidisciplinary field of addictions.  This field encompasses the use and abuse of alcohol, tobacco and other psychoactive substances, as well as gambling and other addictive behaviours.  

Students fulfilling the requirements of the collaborating department and CoPAS will receive a notation indicating completion of a specialization in Addiction Studies on the transcript issued by the University of Toronto.

•  The multidisciplinary perspective of 15 collaborating graduate departments
• Graduate training and research on the etiology, prevention and treatment of addictions
• Graduate courses on a wide range of topics related to addictions 
• Formal recognition of completion of requirements 
• Access to scientists, educational seminars and library resources at CoPAS's three sponsoring centres
• A Research and Career Day for students to meet CoPAS faculty and learn about the work of other students (offered in the spring of each academic year)
• Access to the H. David Archibald Award, one of the Queen Elizabeth II Graduate Scholarships in Science and Technology (QEII-GSST) http://www.facmed.utoronto.ca/programs/graduate/awards/Internal/QEII-GSST.htm
• Access to the Oriana Josseau Kalant Memorial Award: This award is given each year to a student who submits the best paper in the CoPAS Core Course PAS3700H. Papers are adjudicated by an independent panel. This award is available to students currently enrolled in PAS3700H.

·         Adult Education and Counselling Psychology (Prof. Abby Goldstein, abbyl.goldstein@utoronto.ca)

·         Anthropology (contact individual Faculty Advisor)

·         Biomedical Engineering (contact individual Faculty Advisor)

·         Criminology (Prof. Sandra Bucerius (sandra.bucerius@utoronto.ca)

·         Dalla Lana School of Public Health (Prof. R. Mann, robert_mann@camh.net)  

·         Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work (Prof. J. Cullen, jim_cullen@camh.net)

·         Faculty of Information (Prof. Aviv Shachak, aviv.shachak@utoronto.ca)

·        Faculty of Physical Education and Health (contact individual Faculty Advisor)

·     Graduate Department of Nursing (Prof. C. Muntaner, carles_muntaner@camh.net)

·         Medical Science (contact individual Faculty Advisor)

·         Pharmaceutical Sciences (Prof. B.A. Sproule, beth_sproule@camh.net)

·         Pharmacology (Prof. B. Brands, bruna_brands@camh.net)

·         Psychology (Prof. John Cunningham, john_cunningham@camh.net)

·         Sociology (Prof. L. Tepperman, teperman@chass.utoronto.ca)

·     Women and Gender Studies (contact individual Faculty Advisor)

CoPAS has three sponsors:

·         The Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (Prof. Jurgen Rehm, jurgen_rehm@camh.net)

·         The Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse (Rita Notarandrea, MHSc, CHE, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, rnotarandrea@ccsa.ca)

·         The Ontario Tobacco Research Unit (Prof. R. G. Ferrence, roberta_ferrence@camh.net) 

CoPAS is not a degree program.  To be eligible for admission to CoPAS, students must first apply to and register in one of the collaborating graduate departments.  Through the collaborating department, students can then apply for admission to CoPAS.  Please contact collaborating department professor directly (see CoPAS Contact List).  Students admitted to CoPAS must follow a program of study that meets the requirements of both the collaborating department and CoPAS.  Students who are not registered at the School of Graduate Studies, University of Toronto, are not eligible for admission to the CoPAS Program.

All Master's and PhD students are required to take PAS3700H (Multidisciplinary Aspects of Addictions) plus a second half-year course from the list of approved elective courses (See list). However, recognizing that PAS3700H may not fit each student’s schedule, students may elect to substitute PAS3701H as the foundation course requirement (provided that PAS3701H is being offered in the current academic calendar - please consult the Dalla Lana School of Public Health timetable for more information).

PhD students who met these CoPAS requirements while completing their Master's are required to take one more approved elective course.

A directed reading course on an addictions topic may substitute for an elective course.  A plan of study for the course must be approved by the director of CoPAS. Note that Reading Courses can be supervised by any member of the graduate faculty in the student’s department.

In collaborating departments in which a thesis is required, the thesis must deal with an addictions-related topic.  Thesis work will be supervised, evaluated and approved according to practices of the collaborating department.  Normally, a CoPAS faculty member will be on the student's supervisory committee, and will be involved in approval of the thesis.

In collaborating departments that do not require a thesis, a practicum or major research paper will be accepted instead of a thesis, as long as the topic or focus is directly related to addictions. Note that the major research paper is completed as part of students’ course work. If a practicum or research paper is not feasible, students must take a third half-year course from the list of approved electives