The University of New Hampshire (UNH) is an R1 Carnegie Classification university, indicating the highest level of research engagement. The UNH Institute on Disability (IOD), housed within the College of Health and Human Services, is home to numerous programs, services, and grant-funded research aimed at building local, state, and national capacities to respond to the needs of individuals with disabilities and their families.
The Advanced Rehabilitation Research and Training (ARRT) Program on Employment is funded by the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) to hire and train six postdoctoral researchers in the area of disability employment.
Project Goal
Disability Employment ARRT postdoctoral researchers will engage with IOD faculty in a rigorous and collegial program that includes formal and informal training in quantitative and qualitative data analysis, statistical techniques, and employment and disability policy. Postdocs will have opportunities to engage in ongoing research with IOD faculty as well as to develop their own research agenda through peer review publications and presentations and professional conferences.
The program develops researchers who are highly qualified to use secondary (survey and administrative) data to investigate demographic, geographic, and time trends in the employment of people with disabilities. Through a cohesive and complementary schedule of training activities, coupled with purposeful and effective mentorship, our program provides postdoctoral research associates with the necessary knowledge and skills to investigate the impacts of government programs, employer practices, and social and workplace factors on the employment of people with disabilities.
Objectives
The program offers six 18-month training opportunities to graduates of professionally oriented, disability-related doctoral programs, who engage with coursework in graduate-level coursework, a sequence of one-on-one mentorship sessions with a team of experienced disability and employment research mentors, and immersion in ongoing, federally-funded research projects.
Outcomes
In the short term, our program increases the number of highly qualified, interdisciplinary researchers, including researchers with disabilities. In the intermediate-term, this generates more innovative strategies to improve disability and employment policies, programs, and practices. This will ultimately result in better employment opportunities and outcomes for people with disabilities.
Funding Statement
The UNH ARRT is funded by a $1 million grant from the Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Community Living, National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research (NIDILRR) under grant 90AREM000401.
