Michael Widener, University of Toronto

Research

Food Accessibility Food Deserts Food Insecurity Nutrition Socioeconomic Factors Time Pressure Time Use Transportation And Health

Latest papers

Insights from neighbourhood walking interviews using the Living Environments and Active Aging Framework (LEAAF) in community-dwelling older adults.
Health & place · 2024
Getting groceries during the pandemic: How transit remained important despite the rise of e-delivery.
Journal of transport & health · 2023
Short run "rebound effect" of COVID on the transport carbon footprint.
Cities (London, England) · 2022 · senior author

All 10 publications

Latest funding

Recovery for All? Long-term Pandemic Impacts on the Employment and Health of Women and Youth
SSHRC · 2022 · Co-investigator
$250,000
Transportation and Health
SSHRC · 2022 · Principal investigator
$50,000
Transportation and Health
SSHRC · 2021 · Principal investigator
$200,000

All 14 grants and awards

10 publications.

01

Insights from neighbourhood walking interviews using the Living Environments and Active Aging Framework (LEAAF) in community-dwelling older adults.

Klicnik I, Riad Andrawes R, Bell L, Manafo J, Meens Miller E, Sun W, Widener M, Dogra S

Health & place2024

DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2024.103339 PMID: 39142006

02

Getting groceries during the pandemic: How transit remained important despite the rise of e-delivery.

Palm M, Widener M, Farber S

Journal of transport & health2023

DOI: 10.1016/j.jth.2023.101623 PMID: 37324564

03

Short run "rebound effect" of COVID on the transport carbon footprint.

Rojas C, Muñiz I, Quintana M, Simon F, Castillo B, de la Fuente H, Rivera J, Widener M

Cities (London, England)2022Senior author

DOI: 10.1016/j.cities.2022.104039 PMID: 36274919

04

Facing the future of transit ridership: shifting attitudes towards public transit and auto ownership among transit riders during COVID-19.

Palm M, Allen J, Zhang Y, Tiznado-Aitken I, Batomen B, Farber S, Widener M

Transportation2022Senior author

DOI: 10.1007/s11116-022-10344-2 PMID: 36340501

05

The Association between Fast Food Outlets and Overweight in Adolescents Is Confounded by Neighbourhood Deprivation: A Longitudinal Analysis of the Millennium Cohort Study.

Green MA, Hobbs M, Ding D, Widener M, Murray J, Reece L, Singleton A

International journal of environmental research and public health2021

DOI: 10.3390/ijerph182413212 PMID: 34948820

06

The Social Geography of Partner Selection in Toronto, Canada: A Qualitative Description of "Convection Mixing".

Gesink D, Salway T, Kimura L, Connell J, Widener M, Ferlatte O

Archives of sexual behavior2020

DOI: 10.1007/s10508-019-01484-1 PMID: 31628629

07

Association between time-weighted activity space-based exposures to fast food outlets and fast food consumption among young adults in urban Canada.

Liu B, Widener M, Burgoine T, Hammond D

The international journal of behavioral nutrition and physical activity2020

DOI: 10.1186/s12966-020-00967-y PMID: 32404175

08

The evolution of Health & Place: Text mining papers published between 1995 and 2018.

Green MA, Widener M, Pollock FD, Pearce J

Health & place2020

DOI: 10.1016/j.healthplace.2019.102207 PMID: 31587990

09

Session 4 discussion: The built environment.

Jones B, Fulkerson J, Widener M, Brunstrom J, Douglas S

Physiology & behavior2018

DOI: 10.1016/j.physbeh.2018.05.022 PMID: 29792902

10

Estimated Impact of Emergency Medical Service Triage of Stroke Patients on Comprehensive Stroke Centers: An Urban Population-Based Study.

Katz BS, Adeoye O, Sucharew H, Broderick JP, McMullan J, Khatri P, Widener M, Alwell KS, Moomaw CJ, Kissela BM, Flaherty ML, Woo D, Ferioli S, Mackey J, Martini S, De Los Rios la Rosa F, Kleindorfer DO

Stroke2017

DOI: 10.1161/strokeaha.116.015971 PMID: 28701576

Recovery for All? Long-term Pandemic Impacts on the Employment and Health of Women and Youth

Co-investigatorSSHRC2022New Frontiers in Research Fund - Special Calls

Principal investigators: Chapple, Karen

Keywords: health; employment; mobility; neighbourhood; gender; youth; global cities; inequality; geography

$250,000

Transportation and Health

Principal investigatorSSHRC2022Canada Research Chairs

Principal investigators: Widener, Michael

Keywords: food environments transportation access geographic information science urban health nutrition

$50,000

Transportation and Health

Principal investigatorSSHRC2021Canada Research Chairs

Principal investigators: Widener, Michael

Keywords: food environments; transportation; access; geographic information science; urban; health; nutrition

$200,000

Environmental determinants of social isolation in older adults: using a social ecological approach to inform Age-Friendly Communities

Co-investigatorSSHRC2021Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Dogra, Shilpa

Keywords: aging; built environment; age-friendly; social participation

$41,411

Sexual Health and STI Prevention For Men Who Have Sex with Men (MSM) In Suburban Cities

Co-investigatorCIHR2020Operating Grant: COVID-19 - Project Grant

Principal investigators: Gesink, Dionne

Keywords: Mixed Methods; Sexual Health; Sexual Minority Men; Social Epidemiology; Suburban Geographies

$393,975

Mobilizing justice: towards evidence-based transportation equity policy

Co-investigatorSSHRC2020Partnership Grants

Keywords: transportation; justice; equity; mobility; technology; accessibility; policy; guidelines

$998,600

Sexual Health and STI Prevention For Sexual Minority Men In Suburban Cities

Co-investigatorCIHR2019Project Grant - Priority Announcement: HIV/AIDS and STBBI

Principal investigators: Gesink, Dionne; Bourns, Laura

Keywords: Hiv; Men Who Have Sex With Men; Sexual Health; Sexual Networks; Sexually Transmitted Infections; Social Isolation; Suburban Cities; Urban/Rural

$85,000

Improving the evaluation of health inequities through advanced geographic methods across urban, rural and remote Canada

SupervisorCIHR2019Health System Impact Fellowships - Doctoral Central 1-year

Principal investigators: Jewett, Ray

Keywords: Health Equity; Health Geography; Health Indicators; Population Health; Rural Health; Urban Health

$35,000

Visual Attributes of Neighbourhoods and Early Child Development

Co-investigatorSSHRC2019Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Dunn, James R.

Keywords: systematic social observation; child development; neighbourhood; built environment; walkability; urban planning

$128,797

Time, geography, and food: how time use, social-spatial context, transportation options, and personal economics affect access to food in cities

Principal investigatorSSHRC2017Insight Grants

Principal investigators: Widener, Michael J.

Keywords: food environments; transportation; access; accessibility; mobility; time use; spatiotemporal constraints; geographic information systems; GPS; urban geography

$222,016

From CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC funding decisions: CIHR since 2008, NSERC since 1991 and SSHRC since 1998, including their latest published competition results.

Frequent collaborators

Epidemiology Division
School of Public Health Sciences
Médecine sociale et préventive
Kinesiology
Nursing
Other

Co-authors at University of Toronto, colored by department. Thicker lines mean more shared papers; select anyone to open their profile and their own map.

Travis Salway

Faculty

1 shared papers, latest 2020

Olivier Ferlatte

Médecine sociale et préventive

1 shared papers, latest 2020

Winnie Sun

Nursing

1 shared papers, latest 2024

Brice Batomen

Faculty

1 shared papers, latest 2022

David Hammond

School of Public Health Sciences

1 shared papers, latest 2020

Shilpa Dogra

Kinesiology

1 shared papers, latest 2024

Dionne Gesink

Epidemiology Division

1 shared papers, latest 2020

Write to this professor

A short, specific email works best. This draft uses one of their recent papers; replace the parts in brackets with your own details before sending.

Applying for

Paper to mentionMention their SSHRC grant from 2022

Subject: Prospective PhD student: Food Accessibility Dear Professor Widener, My name is [your name], and I am a [your current degree or role] at [your institution]. I am applying for a PhD position starting in [term and year]. I read your paper "Insights from neighbourhood walking interviews using the Living Environments and Active Aging Framework (LEAAF) in community-dwelling older adults." (2024), and it connects closely to my own work on [your research topic]. [One or two sentences on what you did and what you learned.] I also saw your SSHRC-funded project "Transportation and Health" (2022), and I would be glad to contribute to work in that direction. Are you accepting new PhD students for [term and year]? I have attached my CV and transcripts, and I would be glad to talk at a time that suits you. Thank you for your time. Kind regards, [your name]