Updates from September 2016

The summer months have come to an end, and we are less than three weeks away from our inaugural Ontario Coalition Institute! We have 26 participants coming from all of our participating institutions: the University of Guelph, McMaster University, Brock University and the University of Waterloo.

In the coming weeks, we will be posting more Reading and Homework posts on the OCI website, for participants to prepare for the sessions at the event. These will be interactive, encouraging responses and comments from participants so that everyone has a chance to become familiar with the Principles of Global Health Research, which will be the focal theme of the OCI 2016.

Katrina Plamondon from the CCGHR, and Vic Neufeld, Co-Chair of the OCI 2016 Planning Team have put together a Welcome Letter and Learning Guide, outlining the importance of the Principles, and detailing how they will be addressed, studied, and utilized by both participants and facilitators throughout the event. There are also added descriptions of new sessions that have been posted on the website under the “Documents and Events” tab. Be sure to check out the details and feel free to leave comments about the topics, or pose your own questions.

Finally, we would like to share our thanks with the institutions and donors that have supported the first Ontario Coalition Institute and our participants:

– The Faculty of Environment, University of Waterloo

– The Department of Geography and Environmental Management, University of Waterloo

– The Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, University of Waterloo

– The Faculty of Arts, University of Waterloo

– The School of Public Health and Health Systems, University of Waterloo

– The Propel Centre for Population Health Impact, University of Waterloo

– The Faculty of Health Sciences, McMaster University

– The Office of International Affairs, McMaster University

– The Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, Brock University

We look forward to welcoming all of our participants and facilitators to the OCI 2016 this fall, in Waterloo, Ontario. The countdown has started – see you all soon!

– The OCI Planning Team, 2016

Reading Post #3

Message from Steven Hoffman

Steven Hoffman will be presenting a public lecture as part of the OCI 2016 on Friday, September 30 at 7:30 pm at the Balsillie School of International Affairs. 

In advance of his presentation, all participants are asked to review this reading post and prepare 2-3 questions or comments for Dr. Hoffman, in preparation for the discussion portion of his lecture.

Dear colleagues,

I’m truly honoured to serve as the next Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Population and Public Health (IPPH) and excited to work with you to advance population and public health (PPH) research in Canada and around the world. While my term as Scientific Director has only just begun, I wanted to reach out at this very early stage to share my initial thinking and plans for IPPH’s future.

In the short-term, my priority is to ensure the continued success of IPPH’s many ongoing efforts. I’m a researcher of public health institutions, so I know very well that institutions are more than just the people who work within them. That is why I plan to fully implement the excellent IPPH Strategic Plan (2015-2018) that was developed by the previous Scientific Director, Nancy Edwards, following broad consultations with the PPH community and approved by CIHR’s Science Council last November – bringing my own perspective and experience to shaping its implementation. I will also already be looking to develop IPPH’s next strategic plan for beyond 2018 and I’ll be soliciting your input to make it as relevant and impactful as possible.

I have some initial ideas for strategic priorities. I am excited about the prospect of tapping into novel big data sources (e.g., “internet of things”), utilizing innovative methods from other fields (e.g., machine learning), creatively evaluating population health interventions (e.g., economic impact analyses), harnessing the power of the news media (e.g., improving literacy about population health), and pilot testing new mechanisms for translating PPH research into evidence-informed policies. I’m also very interested in supporting research on how we can design healthier cities (where 81% of Canadians now live), in the primary prevention of disease (before they take hold), and in identifying strategies for changing global governance arrangements to improve population health and health equity (especially for the most vulnerable and disadvantaged among us). But before finalizing any strategic priorities, I first want to learn more about the existing strengths and opportunities within our PPH research community on which we should definitely build. I look forward to hearing your ideas and crafting a shared plan for the future.

With this in mind, over the next six months I will be undertaking a “listening tour” to meet as many of you as possible and to learn how CIHR and IPPH can further support your work. In addition to helping established PPH researchers push their work to world-class status, I’m particularly interested in meeting with early-career investigators who are just launching their research programs, as well as social scientists in PPH who have faced challenges navigating CIHR. Finally, wearing my other hat as CIHR’s lead for global health, I hope to simultaneously confer with our country’s global health researchers to identify ways in which we can continue to enrich and grow this important area of inquiry.

In addition to the listening tour, over the coming months I will also be asking for your help in increasing public awareness and the general profile of PPH research. I plan to hit the pavement and meet with as many stakeholders as possible to demonstrate the importance and impact of our work. But I will need your support in this effort, whether that means helping to articulate the value we bring, writing an op-ed for your local newspaper, or building links with people who can act on your research. My personal goal is for us to collectively push the pendulum with sufficient force that it starts to swing in our favour by the time my term as Scientific Director ends. Please expect to hear more from me on this front and please email us at ipph-ispp@globalstrategylab.org if you’d like to get involved.

Before I conclude, I want to thank Nancy Edwards for her distinguished service as IPPH’s Scientific Director over the past eight years and as a long-standing leader of our PPH research community and global health champion. In taking the reins from her, I know that I have big shoes to fill. I appreciate the support that Nancy and her team have offered me during the transition period, and I look forward to celebrating Nancy’s many contributions at an appropriate time in the future.

One request: please forward this message throughout your networks and invite your colleagues to subscribe to this email list, as I hope to keep everyone abreast of news, developments and funding opportunities at CIHR and other agencies. Anyone can join this email list by clicking here: http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/newsletter/ipph-ispp_form_subscribe_inscrire.html.

Thanks in advance,
Steven

Steven J. Hoffman BHSc JD MA PhD
Scientific Director, CIHR Institute of Population & Public Health

GHR Faculty Panel – Update

As a follow up to the post “Session Update: GHR Faculty Panel,” we would like to take a moment to introduce you to some members of the panel:

Charles Larson, CCGHR National Coordinator

Sherilee Harper, Assistant Professor, University of Guelph

Lydia Kapiriri, Associate Professor, McMaster University

Karen Grépin, Associate Professor, Wilfrid Laurier University

Make sure to leave any comments if there are questions you’d like asked during the panel, or themes you’d like covered.

Reading Post #2

Learning Guide – CCGHR Principles for Global Health Research

Learning Guide Summary

This learning guide is intended to support active group reflection about the CCGHR Principles for Global Health Research (GHR). While it is primarily for facilitators, teachers, self-motivated groups of students, or communities of practice, it may also be used to guide professional development for others involved in various aspects of using, doing, or supporting research. Conducive formal learning settings include seminars, participatory classes or workshops.

Included in this learning guide are the following electronic materials:

• CCGHR Principles for GHR booklet & one-pager
• Video overview of CCGHR Principles for GHR (available by chapter or as a 19-minute whole)
• Suggestions for learning strategies with reflective questions
• Recommended case studies, selected from open access sources

Please download the attached PDF to read the full Learning Guide, in advance of the start of the OCI 2016. CCGHR Principles of Global Health Research – Learning Guide 2016

CCGHR Principles for Global Health Research

Welcome to the “Principles” Module!

Prepared by K. Plamondon and V. Neufeld
August 2016

Introduction

We look forward to working with you on this component of the OCI that will focus on the CCGHR Principles for Global Health Research. This module will use a mix of advance “home work” reading, a workshop, and small and large group activities to support dialogue and critical reflection about the principles. There will be five working groups, each with a mix of institutional representation and two supporting facilitators. The groups will ground their reflective conversations in an assigned (real) case study that participants will get to know by: (a) advance reading; and (b) connecting to at least one author involved in the case via Skype. At the OCI, you will have opportunities to think about how the CCGHR Principles for Global Health Research apply to one of your own current research or knowledge translation challenges.

Preparing for the Principles component:
We invite you to prepare for learning about the CCGHR Principles for Global Health Research through reading specific materials, including reading this one-pager and companion document and watching a short video. We also hope to organize online discussions (on the OCI website), offering some of your preliminary thoughts about the principles and their high-level implications. Here is a summary of what has been planned in relation to the Learning Guide document—also attached, along with this “welcome note”.

Session Update: GHR Faculty Panel

Saturday October 1, 2016
9:00 am – 10:30 am
Balsillie School of International Affairs room 1-42

Event Panel: Global health research and practice: Charting your path in global health

**For more on the Panelists, please see the following UPDATE**

Organizer: Warren Dodd, University of Guelph

There is a desire among emerging scholars to become meaningfully engaged with global health work and research that adheres to the CCGHR principles for global health research.

Session Update: Systematic Reviews Workshop

Saturday October 1, 2016
10:45 am – 12:15 pm
Balsillie School of International Affairs, room TBD

An Introduction to Systematic Reviews and Other Review Studies in Health Research

Instructor: Jackie Stapleton, Liaison Librarian, School of Public Health and Health Systems

Workshop Description

This workshop provides an overview of the different stages of conducting a systematic review and how this methodology complements other types of review studies performed in global health research. 

Updates from June 2016

Hello from the OCI 2016 Planning Team! We hope that you’ve all been enjoying the official beginning of summer! Since our last update, the Planning Team has been hard at work putting together some amazing workshops and panels to be presented at the OCI this year. We wanted to share one of those planned events and give you an idea of the exciting opportunities coming up this fall. Feel free to leave comments below, listing questions or topics you’d like to hear about at this Event Panel.

 

Event Panel: Global health research and practice: Charting your path in global health

Organizer: Warren Dodd, University of Guelph

There is a desire among emerging scholars to become meaningfully engaged with global health work and research that adheres to the CCGHR principles for global health research. At the same time, there is recognition of the tensions that may exist for these individuals in following these principles as they work to establish a career in global health. With this in mind, this proposed panel will draw on the expertise of global health faculty and practitioners at different career stages to explore the opportunities and tensions related to building a career within global health. In particular, panel participants will discuss how they operationalize the CCGHR principles for global health research in their own work while meeting other external demands necessary to maintain and build their career (e.g. peer-reviewed publications, applying for funding and adhering to funding requirements, working with multiple partners across sectors, etc.).

Potential topics include:

• Balancing work that is meaningful for research participants but also has currency with other audiences (e.g. academia; policy makers; potential funders)
• The role of power and positionality in global health work and partnerships
• Balancing depth (specializing in one topic area or issue or in one location) and breadth (working across multiple topic areas or in multiple locations) in global health work and research

Update for May 2016

Hello and welcome, from the OCI 2016 Planning Team!

Planning is in full swing for the inaugural Ontario Coalition Institute, which will be hosted by the Canadian Coalition for Global Health Research (CCGHR) at the Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) in Waterloo, Ontario, Canada.

The event will run from September 29 – October 2, 2016 and is being put together by four institutional members of the CCGHR: McMaster University, the University of Guelph, Brock University and the University of Waterloo.

Our Planning Team, made up of members of each institution and representatives of the CCGHR, is looking forward to welcoming you to this innovative and pilot model of the CCGHR’s previous Summer Institutes.

Vic Neufeld
Professor Emeritus, McMaster University
CCGHR Special Advisor
OCI 2016 Planning Team Co-Chair

Jennifer A. Liu
Assistant Professor, Department of Anthropology, University of Waterloo
Fellow, Balsillie School of International Affairs
OCI 2016 Planning Team Co-Chair

Craig R. Janes
Professor / Director, School of Public Health and Health Systems
University of Waterloo

Cate Dewey
Professor / Department Chair, Population Medicine
University of Guelph

Lynn A. Rempel
Associate Professor, Department of Nursing
Brock University

Susan J. Elliott
Professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Management
University of Waterloo

Warren Dodd
Doctoral Candidate, Population Medicine
University of Guelph

Julia Pemberton
Doctoral Candidate, Health Sciences
McMaster University

Rebekah K. Pullen
OCI 2016 Event Manager