Award Recipients: 2022 Research for Postpandemic Recovery

Comment l'Afrique subsaharienne peut-elle préparer son système éducatif au monde post-COVID? La présente proposition de recherche-action, multidisciplinaire et multiniveau, basée sur une démarche expérimentale qui étudiera le cas du Burkina Faso, se veut une réponse à ce questionnement crucial du Forum économique mondial. Elle s’inscrit dans la Priorité 2.4 du schéma directeur: Comment prévenir le fossé numérique, qui accentue l’exclusion, dans un monde de plus en plus virtuel? (sous-priorités 2.4.3 et 2.4.4). À l’instar d’autres pays, le Burkina, soutenu par l’UNICEF, a développé une plateforme pédagogique (Faso e-éducation) dans son plan de riposte contre la pandémie. Toutefois, des questionnements demeurent quant à l’égalité d’accès à de telles ressources pour des élèves issues de milieux défavorisés ou ruraux ou vivant dans des camps de déplacés internes. On peut s’interroger aussi sur les acquis et limites de ce plan afin d’élaborer des stratégies pour remédier aux inégalités socioéconomiques exacerbées par la pandémie et l’insécurité. Cette crise sanitaire a en effet entrainé des innovations en éducation, qui sont désormais incontournables selon l’UNESCO, et dont l’Afrique pourrait tirer profit. Toutefois, en plus des problèmes d’accès, un des obstacles majeurs pour des pays comme le Burkina, demeure le faible niveau de développement des compétences numériques et l'absence de dispositifs de sensibilisation ou de formation adéquats. Ce projet permettra non seulement de mieux comprendre cette problématique, peu étudiée selon les spécificités du contexte visé, mais aussi d’y apporter des pistes de solutions. En plus de l’état des connaissances récentes post-COVID sur les systèmes éducatifs d'Afrique subsaharienne, l’impact des dispositifs de riposte, le projet permettra de 1) concevoir et valider statistiquement un outil d’évaluation des compétences numériques adapté aux réalités socioéconomiques et culturelles Burkinabè, 2) développer un dispositif pour remédier aux lacunes identifiées, 3) expérimenter le dispositif conçu auprès de l’échantillon la plus touchées par ces lacunes. L’étude sera réalisée auprès d’élèves du secondaire en classes de 2e et 1re issus de milieux défavorisés ou des camps de déplacés. Cette population est à haut risque de décrochage et sujette au recrutement des groupes terroristes. Ce projet apportera une contribution majeure à l’atteinte de l’ODD 4: assurer l'accès équitable à une éducation de qualité à l'heure du numérique.

Early in the COVID-19 pandemic, Canadian South Asian multigenerational families were identified in the media as a major contributor to the spread of COVID-19 infections. Such inflammatory statements resulted in a significant rise in anti-Asian racism across Canada and led to a deepening of pre-existing inequities. Resulting fear in South Asian communities led to an increased hesitancy amongst caregivers of highly vulnerable older adults to access community supports, despite significant care needs. Without adequate social and health services, caregivers experienced socioeconomic hardships due to social isolation, job and income loss, family violence, high hospitalization rates, and death.

Throughout that pandemic, South Asian women caregivers bore the primary responsibility of caregiving for those most vulnerable. Yet, research on their experiences and the impact on them personally and on the overall family structure is absent in the literature. Understanding the needs of South Asian women caregivers and how gaps in social and health services led to socioeconomic inequities during the COVID-19 pandemic will enable us to tailor future community supports, interventions, policies, and practices to reduce inequities and promote post-pandemic recovery for those disproportionately impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Study Goal: To understand how to promote post-pandemic recovery in Canada’s largest ethnic minority (South Asians representing 5.6% of the population), specifically those living in multigenerational households where women caregivers are caring for a family member >65 years old who requires assistance with activities of daily living (e.g., dressing, toileting, feeding) by examining their identified needs during and post-pandemic.

Objective: To use the Reach, Effectiveness, Adoption, and Maintenance (RE-AIM) implementation science framework (a novel approach) to conduct a needs assessment and gap analysis of South Asian women caregivers of older adults residing in multigenerational households in the greater Toronto area, during COVID-19.

Design: Two-year, multi-stage sequential, exploratory mixed methods.

Research Team: We are a highly skilled multidisciplinary team (Social Science, Social Work, Nursing, Education) representing early, middle, and late-career researchers with expertise in aging, caregiving, equity, intersectionality, implementation science, mixed-methods research, sex/gender, and social and health services delivery.

Les inégalités de santé perdurent chez les autochtones, particulièrement en Amérique du Sud. Par le passé et durant la pandémie de COVID-19, pour faire face aux inégalités de santé, les autorités publiques ont souvent favorisé une approche descendante sans véritable concertation intersectorielle et adaptation aux réalités locales, ce qui a parfois engendré des impacts négatifs et contribué à maintenir la méfiance des communautés autochtones à l'égard des autorités publiques.

Face à ce constat, il est nécessaire de reconnaître l’apport du savoir des communautés autochtones et de mettre en œuvre des approches innovantes de transfert et d’échange de connaissances (TEC) en partenariat avec celles-ci qui valideront leurs savoirs et favoriseront la mobilisation communautaire. L’intégration d’approches artistiques et audiovisuelles dans un processus de TEC peut permettre de créer des espaces de dialogue au sein des communautés autochtones, entre communautés autochtones d’horizons différents ainsi qu’entre autochtones et allochtones pour faciliter le développement de stratégies de prévention et de promotion de la santé intégrant pleinement les savoirs autochtones, et ainsi contribuer à réduire les inégalités de santé chez des communautés autochtones.

Ce projet de recherche a pour objectifs: 1) développer et mettre en œuvre, en partenariat avec des communautés autochtones, une approche innovante de TEC intégrant des approches artistiques et audiovisuelles; 2) évaluer les effets d’une approche innovante de TEC lors du développement de stratégies de prévention et de promotion de la santé dans des communautés autochtones; et 3) documenter les éléments de contexte et les mécanismes sous-jacents expliquant les effets d’une approche innovante de TEC.

Des communautés autochtones Quechua du Pérou et Wayúu en Colombie ainsi que des acteurs du secteur de la santé et de l’éducation participeront à ce projet. Un mélange d'approches et de méthodologies autochtones et occidentales sera utilisé, telles que l’évaluation réaliste, l’évaluation évolutive, les narratives audiovisuelles, les cercles de parole et les entrevues semi-structurées.

Les résultats de ce projet permettront de proposer des pistes pour faciliter l’intégration des savoirs autochtones en prévention et promotion de la santé. Ultimement, la résolution de problèmes complexes en matière de santé pourrait être facilitée en créant des milieux propices au dialogue et à l’expérimentation commune.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought to the forefront the role of telehealth and digital tools (Digital Interventions) for responsive, adaptable and accessible mental health care. The pandemic has hastened the digital transformation of mental health care which will continue after the pandemic. Digital interventions offer the possibility of synchronous care (care at the time appointment between physician/patient such as during the telehealth/digital call) and asynchronous care (care and data collection in between appointments) with the ability to optimally enable measurement-based care. Further, digital interventions have the potential to provide equitable service delivery in urban, rural and multi-cultural settings both in developed/developing countries. However, there is limited research on how digital interventions are to be implemented within existing health systems to engage health care providers and patients, build trust and support “just in time” responses to emerging health threats such as pandemics. This project aims to conduct process and outcome evaluation for implementation of digital interventions to enhance mental health with partners in developed and developing countries within existing health systems. The process evaluation will consist of longitudinal evaluation of a) the context, e.g. monitoring changes in the current pandemic/post pandemic status, b) inputs, e.g. monitoring technological, stakeholder, and end-point user needs, c) process, e.g. monitoring technologies are being used, whether end users adhere to protocols/technologies. The outcome evaluation will consist of a) implementation challenges and mental health outcomes specific to contexts in the developed/developing countries with a lens towards equitable care and preventing the exclusionary digital divide (rural/remote, urban/racialized, etc), b) outcomes such as engagement, trust, adherence rates and decision-making during emergencies to strengthen social cohesion,; c) impact on individual and population level mental health, resilience and measurement-based care. This interdisciplinary project is led by two early career researchers with expertise in mental health, digital interventions and implementation science, and accompanied by established investigators across disciplines nationally/internationally. This project will develop a paradigm for implementation of digital interventions for optimal mental health outcomes for post-pandemic recovery in the developed/developing world.

Objective

This research program aims to advance knowledge on how social protection programs can be designed and implemented to tackle socio-economic marginalization and inequities . The research objectives are to: a) explore inequities in "free drinking water" policies offered by governments in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) during the COVID-19 pandemic; b)identify implementation challenges of these welfare programs across three case study countries in Sub-Saharan Africa; d) explore policy makers and program implementers perceptions and experiences around equity related dimensions of the policy.

Approach

To address the research objectives, a Delphi method will be used with stakeholders to develop an equity-informed tool for assessing free water policies across countries in SSA. Interviews will the be conducted with key informant in Ghana, Kenya and Uganda, to understand any equity consideration within the policies as well as their experiences with the policy implementation. Finally, surveys and interviews with households in urban poor and rich neighbourhoods as well as rural residents will be conducted to understand their experiences and the impacts of the free water policies on their wellbeing.

Significance

More than 2.1 billion people lack safe drinking water services globally. The majority of these people (58%) live in SSA. During the peak of COVI-19 pandemic, hand washing, a key recommendation for preventing COVID-19 transmission, became a luxury for those who live without access to safe water. Beyond this, because over 50% of households in SSA have no access to piped water on their premises, women crowded at public water points or distribution centres, risking the transmission on COVID-19. In response to water insecurity challenges, several governments in SSA announced measures to address water insecurity, including 2 to 6 months free water supply to residents connected to the public piped water systems. These interventions had one thing in common--i.e. individuals with access to municipal urban piped water networks easily benefited. What then are the implications of such interventions on health and wellbeing of marginalized populations unserved by public water networks? This project will contribute to achieving inclusive water services and welfare policies by providing evidence on and developing novel tools for assessing inequities within a key welfare program in SSA during COVID-19: access to free water.

L'objectif de ce projet de recherche est d'évaluer la contribution des technologies de santé sur la continuité et qualité des services de santé dans un contexte post-pandémique de crises multiples (insurrection, coup d’État, changements climatiques, etc.).

Ce projet s'arrime à un projet existant au Mali financé par le PNUD où des technologies de santé digitale alimentées par des panneaux solaires sont déployées pour répondre aux disruptions de services causées par la pandémie, sans faire l’objet d’une étude de leur appropriation réelle. Ce projet comble cette lacune en allant au-delà des dispositifs traditionnels d’évaluation d’impacts des programmes. Pour ce faire, des entrevues semi-dirigées et groupes de discussion avec des professionnel.le.s de la santé, les autorités maliennes et des membres de la communauté seront réalisés.

Ce projet s’inscrit dans la priorité 1.1 du Pilier 1 du Schéma directeur de l'ONU et permettra de:

• Évaluer l’appropriation des outils de santé digitale (dossier patient connecté, tablette, etc.) déployés lors de la pandémie. Cela permettra de mesurer la contribution de ces technologies au maintien de la continuité et qualité des services de santé dans des contextes de vulnérabilités multiples (1.1.1) de la période post-pandémique afin de favoriser la résilience des systèmes de santé au travers de politiques adaptées (1.1.5);
• Évaluer le rôle de ces technologies dans le suivi de l’état de santé de la population, l’organisation des services et l’échange d’information centrées sur les besoins de la population. Cela permettra d’orienter les mesures pour la mise en place de technologies de santé au Mali (1.1.3) dans la longue durée (post-pandémie) et préparer les professionnel.le.s de la santé à ces outils (1.1.4) dans d'autres crises;
• Évaluer les structures organisationnelles actuelles et proposer des améliorations pour favoriser l’adaptabilité dans la prestation des services de santé et une meilleure gouvernance post-pandémique (1.1.2) dans un contexte de crises multiples (1.1.4);
• Partager des recommandations permettant d’accroitre le niveau d’appropriation des technologies par la communauté, les professionnel.le.s de la santé et les autorités maliennes en favorisant leur résilience face aux crises (1.1.4; 1.1.5).

Ce projet renforcera la qualité des soins de santé (ODD 3), la prise de décision au sein d’institutions efficaces (ODD 16), la mesure des besoins de santé (ODD 3) et l’utilisation d’énergie verte (ODD 7).

We propose to bridge COVID-exacerbated gaps in information and policy for communities through social cohesion and resilience action research. Indigenous/artisanal knowledge, often marginalized by poverty or colonization, will be mobilized for those food-security natural resource dependent. Community-driven research helps ensure local benefits from resource management knowledge, but often communities lack access to data and local analysis to inform their own resource management. We address this common global need through international partnership and reciprocal community relationships. Filipino non-profit organization Daluhay works closely with Indigenous/artisanal coastal fishers and farmers on rainforest ridge-to-reef food-systems, to develop community resource management strategies and capacity-building. They now seek more robust data to support local harvester resilience strategies and pandemic recovery. Daluhay has identified Saskatchewan Polytechnic research in remote sensing, remotely-piloted aircraft systems, GIS, and natural resource management as complementary expertise to facilitate local access to more comprehensive natural resource data. Meanwhile, First Nations communities in Saskatchewan with whom Saskatchewan Polytechnic has worked on previous applied research projects also hold food and resource sovereignty as priorities. This project will facilitate community consultation on Pillar 5, to determine which local solutions are most effective in addressing inequities and increasing community resilience. The project is also responsive to Pillar 3, to mobilize traditional knowledge to protect against societal and environmental vulnerabilities.

This project links previously unconnected research and communities examining social, policy, and technological decision-making. International and multidisciplinary expertise enables the project team to fully identify barriers, to generate and access critical data and develop expandable solutions that have been tested across a range of needs. The research is grounded in established relationships with natural resource stewards in the Philippines and in Saskatchewan First Nations. These communities identify types of visual and spatial data, and means of access to that data, that will best support them in developing and institutionalizing their own science-based approaches to autonomous, resilient resource management emerging from the pandemic.

(REAP)

Post-pandemic decision-making in educational institutions in Canada, Finland and the UK has focused on "classroom curriculum loss," often referencing missed learning outcomes whilst crucial young people's voices and agency remain overlooked. Current research related to the pandemic has tended to prioritize the views of teachers and parents. COVID- 19 has created resiliency in young people and children in their creativity and ingenuity in Northern communities, but society has failed to capture their agentic voices.

Our work flips the current narrative by focusing on the unfiltered and marginalized voices of children and youth. Working in collaboration with all partners, we will develop a COVID-19 recovery curriculum that centres students' voices and agency through storytelling using virtual and augmented digital platforms and teaching pedagogies. The objectives of this research are to: 1. amplify marginalized and minority students' storytelling pandemic voices, 2. promote community social cohesion through a re-envisioning of education based on students' pandemic experiences, and 3. focus on the contexts of Northern children and youth while promoting individual and institutional resilience, renewal, and recovery.

The project aligns with the UN Research Roadmap Research Priority 5:1."How can communities be optimally engaged in decision-making during emergencies to strengthen social cohesion?” Our proposed project also aligns with the UN sustainable Development Goals and targets 3.4, the promotion of mental health and wellness in adolescents, and targets 4.1 & 4.2, the improvement of developmental progress towards learning in young children. We will use an arts-based participatory approach using digital and immersive technology with cultural storytelling, embracing community and context, thus engaging young people in creative solutions and post-pandemic recovery (5.1.1). We will use innovative technologies and arts-based teaching and learning strategies to facilitate teachers’ and students’ creative thinking about future schooling, with an emphasis on the utilization of their own local stories and traditions (5.1.3). This research focus on social cohesion is significant as it considers cultural contexts, community partners and digital experiences and voices of children and youth as impacting factors in a re-envisioning of future post-pandemic schooling.

Essential chemical commodities such as fertilizers and filtration materials are often produced in large-scale, capital-intensive, centralized facilities, and then shipped to rural areas in emerging markets. For example, because of the mark-up from long-distance logistics, rural farmers often pay 2-5 times the world price for fertilizers. This problem is exacerbated during COVID, when supply chain disruption causes price spikes and unavailability of chemical fertilizers in many communities, causing severe food insecurity. This has affected farmers’ livelihood ranging from Canada to Kenya.

Our project’s overarching vision is to enable rural, underserved communities to produce the bulk of their own essential chemical inputs, thereby allowing them to recover and eventually become independent from the vulnerable international supply chain, while growing new localized livelihood in a carbon-negative way. To achieve this, using fertilizer as our first case study, we are exploring a new oxygen-lean thermochemical treatment that allows us to decentralize the fertilizer production process, making it feasible to implement localized fertilizer production in rural villages using only locally available resources, labour, and waste. Because this eliminates long-distance fertilizer transportation, we also drastically reduce the fertilizer cost while offering farmers a higher-quality, carbon-negative product that improves their yields by 30%, based on our initial field trials. Furthermore, we are able to alter our reaction condition and customize the fertilizer characteristics (e.g. pH, N, P, K) to the local soil type and crop requirements, at a single-farm granularity.

In collaboration with the Cornell University agronomy team, we have already established two community-scale pilots, one in Kenya and another in India. Our pilots have recruited more than 5,500 farmers testing our process. In this NFRF proposal, we will accomplish the following objectives: (1) We will prototype our scaled-up chemical reactor at these pilots to evaluate the technoeconomic and lifecycle feasibility of the process, and (2) we will conduct a small-scale randomized controlled trial (RCT) of our intervention. This will be jointly carried out by Yankai Cao and Shahabaddine Sokhansanj at the Biomass and Bioenergy Research Group, the University of British Columbia, with Manish Singh at Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee in India and Agnes Gichuhi at the University of Nairobi in Kenya.

The pandemic has exacerbated both persistent inequities and latent capacities, which are apparent in local community data. Working with and for local communities to help them uncover and collect data relevant to themselves and their communities and through community co-design, we will invent and develop interactive data tools that help make their data more understandable and useful. To demonstrate the importance we quote Line Robert (Executive Director of the Island Coastal Economic Trust) saying “The arts is a human asset that’s available in our communities and entirely under-exploited. The beauty of the arts is that it is highly sustainable. It doesn't have a huge impact on the environment and it is something which can be integrated into a lot of other efforts: revitalization, business, public amenities. There is so much potential here, and the true potential is in the human assets which are just lying there dormant in communities: undervalued and underutilized.” The October 2021 community-based data on the economic contributions of the creative sector in the Vancouver Island/ Gulf Islands super-region reveals the arts sector as a highly underutilized asset holding great potential, yet lacks adequate support and integration. Our intended impact is to affect policy, influencing economic activities towards a more sustainable future immediately in Vancouver Island and, by modelling this potential, eventually across Canada, and through our collaborators elsewhere in the world. With effective tools to track and demonstrate the societal and economic benefits of the local community based arts, decision makers will be able to develop evidence-informed policy that supports and grows the community arts here and across the country. In particular Indigenous, youth and LGBTQ communities, are remarkably under-resourced and under-supported, with an unsustainably high level of reliance on volunteers. Lack of economic policies based on real, community-based data undermines the ability to effectively support sustainable community livelihoods and well-being. We will enable pluralistic, community-inclusive, evidence-based economic policies to better support sustainable economic development and diversification. We will leverage data visualization as a co-creative data empowerment process with and for communities to better support community members in collecting, understanding and communicating data for the purpose of evidence-based economic policy development.

This study seeks to understand how government policies can best support business recovery in ways that promote a more equitable, sustainable, and resilient post-pandemic reality. Businesses around the world struggled through the COVID-19 pandemic, facing not only lockdowns and other public health restrictions but also rapid shifts in consumer demand, supply chain disruptions, and labour shortages. National, provincial, and local governments responded with a multitude of initiatives aimed at supporting business recovery, from providing favourable loans and payroll supports to relaxing regulations and easing taxation. This study investigates the effectiveness of such policies with the aim of informing government responses to future crises, including climate-related disasters. It specifically seeks insights into how policies can support businesses to not only restore pre-disaster operations, but to adapt and better prepare for future shocks (Research Priority 3.2 of the UN Research Roadmap for the COVID-19 Recovery). Particular attention will be paid to small- and medium-enterprises, which tend to be more vulnerable to disasters, and to policies that supported businesses in shifting to more environmentally sustainable practices.

The overall research design capitalizes on the global impact of the pandemic and the unprecedented array of government initiatives to support business recovery. An international research team will conduct coordinated data collection across an estimated 10~15 cities around the world, using common protocols and instruments to ensure development of a comparable dataset on business recovery. A typology of government policies for business recovery in the COVID-19 pandemic will be developed and utilized for case study selection and analysis. In each case study location, team members will work with business groups (e.g., chambers of commerce, business district organizations) in order to understand the local context, relevant policies and programs, and recovery issues. To ensure a tractable scope, the study may focus on one or two sectors (e.g., restaurants and hospitality; arts and culture) based on preliminary investigation. Data collection will entail a combination of interviews and surveys, supplemented by document and secondary data analysis. The team comprises researchers with experience studying business recovery following earthquakes, floods, and other disasters in Canada, the US, Japan, Australia, New Zealand, and other countries.

The COVID-19 pandemic has slowed economic growth, exacerbated inequality, and aggravated social divisions. As we work towards the United Nations SDGs, an opportunity-and a challenge-lies in global cities. Our most productive cities have experienced a transformation of economic activity, and COVID-19 mitigation has had acute impacts on the employment and health of women and youth, who are particularly at risk of adverse mental health outcomes and domestic violence associated with disruption of family supports, unemployment and school closure. Even as recovery progresses, many women and youth have struggled with health barriers to pre-pandemic levels of labour force participation. A fair and sustainable global recovery depends on the ability of our cities to reduce health and labour market inequities.

In this study, we will examine the long-term recovery patterns of women and youth in three global cities (Bogota, London and Toronto) to understand why some cities and neighbourhoods have been better able to support an equitable recovery. This multi-disciplinary study will use a range of data sources including cell phone data, transit, business indicators, and individual, family and community data on socioeconomic characteristics and health in order to connect spatial patterns of advantage and disadvantage with inequities. We will examine the relationship between outcomes and policy interventions to determine the efficacy of different approaches. Specifically, we hypothesize that institutional factors (such as the availability of childcare assistance), environmental factors (such as the availability of transit), and economic factors (such as wage levels) explain the extent-and equity-of recovery. By identifying the factors associated with improved health and labour market outcomes, we are able to recommend policies to promote more resilient cities post-pandemic.

The study objectives are to

• Enhance our understanding of the economic and health consequences of COVID-19 restrictions and subsequent recovery efforts on youth and women in three global cities;
• Identify interventions that can mitigate negative impacts through temporal and spatial analysis of the association between mitigation strategies and outcomes in the three cities, mediated through individual, family and community factors;
• Generate evidence that can inform policies for a fair urban recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic and protect vulnerable urban populations in future pandemics.

The COVID-19 pandemic has exacted unparalleled devastation globally on older people living in residential long-term care (LTC) homes and those who care for them. Older people in LTC have suffered disproportionately and experienced the highest proportion of deaths due to COVID-19. Transformative change and innovations (defined as new ideas, practices, or policies) are desperately needed to support recovery and build resilience in LTC to prevent more harm. The U.N. Research Roadmap (2020) for the COVID-19 Recovery outlines that research can help identify how best to include the voices and meet the needs of marginalized populations (e.g., older adults living in LTC). LTC innovations should be guided by the voices of marginalized populations to increase its relevance and sustainability; yet, we lack knowledge of how to advance inclusive innovations for COVID-19 recovery in LTC.

The research purpose of this project is to develop a robust conceptual framework and tool that enables the inclusion of older adults in the development and implementation of innovations in LTC within multiple socio-political and cultural contexts. This 2-year multi-method project will take place in 4 countries, Canada, Brazil, Switzerland, and the U.S.A., representing low- and high-income countries with varying socio-political cultures and healthcare systems. The research objectives are to conduct: 1) country-level environmental scans including key informant interviews to understand the organizational context and processes of LTC innovation design and implementation; 2) an international e-Delphi survey, informed by the environmental scans, about strategies for including older adults in innovation design and implementation; and 3) development of a conceptual framework and tool with implementation strategies that can be used in different countries.

This international project will enable the inclusion of older adults resulting in a more equitable and resilient LTC sector. This work addresses the game-changer priority in Pillar 5, “What mechanisms/processes are effective in ensuring the most impacted marginalized populations are engaged in designing and implementing innovations?” as well as a research priority in Pillar 1, “How can health systems ensure that all voices are represented in decision making, particularly among marginalized populations?” Our results will advance our shared capacity to develop innovations that reflect the needs and perspectives of diverse older people.

The project will implement and test an innovative approach for leveraging local knowledge to inform decision-making for COVID 19 recovery. The participatory research will engage women and men in communities in Bauchi State, Nigeria, including the most marginalised, and community leaders, service providers, and government policy makers. Community members and other stakeholders will create fuzzy cognitive maps to systematise their knowledge about factors influencing the impact of the COVID pandemic on health and wellbeing. Focus groups will clarify concepts and generate explanatory theories. We will compare local knowledge with that from the literature. Dialogue groups of community members and other stakeholders will consider the evidence to identify strategies for post pandemic recovery that are evidence-based, culturally safe, equitable, and sustainable. Evaluation will include measures of social capital, and documentation of identified strategies and fast turnaround solutions. Some strategies at local and institutional levels may be implemented within the time frame of the project, but systemic changes will require efforts continuing beyond the project. The project builds on a strong partnership between McGill university, a well-respected Bauchi NGO, and Bauchi State government.

The project addresses pillar 5 of the UN Research Roadmap, research priority 5.1: How can communities be optimally engaged in decision-making during emergencies to strengthen social cohesion? It focuses on sub-priority 5.1.3: What are the best strategies for leveraging existing local and traditional knowledge sources to inform decision-making? It will establish a sustainable and reproducible process for interactions of community and other stakeholders around evidence that builds community cohesion and allows the voices of the most affected to be incorporated in strategies to improve outcomes. There is a risk that dialogue, even based on common interpretation of local evidence, will not overcome entrenched power imbalances. But the potential gains – policies that are effective, inclusive, and sustainable – are high. The strategies for COVID-19 recovery will be specific to the Bauchi context. But the process of identifying these strategies has wide relevance. It can provide evidence of the value and effective methods of community engagement for improving community health and wellbeing (SDG 3), promoting gender equity (SDG 5), and reducing inequalities (SDG 10).

The COVID-19 pandemic has increased global food insecurity, deepened gender inequality, and created a general crisis in the informal food sector in cities of the Global South. Women in the sector play a central role in mitigating the food insecurity of marginalized social groups, despite their own precarious socioeconomic situation, high rates of business failure, hostile policy environment, and minimal social protection. Revitalization and resilience of the informal food sector and its contribution to urban food security should be centre-stage of a truly gender-transformative and sustainable pandemic recovery.

This Hungry Cities Partnership (HCP) comparative international project will examine the food security impacts of COVID-19 on micro-enterprises owned by women in the informal urban food sector, their households and communities in four HCP cities: Maputo, Windhoek, Kingston (Jamaica) and Mexico City. It has four main objectives: (a) compare the impact of the pandemic and public health policies on women in the informal food sector in Africa and LAC; (b) examine the responses and strategies of female-owned enterprises to the COVID pandemic and pandemic recovery challenges; (c) analyze the impact of pandemic disruptions on the food security of female-owned enterprises, their employees, their households and their customers; and (d) mobilize knowledge for the support and sustainability of women’s enterprises in the informal food sector going forward.

Building on the HCP team’s interdisciplinary expertise, pre-pandemic database on the informal food sector in the four cities, and ongoing research collaborations funded by Tri-council and NFRF Grants, the Women Feeding Cities Project will implement a program of participatory, action research and knowledge co-production with women food vendors and their associations using a range of mixed quantitative and qualitative methodologies including evidence cafes, in-depth life and enterprise histories, focus groups, photovoice studies and representative surveys.

The significance of the project lies in its contribution to evidence-based decision-making and policy interventions for gender-transformative post-pandemic recovery consistent with the priorities of the UN Research Roadmap especially 3.4 (policy solutions for long-term well-being and economic equity of informal workers) and SDG 2 (zero hunger), 5 (gender equality), 8 (productive employment and decent work) and 11 (sustainable cities).

Our project aims to alleviate socio-economic inequalities caused by a broken system of global knowledge governance. While multilateral institutions won’t be revamped overnight, we can and will concretely improve key aspects of international intellectual property law and policymaking.

Africa is our focal point for transformational change. For over 15 years, the Open African Innovation Research network, Open AIR, has been building a body of empirical research to underpin new policy proposals and a cross-regional community of practice to mobilize this knowledge.

Now, our two core objectives with this project are to (1) inject fresh ideas into real-time negotiations and (2) boost the strategic capacity of key negotiators. We will achieve these by translating a rich body scholarly research into economic policy proposals and law reform recommendations, and with cutting-edge action and participatory research techniques.

Identifying win-win scenarios, preparing briefs, suggesting text, holding side-events, and embedding experts to support negotiating teams are among the innovative ways we will drive change. We will make selective interventions at pivotal moments on three levels: (a) multilateral institutions including UN and related agencies, (b) regional fora for economic integration, and (c) bilateral opportunities between Canada and African countries.

One glance at the worldwide map of access to coronavirus vaccines (or the lack thereof) shows the African continent bearing the brunt of misguided macroeconomic policies. By supporting fairer representation and more equitable partnerships, we will make the international intellectual property system more justly distribute the benefits of innovation.

Vaccine inequity is capturing today’s headlines, yet the same basic problems threaten food security, environmental sustainability, educational opportunities, digital inclusion, and more. While patents are one issue affecting access to medicines, data governance is just as important for gene sequencing, whether to combat viruses or breed staple crops. And the same rules of copyright, trade secrets, and other forms of data ownership determine access to digital learning material and online education. Indigenous traditional knowledge is too often neglected in this milieu.

Our novel approach invites significant, scalable solutions to these problems by tackling a common denominator: inequitable access to knowledge rooted in unsatisfactory governance systems.

The COVID19 pandemic has exposed numerous disparities and inequalities, including differences in access to justice, problems relating to prison-overcrowding, over-stretched criminal justice, welfare and healthcare systems, challenges to resilience, and highlighted the difficulties facing those individuals trying to cease offending. This project is addressing the fifth pillar of the UN Research Roadmap (Social cohesion and community resilience) and will directly touch three main research priorities namely: Which local solutions are most effective in addressing inequities and increasing community resilience (5.3.1)? What are the potential biases that may be introduced or reinforced by digital technologies during emergencies that amplify inequities and threaten social cohesion (5.5.2)?, and How can the unique needs of people who are in detention be considered in emergency response and recovery efforts (5.1.5)?

To do so, this project will explore how different criminal justice systems and community partners have been able to assist former-prisoners during the pandemic, where a wide-spread shift to the ‘remote delivery’ of personal services was initiated. The many challenges faced by former-prisoners must be addressed in order to assist them in the new ‘virtual world’. In order to build a more resilient, inclusive and sustainable society, we must understand why people stop offending, cope with challenging situations and how we can foster desistance. We need to know:

1: How the new ‘digital-service-era’ affects processes of desistance/resilience;

2. Whether there are disparities in the digital service era between countries with different welfare systems and how it affects desistance/resilience;

3 How different state-level organisations (criminal justice/welfare), levels of social capital, economic inequality and institutional arrangements affect desistance/resilience in a post pandemic world;

4. Which processes explain variations in rates of desistance/resilience.

We will recruit 25 men and 10 women in Canada, England, Finland who were prisoners during the pandemic as well as 15 practitioners whom assist them in their re-entry/desistance (total 150 participants). Our qualitative comparative analysis and our interdisciplinary international collaboration will highlight how the digital-service-era varies in different countries and how it affects processes of desistance from crime and re-entry to support and inform decision-making.

COVID-19 disproportionately impacted communities experiencing social and economic marginalization. Inequities in cases, hospitalizations and deaths are evident across socioeconomic determinants, geography, gender and other factors in both high-income countries such as Canada and low-income countries such as Sierra Leone. Processes of developing, implementing and evaluating health policy should identify and mitigate such inequities. Examining the extent to which COVID-19 policy decision-making was equity-driven provides an opportunity to identify gaps, lessons learned and opportunities to improve response to future anticipated waves and health emergencies. We will conduct case studies in two contexts (Canada & Sierra Leone) to assess the extent of equity-rooted approaches in COVID-19 health policy and use findings to develop a data-informed, actionable, equity-based framework to shape response to future waves and pandemics.

We propose a novel, mixed-methods evaluation harnessing knowledge translation methodology and intersectionality-based policy analysis frameworks.

Obj. 1: We will conduct key informant interviews to characterize engagement of diverse communities and marginalized populations in the development and implementation of COVID-19 health policies. Participants will describe the process of formulating, implementing and evaluating policies, whether and how an equity-lens was used to drive decision-making, and lessons learned.

Output: A critical, explanatory analysis of the extent to which equity and social justice guided COVID-19 health policy creation, implementation and evaluation in two contexts.

Obj. 2: We will use mathematical modelling of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, structured to capture key mediators of inequities in infection risk and simulate the potential and comparative impact of resource-based policies/strategies (designed to work at either the individual-, network-, or structural-level). Simulations will be contextualized to within-region heterogeneity in COVID-19 risks in each setting.

Output: A generic simulation modelling framework for testing equity-based and actionable health policies during health emergencies.

Obj. 3: We will conduct key informant interviews with decision makers to assess barriers and facilitators to using Objective 2 simulation results to develop and implement equitable COVID-19 health policies.

Output: Guidance on implementing an equity-rooted, health-emergency policy response in diverse settings.

The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated a high degree of post-traumatic stress (PTS) (e.g., PTSD or PTSS) among front-line healthcare providers (HCPs). Notably, factors that promote HCP resilience to PTS include characteristics related to their places of work (i.e., supervisor and colleague support, workplace safety, clear communication of directives), which has been further supported by meta-analytic results. Many of these workplace attributes correspond to organizational- and unit-level mechanisms rooted in compassion (e.g., social support, respectful culture, compassion role modeling by managers), referred to as organizational compassion. Although individual level compassion and compassion training have been empirically demonstrated to reduce PTS and associated symptoms, our research suggests that organizations wherein front-line HCPs work do not optimally promote organizational compassion.

The overall purpose of this project is to determine the extent to which organizational compassion can be used as a strategy to mitigate HCP PTS. Guided by the tenets of Appreciative Inquiry, we use an Integrated Knowledge Translation approach with international knowledge users (e.g., clinicians, administrators, etc.) and academics to address three objectives: 1) To summarize the essential components of organizational compassion within healthcare settings using scoping review methods; 2) To conduct stakeholder consultation meetings - in Southeast Ontario (Canada) and Oromiya Region (Ethiopia) - to formulate a plan to develop and evaluate a framework to promote organizational compassion to mitigate PTS among front-line HCPs, and; 3) To disseminate results and recommendations to multiple stakeholder groups (e.g., professional organizations, patient advocacy groups, policy makers, and research community) about how to promote organizational compassion to mitigate PTS among front-line HCPs.

Systematic review results indicate that working in front line settings during coronavirus outbreaks (SARS 2003, MERS 2012, and COVID-19) is a risk factor for HCP PTS that has negative consequences for the delivery of quality care. Furthermore, protecting HCPs from the psychological impact of pandemic-related traumatic events is an identified priority (2.5) in the United Nations Roadmap for COVID-19 Recovery. Organizational compassion may be an easily adopted, low-cost strategy with extensive potential to promote HCP resilience to PTS post-COVID and beyond.

Small water enterprises can facilitate inclusive development for the 400 million Africans lacking reliable access to clean water, but informal provision comes with risks ranging from predatory pricing to gender-based violence. This is the “informal water paradox” and the purpose of this project is to break new ground in development studies and data science to identify the context-specific suite of interventions that enable positive contributions from informal water systems, while mitigating related risks to women and marginalized communities. We argue that the path to equitable health, well- being, and development (SDGs 3, 11) hinges on access to water and sanitation for all (SDG 6) through the empowerment of women (SDG 5).

Interventions in the water sector can have vastly different effects depending on prior local conditions, which underscores the need to engage communities in decision-making during emergencies to strengthen social cohesion and tailor solutions to water entrepreneurs in the informal sector and the communities they serve. We will focus on the nexus of formal-informal water systems in Kenya as they experiment with innovative blended systems in a context of rapid change. Amidst Covid-19, water coverage by utilities decreased in Kenya, prompting interventions to integrate small water enterprises into emergency responses, particularly in informal settlements, creating opportunities for transformations that build community cohesion and resilience.

Our team will develop a participatory framework for institutional development and knowledge translation that draws on political ecologies of gender, health and data science, and involves knowledge users in all stages of measurement and evaluation. Working across the corridor from Nairobi to Kisumu, we will accomplish two objectives: i) establish and test a novel monitoring approach for high-frequency, spatially explicit tracking of informal water vending networks and their impacts on water security and well-being; and ii) identify and evaluate interventions through a natural experiment comparing paired sites with similar contexts but varying Covid-19 response interventions. In this process we focus on two dimensions of water development paths: fit with local conditions and sequencing. A south-to- south learning network of community, national and international partners will facilitate uptake across Kenya and East Africa, offering new archetypes of inclusive development and entrepreneurship.

Chaque semaine, au Canada, 500 000 travailleurs et travailleuses s’absentent du travail en raison de problèmes de santé mentale (PSM). Les PSM entraînent des pertes de productivité annuelles de plus de $56 milliards. À travers le monde, leur prévalence a augmenté de 9% à 31% durant la pandémie. Des détériorations encore plus sévères sont observées chez les femmes, les personnes et pays à faible revenu et les travailleurꞏeuses du secteur de la santé.

Plus de quatre décennies de recherche, menée au sein de pays à revenu élevé et faible, démontrent que les PSM sont 1,5 à 2 fois plus fréquents en présence de Risques Psychosociaux (RPS) au travail. Surcharge de travail, faible reconnaissance et demandes émotionnelles sont des exemples de RPS exacerbés durant la pandémie. Au Québec, la législation obligera bientôt les employeurs à évaluer, contrôler et réduire les RPS. Au Canada et en France cette législation est déjà en vigueur. Bien que non légiférés, ces risques incombent également les pays à revenu faible. Peu d’outils performants sont à la disposition des milieux de travail des différents pays pour les diagnostiquer et cibler les actions requises pour les réduire. La relance économique postpandémique doit passer par une meilleure protection des travailleurꞏeuses pour accroître leur bien-être et promouvoir la résilience : cela implique l’évaluation, le contrôle et la réduction des RPS par les employeurs.

Les travailleurꞏeuses doivent aussi disposer de stratégies de protection individuelles efficaces pour traverser les périodes de stress intense et chronique imposées notamment par les crises. Le projet vise à tester le premier prototype d’une solution numérique intégratrice alliant protections collectives et individuelles en 1) autonomisant employeurs et collectifs de travail dans le diagnostic des RPS et les actions pour les réduire et 2) soutenant les travailleurꞏeuses en période de stress chronique par la stratégie d’autocompassion pleine conscience. L’efficacité du prototype pour améliorer la santé mentale et réduire les coûts des pertes de productivité sera évaluée dans les secteurs de la santé et des télécommunications de pays à revenu élevé (Canada, France, Espagne) et faible (Népal et Pérou). Le développement s’appuiera sur nos expertises interdisciplinaires (instruments de mesure, prédiction, intervention, éthique, TI) et sur la cocréation avec des partenaires du milieu de travail. Des réductions de coûts économiques et sociaux sont anticipées.

In Nepal, Covid-19 has resulted in the closure of schools for almost a year, a loss of livelihoods, and worsening poverty, leading to an increased vulnerability of girls and women to sex-trafficking. Human rights violations, exclusion, and neglect of stigmatized and marginalized groups, such as sex-trafficking survivors living with HIV/AIDS (STSLH), have also escalated amidst the pandemic. Women and girls who are most vulnerable to sex-trafficking, and women living with HIV, mostly belong to ethnic minority and Indigenous groups from impoverished mid- and far-western and Bagmati provinces of Nepal.

The research addresses several priorities in the UN Roadmap: social protection and basic services (pillar 2, primary focus); social cohesion and resiliency (pillar 5); and health systems (pillar 1). This research aims to co-create knowledge on: i) the impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic on the mental health, well-being, and socio-economic status of this group; ii) how to address gaps in availability and access to rights-based social programs and services that can have transformative impacts at individual and societal levels; and iii) a community-led integrative post-pandemic model to challenge the root causes of sex-trafficking, and to promote the inclusion, agency, and decision-making capabilities of this group. This knowledge could be applied to STSLH as well as to other marginalized groups across Nepal and beyond.

Intersectional, gender justice, and human-rights lenses will be applied to the development of a participatory action research framework to engage STSLH in data collection and advocacy with community actors, decision-makers, and service providers. Innovative arts-based methods, such as expressive art therapy, photovoice, popular theatre, music, and poetry, will be used to promote the empowerment and well-being of female participants, as well as to carry out community-led advocacy and knowledge mobilization. To build community partnership and sustainability, the research will be carried out in collaboration with three community-based organizations. Incorporating approaches and perspectives from the disciplines and practices of social work and international development studies, this research will contribute to knowledge and actions for the post-pandemic achievement of Sustainable Development Goals 5, 10, 8, and 3. The research goals are also aligned with the UN Agenda 2030 principles of gender equality, human rights, and ‘leave no one behind’.

The collection of large datasets has led to a flurry of machine learning (ML) models for healthcare. Few models are deployed in clinical practice but that process is ramping up. ML models predict outcomes of interest such as hospital re-admission, critical events, patient deterioration and treatment regimens.

There are two limitations to how ML models are developed. They trained to have high average accuracy on a predictive task; while the final accuracy might look relatively high, there are several patients for whom the model does not work. This can happen when the dataset the model is trained on contains majority groups (e.g. white men) and fewer representatives of several different minority groups (e.g. racialized women); so the accuracy of the predictive model on the majority group may not be reflective of accuracy on the minority group. The repeated use of models with significantly lower accuracy on subgroups results in inequitable clinical care where ML systems are deployed over time. Next, models assume data in deployment are similar to data used for training. This assumption is often violated due so-called data-shift; e.g. when a model trained on data from one hospital is used to make predictions on another hospital’s very different patient cohort, or when a model trained in 2019 is used to make predictions post the initial waves of COVID in 2022.

The pandemic has altered the interaction of people with the healthcare system; to ensure and retain trust in predictive systems that are deployed in the hospital now and in the future. Using the GEMINI data (the largest cohort of internal medicine patient datasets spanning over 25 hospitals), our project will pursue two aims:

1. We will use natural variation in different hospital environments (e.g. patient subgroups, different hospitals, different care providers) to build robust ML models that emphasize the use of causal features for predictive tasks and perform more equitably across different sub-groups. The sub-groups will be chosen based on socio-economic factors that include access to healthcare and the size of the impact on the group due to the pandemic.
2. We will build novel automated solutions to identify and characterize dataset shift and notify clinicians and hospitals of when a model needs to be re-trained or halted. We will highlight the socio-economic groups most affected by data-shift to bring about change in the way models are trained and evaluated for problems in healthcare.

COVID-19 has abruptly changed occupancy in residential buildings. Homes became makeshift classrooms, daycares, and offices for many households. Because low-income households (LIHs) tend to live in smaller, older, and poorer quality housing with inefficient appliances and heating, ventilation, and air-conditioning systems (HVAC), this change disproportionately affected them. Further, energy bills can account for 10% or more of the income of LIHs, making them far more susceptible to COVID-19-induced variations in energy costs. This highlights the need for affordable housing that can provide indoor air quality (IAQ), thermal comfort and energy efficiency over a wide range of occupancy scenarios. Passive solar design solutions represent an untapped opportunity to address indoor environmental problems (e.g., heat stress, lack of comfort, and poor IAQ) intensified during the pandemic due to prolonged occupancy, diverse indoor activities, and energy insecurity.

The main objective of the proposed research is to develop robust, healthy, and sustainable designs for affordable housing programs. The proposed research will be conducted by a multi-disciplinary international research team with expertise in building engineering, architecture, and economics in five phases: (1) An international survey to document COVID-19-induced changes in occupancy, appliance and HVAC system use behaviour, and comfort will be conducted. The survey participants will be sampled from households of different income, race, age, and sex including LIHs. (2) Longitudinal IAQ, thermal comfort, and HVAC and appliance energy use data will be collected and detailed in-person interviews will be conducted with 20-30 LIHs. (3) Models for household occupancy and activity patterns will be developed representing inter-household diversity. (4) Passive design features that maximize robustness subject to occupancy-induced stochasticity on energy use, IAQ, and thermal comfort will be identified through a building performance simulation (BPS)-based investigation. (5) An economic analysis will be conducted to reveal legislation, economic incentives and education required for widespread adoption of design features. A robust, healthy, and sustainable housing guide will be generated for public sector policy makers to inform future affordable housing projects. Activities will span across three countries (Canada, Germany, and Turkey) to ensure that outcomes are globally significant.

COVID caused radical changes to markets, consumers and supply chains, impacting small and micro businesses (SMBs). Concurrently, climate change and war have radically increased refugee populations world-wide demanding new economic models. Adaptable SMBs reflect these concentrations of vulnerable women, minorities and refugees. COVID inspired the development of the Reframery (www.reframery.org). We target impacted communities by researching solutions to reduce financial instability, supporting SMBs and self-employment activities in the pre and post COVID era. We apply research findings to communities in real time, offering self-employment support for women, refugees, minorities, immigrants and persons with disabilities with research validated instructional tools, coaching, mentoring, and micro-lending reaching remotely. We will expand our research to communities 'left out' of global markets due to institutional, social and geographic constraints exacerbated by COVID.

The Reframery utilizes a new concept, a virtual entrepreneurial incubator, leveraging unique qualitative research in support of resilience. Traditional incubators offer new firms advice, networking, office space, shared services, and mentoring. They are expensive and complex, requiring local expertise, administrative resources, and space. By reducing overhead, our tested model can be efficiently expanded, supporting those lacking access. Our research focuses on enhancing self-efficacy and sustainability. We expand research with interdisciplinary tools in two ways: 1) a 'train the trainers' model, studying and supporting refugee communities in Europe and Africa, and 2) developing a novel digital community currency facilitating micro lending investment between global citizens and marginalized refugees, increasing our research domain to digital services. Community currencies support development by encouraging micro businesses. Our currency will be block chain, a system of shared transaction information reducing monitoring costs and providing security.

The Reframery advances SDG's related to poverty, gender equality, decent work, innovation and sustainable communities following UN roadmap priorities in Pillar 2 (social protection and basic services) Pillar 3 (economic response and community resilience); Pillar 4 (macroeconomic policies) and Pillar 5 (social cohesion and community resilience). We build community resilience by partnering locally, supporting refugee equity and self reliance.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected Black communities by exacerbating disparities in mental health care access for psychosis, with increased Police involvement, avoidance of treatment, and low rates of service follow up. Until now, services for early psychosis have been biomedically oriented, without attention to culture-specific causal attributions of illness and cultural interventions.

This project will redress these problems by developing novel, culturally adapted services for Black youth with early psychosis, thereby improving participation by patients and families. The project will focus on Pillar 1 of the UN Research Roadmap for the COVID-19 Recovery: Health Systems and Services; and the following Research Priorities: (1.1) Designing adaptable mental health systems; (1.2) Eliminating discrimination; and (1.5) Enabling mental health systems to engage communities. This project will empower Black communities in Montreal, Quebec, where many of these problems are endemic yet unrecognized by the provincial government, to design, develop and implement culturally sensitive services for black people with early psychosis and their families.

This exploratory study will employ in-depth interviews and focus groups to assess how members of Black communities, including patients and their families, explain psychosis, live with stigma, and experience discrimination in existing early psychosis services for Black youth. New approaches to triage, follow up and treatment will be co-created by community partners, families, clinicians and researchers to adapt existing services to the real needs of Black stakeholders. Pilot testing will document participation outcomes and use focus groups with stakeholders to assess the acceptability of adapted services. Focus groups and interviews will explore various themes, including racism, stigma and spiritual coping. Data and results will be integrated into the co-created intervention. Knowledge products will include a website with videos of stakeholder perspectives.

Given that psychosis occurs in youth and is characterized by severe symptoms like hallucinations, delusions, and functional decline, gains in these areas will foster resilient patients, families and communities. These priorities will reinforce UN interdependence factors (equity, resilience and sustainability) by uniting clinical, community and family efforts to embed culturally grounded practices into pre-existing, funded early psychosis services.

Healthcare workers worldwide have endured unimaginable stress during the COVID-19 pandemic. This is especially true in China where healthcare workers must deal with the challenges associated with the zero-COVID control policies, including the public’s confusion, frustration and even mistrust in response to severe public health restrictions. Meanwhile, cultural and social factors do not allow them to freely express their own feelings and thoughts or enact any real change within the healthcare system. As a result, 12.2% to 38.4% of Chinese healthcare workers have suffered from mental health problems during the pandemic, which poses a serious threat to the healthcare system.

We propose an anonymous, flexible, time-efficient, accessible, and scalable online intervention to help improve the mental health of healthcare workers in China. If successful, the intervention can be applied to other groups, or people from countries with a similar social and cultural system.

The project is high risk as it is the first time an online paradigm rooted in temporal cognition, expressive writing and advice-giving is being applied. The intervention consists of a series of writing exercises that will allow participants to embrace their emotional responses to the pandemic in a safe environment. It will encourage them to take a broader view of their pandemic life, find meaning in their experiences, and help others by advising new generations of healthcare workers. With participants’ permission, some of the writings will be shared with peers and the public to allow for a broad understanding of healthcare workers’ perspectives. If successful, we will work with the local public health agency to make our intervention freely available.

Canadian and Chinese researchers from the fields of psychology, medical humanity and social medicine will join together in a unique way to make this ambitious project a reality. We aim to improve the mental health of healthcare workers and promote social cohesion and community resilience in a simple, unique, cost-effective, and equitable fashion thereby realizing Pillar 2.5 of the UN roadmap. Healing the mental health of medical workers is critical for sustaining basic health services and promoting the well-being for all people (UNSDG3).

The COVID-19 pandemic has revealed and deepened social inequalities. It has highlighted fissures in social cohesion and, where trust in governance is poor, generated resistance and antipathy. Yet, the outbreak's revelatory function calls attention to human capacity for social solidarity and the significance of local-level advocacy to meet basic needs, such as for housing and more equitable health care access. How can we ensure that local knowledge and experience are reflected in pandemic recovery priorities, and work to prevent their historical erasure? To the extent that local activism has secured housing and health care for some of the world's most vulnerable people, we can identify, replicate and adjust those models to alleviate poverty and disease in future.

This trans-disciplinary (history, social work, public health, public policy) project will draw together scholars of, and community organizations in, Canada, Brazil, and Guatemala. Using a case-study model, it will explore the pandemic experiences of ‘small’ and ‘local’ groups and activists in a global context, conceptualizing the pandemic as a potential catalyst to achieving improvements to basic services (Pillar 2.2), equity and health care access (1.2), and social cohesion (2.5).

Marginalized communities possess invaluable knowledge and experience for any pandemic recovery. Participatory research with local communities can create more diverse and nuanced approaches to recovery, foregrounding lesser-known contributions to pandemic survival and social cohesion. Rather than viewing these local contributions as new phenomena, a central goal of the project is to reveal neglected historical continuities in lay knowledge and activism; to confront disempowering silences by creating space for the voices of past and present community-led social justice and decolonization movements; and to inject local knowledge and practices in pandemic recovery policy.

Growing out of lost stories of community advocacy, especially by Indigenous and poor urban and rural people, the team will help to gather testimony, and conduct participant-led knowledge-creation projects that harness creativity in diverse forms of story-telling and preservation. The project will provide opportunities for local partners to share their learning with each other, and support the development of democratized global voices in pandemic recovery decision-making that engage the power of history, memory, and lay knowledge/capacity.

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought severe logistical challenges due to disruptions in manufacturing and transportation, which have constrained supply chains and resulted in critical shortages of goods, making small businesses especially vulnerable. Additive manufacturing (3D printing) can significantly improve supply chain resilience for many manufacturing companies, as it can lessen dependence on distant suppliers and instead put the source at or nearby the point of delivery. Moreover, AM enables a new path to a circular economy using recycling and production, thus contributing to a more environmentally friendly future thanks to the possibility to produce parts on demand, reducing waste and inventory. Setting up a new AM process remains empirically-driven, with long expensive printing trials before producing a defect-free part; using recycled materials in AM process increases the uncertainty to the lead-in time. These risks create obvious barriers to a wider technology adoption.

This project explores the feasibility of sustainable fused filament fabrication (FFF) 3D printing of fiber reinforced polymer composites, with filaments produced from recycled material. The objectives of the project include: (i) manufacturing of sustainable feedstock, analysis of its technical and economic viability for AM process; (ii) development of numerical simulation models of the AM process to identify the ‘right’ combination of process and material parameters to avoid defects during a new part setup; (iii) static and fatigue characterization of an AM part from recycled material to compare its structural performance to virgin material; (iv) case study into cost and sustainable operation of a 3D printed part. This interdisciplinary project combines efforts in plastics recycling, materials and mechanical engineering, operations and supply chain management to support a growing application of the sustainable 3D printing by Canadian industry. The project will avert the high-risks of prolonged lead-in time when setting up a new 3D printing process.

The project will address research priorities 3.2.1 (transition to more sustainable economies) and 3.2.2 (economic development strategies to support small-sized enterprises) from the UN Roadmap for Postpandemic Recovery. The anticipated project outcomes will contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goal 9 (Building resilient infrastructure, promote sustainable industrialization and foster innovation).

Despite WHO recommending in January 2020, upon declaring COVID-19 a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC), not to apply “any travel or trade restriction,” virtually all countries did so. Amid limited scientific evidence to inform real-time decision making, governments applied varying border practices to mitigate public health risks from SARS-CoV-2. Evidence now suggests that, applied in particular ways, travel measures can reduce virus importation and transmission. However, poorly applied and coordinated practices across jurisdictions undermine public health goals. Moreover, substantial socioeconomic impacts - inequitably distributed across different categories of traveller by citizenship, purpose of travel, point of departure, and travel mode - can result. “Building back better” in a post-pandemic world requires better understanding of how to effectively use travel measures to protect public health while limiting their inequitable impacts. This research aims to analyse the public health and socioeconomic impacts of travel measures during COVID-19, through an equity lens, and to draw lessons for supporting recovery of international population movements. We focus on the Canada-US border (land, air and sea) because of high traffic volumes, regional economic integration, and close social connections. Our objectives are to: a) understand equity dimensions of Canada-US border policies during COVID-19; b) make recommendations for supporting recovery of crossborder travel; and c) draw lessons for supporting risk-based approaches to future border management during PHEICs and reforming global health governance. The project brings together interdisciplinary expertise from the Pandemics and Borders Project spanning social sciences, mathematics and genomics. We develop and apply an equity matrix to assess travel measures using a mixed methods approach to integrate quantitative data on crossborder travel with key informant interviews and focus groups. The project addresses 3 Roadmap priorities:

Pillar 1.4: How can global governance be reformed to support more coordinated and collective responses against those health threats that transcend national boundaries?

Pillar 4.5.3: What reforms are needed to the International Health Regulations and other multilateral instruments that promote global health security?

Pillar 4.5.2 What international rules, processes and systems can help countries work together to address shared risks?

Problématique: La pandémie a exacerbé les inégalités en santé existantes et en a révélé de nouvelles avec des conséquences économiques et sociales significatives. Les femmes et les filles dans le monde et particulièrement dans les pays du Sud Global font face à plusieurs types d’inégalités. Les effets des interventions de santé publique telles que le confinement ont laissé les femmes et les filles plus vulnérables. Nous faisons l’hypothèse que le recul de leur émancipation comme personnes habilitées à prendre des décisions pour elles-mêmes constitue l’un des effets les plus nocifs. La décision partagée (DP) est un processus collaboratif par lequel les équipes cliniques et les personnes qui les consultent sont engagées dans les décisions concernant leur santé en fonction des meilleures preuves et de ce qui est le plus important pour elles. Elle a un effet bénéfique sur la réduction des iniquités en santé. Par conséquent, il est urgent de mettre à l’échelle les interventions de DP afin qu’un plus grand nombre de femmes et de filles puissent en bénéficier. Objectifs: En lien avec les priorités 1.2, 1.3 et 5.1 du Schéma directeur des Nations Unies, et en collaboration avec les partenaires en Afrique francophone et en Amérique latine, ce projet vise à: 1) Établir un partenariat équitable et durable avec les partenaires du Sud Global; 2) Identifier les besoins décisionnels en matière de santé et bien-être des femmes et des filles; 3) Codévelopper une plateforme d’outils et de formations sur la DP qui répond à ces besoins; 4) Explorer des stratégies de mise à l’échelle de la DP et 5) Renforcer la capacité dans ce domaine. Méthodologie: Nous adopterons une approche de partenariat équitable et de co-construction, notamment via la création d’un comité de pilotage représentatif dans le respect des meilleures pratiques d’ÉDI (obj.1). Suivant le modèle d’aide à la décision d’Ottawa, nous réaliserons des entrevues individuelles ou de groupes avec les différent.es intervenant.es afin de déterminer les besoins décisionnels (obj.2). Utilisant des méthodes centrées sur l'utilisateur.trice, nous codevelopperont le matériel qui répond aux besoins (obj.3). Nous mènerons une consultation sur les stratégies de mise à l'échelle de la DP qui sont les plus appropriées (obj.4). Nous intégrerons des étudiant.es du Sud Global dans l'initiative (obj. 5). Retombées et impacts: Plus de femmes et de filles seront engagées dans les décisions concernant leur santé et leur bien-être.

Public health relies on public trust to promote compliance. Yet many question the legitimacy of some COVID-19 pandemic measures and how decisions were made. The pandemic and some measures disproportionately impacted on disadvantaged communities, including persons with disabilities, seniors, and Indigenous peoples. Some specific measures also undermined more broadly trust in public health interventions and institutions involved in governance.

This research project brings together an interdisciplinary group of scholars and community members who will explore, through a scoping review, survey- and qualitative research, and case study analyses, the following research questions: 1. What contributed to diminishing trust in public health measures among some and what are the implications for future interventions? 2. What were the impacts, and of which measures, on already disadvantaged communities? 3. How did decision-making and governance processes contributed to problems identified in 1 and 2? We will use a community-engaged methodology and deliberative consultation to identify approaches that promote UN Sustainable Development goals 'good health' and 'reducing inequality'.

The first part of the project will examine public health measures (e.g. mandatory vaccination) and factors that may have affected trust and social cohesion (e.g. communication strategies, public reporting, lack of transparency, decision-making processes).

The second part will explore disproportionate impacts of COVID-19 and specific pandemic interventions on persons with disabilities, elderly, and Indigenous persons, all often at heightened health-related risk. Through the study of decision-making structures we participated in, we will examine community-engagement in pandemic planning. We will identify how most-impacted communities can be meaningfully involved in designing and implementing solutions that affect them; and how health systems can ensure that all, including those marginalized and most affected, are represented in decision-making.

Our research will provide evidence-informed identification of public health measures and governance that enhance trust, through engagement with those particularly affected. This will lead to game-changing alternatives, with decision-making approaches that ensure that all voices, including affected and marginalized communities, are engaged in designing and implementing solutions that eliminate discrimination (UN priorities 1.5, 1.2, 5.1, 5.2).

The COVID-19 disruption is exacerbated in lower-income countries and communities by school closures, social distancing, economic instability, and political discontent. This proposed research, Re-storying Community will investigate youth engagement and community participation through arts-based digital storytelling to explore the role of community as a space of knowledge production, as well as how youth help produce such a space as an integral part of global post-pandemic recovery. Our objectives are to:

• Establish a Canadian-led international network of researchers and practitioners on arts-based digital storytelling as an act of inquiry into sustainable living and pedagogy;
• Develop insights about how youth, educators, researchers, and community members can examine and support geo-specific understanding of post-pandemic recovery;
• Mobilize knowledge by fostering collaborative exchanges and resource creation that supports digital storytelling for social innovation and community transformation.

As an international partnership, we aim to mobilize interdisciplinary scholarship and university-community collaboration. With postsecondary institutions in Bhutan, Canada, and Nepal, the project invites university students to share their pandemic views and experiences. We will conduct empirical studies and cross-comparison of site findings to generate new knowledge on this global challenge. Our focus on research-action synergy for supporting community resilience and development will take place through virtual trans-national teaching exchanges, a living archive (e.g., podcasts, archival mapping, data visualization, and digital storytelling), scholarly publications, community showcases, workshops-forums, and multimedia art exhibitions.

This research responds to the 5th pillar of the UN socio-economic recovery framework, Social Cohesion and Community Resilience, and research priorities 5.3, 5.4 and 5.5 in the UN Roadmap. It will initiate innovative research and practical actions through our collective commitment to advocating youth engagement and community participation. The project will contribute to Sustainable Development Goals 3, 4, 5, 11, and 17 by bringing together a global network of researchers, educators, social entrepreneurs, community professionals, and artists; we will frame the research in terms of community members’ local knowledge, and offer a collaborative model that explicitly links academic research and community practice.

Education was hit hard during COVID-19, with school closures and disrupted teaching. When school educators (elementary, high school) moved to online lessons heavily mediated by technology, it came at a cost to their well-being. In Canada, school teachers took sick leave for stress and burnout. In Bangladesh, teachers faced challenges with navigating new digital technologies and communicating with students. Women teachers faced unique difficulties relating to assumptions about childcare and housework during the work day. While digital advances during COVID-19 are expected to spur innovations in education approaches globally, pandemic experience shows that we lack healthy, sustainable approaches to supporting school-level educators to deliver digital education. Indeed, a 2021 Bangladesh-focused UNESCO report specifically identifies the challenge of adequately preparing teachers to adapt to supporting distance learning.

This research study addresses UN Research Priority 3.1 (How can economic recovery policies protect workers, ensure their well-being, and promote a resilient workforce?). The OBJECTIVE of our study is to identify sustainable approaches to digital school teaching that protect the health and well-being of educators. Using intersectionality-based developmental evaluation approaches, which are particularly useful in changing environments and when addressing gender-sensitive issues, our team will achieve the following sustainable development OUTCOMES tailored to social, labour and economic conditions in Canada and Bangladesh: i) policy recommendations for employment and training standards that sustain healthy and resilient digital educators in the formal economy; ii) specific strategies for supporting digital educators in precarious or informal employment, including tutors; iii) approaches that attend to urban-rural digitisation divides; and iv) gender-sensitive proposals addressing distinct employment needs of women and men educators.

Our international research team with expertise in social and implementation sciences will work closely with our Canadian and Bangladeshi Stakeholder Advisory Committees (government, labour, education community, women’s rights collaborators) to develop economic recovery policies that are useful to Canadian and Bangladeshi education workers and policymakers. While our study focuses on the education sector, the findings are expected to be widely relevant where professionals are engaged in frontline client work.

La crise socio-sanitaire liée à la COVID-19 a révélé (et creusé) les inégalités sociales de santé tout en exacerbant plusieurs problèmes sociaux, qui mobilisent des réseaux constitués de plusieurs acteurs. Ces réseaux sont amenés à évoluer dans un environnement très incertain. Comme résumé par Ansell, Sorensen, et Torfing « La pandémie de COVID-19 révèle que l’action publique est non seulement confrontée à des problèmes simples et complexes, mais aussi à des problèmes turbulents caractérisés par l'émergence surprenante d'événements incohérents, imprévisibles et incertains » (p.1, trad. libre). Faire face à cette turbulence signifie déployer des stratégies de gouvernance robuste, reposant sur la créativité et l’agilité d’organisations, collaborant au sein de systèmes capables de s’adapter.

L’objectif principal de ce projet comparatif France-Québec est de mieux comprendre comment la gestion par trajectoires et parcours de santé (GT-PS) contribuerait à une réponse postpandémique à travers une gouvernance robuste et adaptable. La comparaison France-Québec nous semble fort intéressante dans la mesure où les deux systèmes se distinguent par le degré d’intégration des structures. L’approche retenue est l'étude de cas multiples avec analyse comparée: des analyses intercas pour bien saisir la mise en œuvre de la GT-PS, les facteurs d’influence et les effets produits en France et au Québec respectivement; des analyses intercas à des fins comparatives pour appréhender comment les contextes ont influencé la mise en œuvre de la GT-PS et les effets produits.

Dans les deux cas, les données seront collectées auprès d’établissements ayant implanté la GT-PS et avec qui l’équipe de recherche collabore déjà. Cela permettra de s’appuyer sur des relations déjà établies. La collecte de données se basera sur des observations des réunions des comités de direction sur 12 mois, l’analyse de documents et des entretiens semi-dirigés.

Cette recherche comparative, menée par une équipe internationale, sera la 1ère du genre quant à la réponse des systèmes de santé via la GT-PS mise en place quelques années avant la pandémie et permettra de répondre à des questions comme : est-ce que la GT-PS a permis de rendre des services plus équitables? Une telle étude montrera ce qui a pu faciliter ou non la résilience du système, la réponse des différents niveaux de gouvernance impliquées et les perspectives postpandémiques et aidera à ne plus répéter éternellement les mêmes erreurs.

COVID-19 has destabilized health, well-being, acculturation and language practices of vulnerable immigrant populations with “the highest degree of marginalization” [UNRR,p.24]. This project addresses the UN RR5 Social Cohesion, Community, Resilience theme by establishing the social impact of COVID-19 on inequalities in multilingual emergency information access [RR5.5], language and culture practices [5.1, 5.2, 5.3] in Ukrainian and Russian-speaking communities in Canada and Germany and by identifying ways to rectify the inequalities. The groups choice is motivated by their prominence in both countries, team expertise, and the recent heightened attention to these diasporas. With the focus on these communities, the project objectives are to: 1) analyze the impact of COVID-19 on the official and home language practices [5.3]; 2) establish patterns of accessing emergency information in the official and home languages, design strategies for enhancing multilingual information access [5.5]; and 3) identify their linguacultural support needs [5.1,5.4]. The study adopts an interdisciplinary approach to multilingualism, multiculturalism and digital information access informed by sociolinguistics, applied linguistics, sociocultural psychology, library and information science. Research methods incorporate the established practices of sociolinguistic surveys and interviews with immigrants, community activists, language teachers and innovative discussions with other shareholders, such as libraries, municipalities, NGOs, ministries, and colleges [5.1,5.2,5.4]. The project creates a novel interdisciplinary knowledge of linguacultural challenges in immigration exacerbated by COVID-19. The project will help the immigrant groups with post-COVID community language practices recovery, enhance social cohesion and community resilience by identifying multilingual channels of accessing health and other pertinent emergency information, and by sharing agglomerated sustainable multilingual and multicultural resources internationally [5.1-5]. The team will build collaborations in theory, data, methodology, and the training of young scholars from Ukraine. The study will connect relevant stakeholders to enable addressing the identified multilingual and multicultural support needs of the immigrant communities. It will serve as a template for future work with other immigrant groups. The results will be disseminated in academic and community venues and reported to multiple shareholders.

La COVID-19 a mis en lumière le travail essentiel réalisé majoritairement par des femmes pour perpétuer la vie, tant à l’intérieur des systèmes de santé que dans les espaces communautaires et familiaux. Pourtant, les savoirs des travailleuses du care ne sont souvent pas intégrés dans les décisions concernant leur travail. Il est donc essentiel de s’intéresser aux initiatives qui ont le potentiel d’assurer la viabilité des systèmes de santé. Le présent projet propose d’expérimenter des actions politiques ascendantes, c’est-à-dire la contribution des citoyens, usagers et travailleuses du care à la transformation des structures et politiques gouvernant l’organisation du care. L’objectif est de rapprocher les productrices du care de ceux qui prennent les décisions quant aux manières de dispenser le care.

Ce projet puise dans les héritages québécois et brésilien d’éducation populaire et d’approches conscientisantes afin de décloisonner le système de santé ainsi que les milieux communautaires et familiaux de production du care. Par un projet de recherche-action participative au Québec et au Brésil, des groupes seront créés parmi les catégories d’acteurs suivantes: citoyens et usagers, travailleuses du care, gestionnaires du réseau de la santé et décideurs politiques. Le partage d’expériences sera favorisé à l’intérieur des groupes afin de briser l’isolement et identifier les vécus communs. Ensuite, les médiums artistiques (slam, théâtre) seront mobilisés pour libérer la parole des acteurs. Enfin, les différents groupes exposeront leurs perspectives respectives lors d’un événement conjoint où le théâtre législatif (visant la transformation des structures et politiques sociétales) sera mis de l’avant pour aplanir les relations de pouvoir et favoriser l’engagement des décideurs et gestionnaires vers le changement social.

Ce projet fait partie d’une équipe de recherche ayant remporté le concours TransAtlantic Platform Social Sciences and Humanities (fonds d’infrastructure 2022-2025 CRSH 200 000$ et FRQSC 50 000$) avec 5 autres pays (Brésil, Colombie, États-Unis, France et Royaume-Uni). Les échanges avec les chercheurs et participants des autres pays donneront lieu à une fertilisation croisée des divers savoirs. La diversité des acteurs assure une compréhension du care qui va au-delà des structures actuelles du soin rémunéré (sphère publique) vs soin gratuit (sphère privée). La transformation structurelle mènera à davantage d’équité en santé.

The COVID-19 Pandemic in Canada has included a public health campaign of vaccination, regulations restricting behavior and information that has blunted the effects of the pandemic. We are still inundated by news of the virulent new strains infecting large numbers and the prospect of Long COVID devastating lives far into the future.

Most Canadians have found the pandemic stressful but manageable and are eager to return to normal life. However, approximately 25% of Canadians have become extremely stressed. The pandemic has been a massive training program in the development of health anxiety. These individuals are falling into a cycle of fear, worry and avoidance preventing them from transitioning to a post-COVID-19 world.

Health anxiety is the fear of, or belief that, one is suffering from severe illness. It ranges from mild to severe and consists of cognitive, behavioral, affective and somatic components. Cognitive aspects include excessive worry about disease. Behavioral aspects include excessive health behaviors such as handwashing and avoidance of activities. The somatic component includes high levels of arousal and significant sleep difficulties.

Our Canada-wide team of researchers with extensive expertise in e-health, health anxiety, information technology sex- and gender-based analysis and clinical research design will develop, evaluate and implement a graded series of e-health interventions for health anxiety in adults in the context of the pandemic.

We will use a Cognitive Behavioral Therapy model and sophisticated Persuasive Design to develop 3 interventions: a health information intervention, a self-managed app-based intervention and an individually-coached intervention using text messaging (or emails). All interventions will be delivered electronically and available across Canada in both official languages.

We will use a novel research design, Trials within Cohorts (TWiC), with randomized trials nested in a large cohort recruited because of health anxiety begun or exacerbated by COVID-19. We will begin recruitment within a few weeks of the grant initiation. The components of the research will be developed in parallel using aggressive project management. Our experience in large cross Canada e-health trials and health anxiety interventions, will permit very rapid development and implementation of the research. Following the trials, successful interventions will be made available across Canada and to other countries.

During the COVID 19 pandemic, discrimination in individual and systemwide decisions and actions has escalated existing inequities. This has rendered people already at risk of poor health outcomes before the pandemic even worse off than before. In response, the UN Research Roadmap has proposed the elimination of discrimination in the health system as a key goal. Though the relationship between discrimination and health disparities is well established, addressing it in ways that lead to behaviour change has proven to be difficult. One reason is that discrimination often stems from unexamined biases and assumptions. When we do not recognize or acknowledge that these biases exist, they hold a great deal of power over our actions and attitudes. Eliminating system wide discrimination is not possible unless leaders at all points of care in the health system do the inner work of examining their own implicit biases.

This project harnesses a novel collaboration between the dramatic arts and allied health sciences. Our objective is to dismantle discrimination by developing a participatory theatre intervention. We will use it to invite health system leaders to examine how implicit biases and assumptions may be shaping decisions and actions in unconscious ways that discriminate and exclude.

Approach: 1) Beginning with a qualitative study, we will gather stories of lived experiences of discrimination (e.g., intersections of race, social class, gender, and age) with the health system from a diverse sample of people; 2) These stories will inform the development of scenes that will ground the participatory theatre intervention; 3) Working in collaboration with our community partners, we will develop the intervention itself and determine appropriate applied theatre techniques for its facilitation; 4) We will pilot, revise, and implement the intervention across health systems regionally, nationally and internationally, and then evaluate its impact.

Significance: In 2015, the Sustainable Development Goals provided a bold vision for addressing discrimination as critical to creating a sustainable world. Progress has been disappointing. Through our innovative project, we will invite leaders to develop the inner capacity to recognize and eliminate discrimination in the health system. Taking responsibility for our own growth in the way that this intervention invites allows us to honour our collective responsibility to create a more equitable world.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many community organizations have tailored their services or created innovative programs to halt the parallel, ongoing pandemic of gender-based violence (GBV) and to empower socio-economic recovery efforts of women survivors. However, we don't know whether these programs are sustainable beyond COVID-19. The overall objective of this proposed international and interdisciplinary research project is to examine innovative community-based responses/practices employed by community-based organizations responding to GBV during the pandemic in four countries. Specific objectives of this proposed research project are to examine (1) how organizations adapted their services during the COVID-19 pandemic to improve access to resources, services, and supports for GBV survivors; (2) the effectiveness of these services during the pandemic and pandemic recovery; (3) the challenges GBV survivors experienced during the pandemic and their recovery journey.

Using a mixed-method approach and multi-sectoral collaboration across four different countries, Canada, USA, South Africa, and India, the proposed project will include a systematic review of published and grey literature at the initial phase to identify country-specific policies and programs tailored/developed during the COVID-19 pandemic to address GBV. In the second phase, a cost-benefit analysis will be used as part of a participatory process with community organizations to identify the emerging best practices for survivors. Additionally, a large-scale survey and Clinical Ethnographic Narrative Interview will be used to collect data from the survivors of GBV across the four countries.

This proposed research aligns with Research Priorities 2.1.5 and 1.1 (United Nations, 2020) by focusing on strategies used to address GBV during COVID-19 and assess the sustainability of these strategies for use during future emergencies. By examining innovative community-based responses to GBV, the proposed research would contribute to the achievement of gender equality and empowerment of women (UN Sustainable Development Goal 5) by enhancing understanding of the sustainability and effectiveness of context-specific intervention strategies employed during the COVID-19 pandemic to mitigate the roll-back (due to the COVID-19 pandemic) of limited gains in gender equality and women's empowerment achieved in the last decades by putting women and girls at the center of post COVID-19 recovery efforts.

Gambling disorder is associated with substantial costs (eg. economic, societal) and represents a major public health concern. Gambling-related harm is not equally distributed, but varies according to socio-economic status at both individual and area-levels, with society’s most socio-economically disadvantaged individuals assuming a disproportionate amount of the burden associated with gambling-related harm. The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly impacted the gambling landscape, particularly accelerating, at an unprecedented rate, a shift toward higher risk online forms of gambling. The effects of COVID-19 pandemic are also not equally distributed, disproportionately impacting society’s most socio-economically disadvantaged individuals.

As such, the objectives of this project are to examine how (1) recent shifts in the gambling landscape are affecting the historically inequitable nature of gambling-related problems and harm, and (2) to most effectively identify the underlying causes of socio-economic inequities in the gambling field moving forward in a postpandemic recovery context.

This project will employ an interdisciplinary approach, drawing from epidemiology, sociology, psychology, and public health. The research team will undertake a mixed methods research design including both quantitative (eg. survey) and qualitative (eg. interview) components that will be strengthened through both triangulation of data and the addition of a component dedicated to co-construction of knowledge. Quantitative data analysis will include higher level statistical (eg. multi-level) modeling. Qualitative data analysis will include inductive thematic content analysis.

This project aligns with the UN Research Roadmap priority of tackling underlying root causes of socio-economic inequities, among others, and will contribute to the achievement of the UN Sustainable Development Goal of reducing inequalities within countries. To our knowledge, it will be the first to examine, throughout a period of profound change, the relationship between the rapidly evolving gambling landscape and its consequences for gambling related problems and harm by function of socio-economic disadvantage. Project findings have the potential to optimize public policy and service distribution which is essential for developing innovative solutions to support a more equitable, sustainable and resilient postpandemic reality and ultimately reduce inequality in gambling-related harms.

Windsor-Essex sits at the busiest border crossing between the USA and Canada and is responsible for 25% of all US-Canada goods trade. More than 6,000 residents commute routinely to the USA, making this border region particularly sensitive to the impacts of emerging pathogens with many far-ranging social and economic impacts. To meet the urgent challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic we established a surveillance-based informative framework that combines saliva-based PCR screening and wastewater testing with pathogen genome sequencing to detect the emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants and to efficiently communicate this information to decision makers and the community.

Building on the success of this framework, we propose to address UN Roadmap Health Systems and Services Research Priority 1.5 by creating a rapid, sensitive and scalable early-warning surveillance platform applicable to many other border communities. Specifically, we aim to 1) extend our existing wastewater testing and genome sequencing platform to monitor a broad range of pathogens with pandemic potential; 2) extend the capabilities of a combined computational and experimental platform to evaluate threats from novel pathogens; 3) expand our pathogen monitoring dashboard to rapidly and effectively communicate critical public health information to border communities in a transparent manner that addresses the potential for misinformation; and 4) conduct a behaviour analysis of cross-border commuters that will inform public health leaders on effective ways to increase compliance on voluntary public health measures including the compliance to saliva-based PCR screening for emerging pathogens.

Our multidisciplinary team brings together expertise in molecular virology, genome sequencing, assay development (Ng, Tong, Porter), wastewater testing (McKay), participant uptake, compliance, and satisfaction (Soucie), social computing, big data analysis (Zadeh) and border relations and policies (Anderson). Our team incorporates trainees and early career researchers and is founded with equity, diversity and inclusion as a priority. Leveraging regional & international partnerships, we will provide the busiest international border in North America with rapid, science-based knowledge that will better protect a high-risk population and support a more stable economy in the face of emerging pandemic pressures.

Women and youth (who account for over 70% of the refugee population Nakivale refugee settlement in Uganda) live in high rates of poverty and food insecurity. Only 26% of refugee youths (15-24 years) are currently engaged in some form of economic activity, mainly crop and vegetable growing, which were negatively affected during COVID-19 crisis due to sicknesses, high prices for agriculture inputs, and travel bans.

While entrepreneurship education is recognized to empower women and youth with economic security and resilience elsewhere, access to entrepreneurship training and support opportunities are lacking in Nakivale refugee settlement. In line with the UN Research roadmap for COVID-19 (pillar: Economic Response and RecoveryPrograms), we propose to develop and test a Digital Agripreneurship innovation—an educational and economic intervention to enhance post-pandemic resilience among vulnerable refugee women and youth in Nakivale refugee settlement. The innovation includes equipping beneficiaries with agripreneurship (i.e. agricultural entrepreneurship) knowledge and skills in vegetable growing, facilitating access to information, digital skills, capacity building and mentorship, and credit facilities in form of agriculture input.

We aim to: (1) carry out a feasibility study in Nakivale refugee settlement to assess the economic impact of COVID-19 and explore the optimal design for a Digital Agripreneur innovation to enhance economic activity among women and youth, (2) develop an optimal Digital Agripreneur innovation and access its feasibility and acceptability, and (3) determine the impact of the Digital Agripreneur innovation on the economic security.

The Digital Agripreneur platform will be developed following iterative participatory approaches through focus group discussions with women, youth, and community leaders. Feasibility and acceptability will be assessed using technology adoption models. The impact on economic security will be explored using the “before-and-after” experiment.

The novelty and the significance of our project is that we utilize an interdisciplinary innovation composed of face-to-face and digital learning, information support, mentors and microcredit to enhance post-pandemic resilience using participatory approaches. Our project could provide a more accessible, affordable, and innovative means of enhancing economic security, as well as digital literacy among vulnerable refugee women and youth.

Men account for 75% of suicide deaths in Canada, and their delay or avoidance for seeking help from professional mental health services is deeply implicated. The COVID-19 pandemic has further challenged many men’s mental health and complicated service delivery, demanding novel research and practice efforts to meet men’s mental health needs. This research targets priority 5.5 of the UN Research Roadmap (5. Social Cohesion and Community Resilience) by exploring how digital technologies can be harnessed to promote social cohesion and reduce male suicide. This work seeks to promote men’s help-seeking by norming masculine cultures that are supportive of healthy peer relationships and mutual help for mental health challenges. Insights will be collected and used to inform a novel e-intervention designed to connect and empower men through mutual support. This participatory action research will be conducted in two phases, including a photovoice assignment and qualitative interviews for a needs analysis, and feasibility testing of the novel e-intervention for men. Participants’ photographs will be narrated in individual Zoom interviews (n=50) to explore Canadian men’s experiences and perspectives of social connection and mutual help for mental health promotion. The interviews and photographs will be analyzed thematically to identify patterns in the data, and to distil recommendations for e-intervention development. The e-intervention will be designed to upskill men and norm masculine cultures that affirm men’s social cohesion and peer support through virtual modules and photo testimonials. Men (n=200) will be recruited to test the intervention for feasibility and provide feedback for further refinement comprising digital surveys, Google analytics, and follow-up interviews. Outcomes from this research will directly contribute to the UN Sustainable Development Goal of ensuring good health and well-being for all (goal 3) with an explicit focus on reducing suicide rates (target indicator 3.4.2). Given the wide-ranging impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on men’s mental health, this research is especially timely to better understand factors that enhance men’s social cohesion and enable mutual support for mental health challenges. The proposed intervention is transformative in affording an opportunity to custom design and formally test an e-intervention for men that seeks to reframe their social interactions in ways that build social cohesion and support mental health.

This project will analyze Mongolia's care infrastructure and produce a gender-transformative macroeconomic model to support the development of effective inclusive recovery strategies. Working with government agencies, NGOs and local/community actors, our goals will: 1) undertake 2 quantitative and qualitative surveys to measure the impacts of the pandemic on women, focusing on the two most marginalized populations: nomadic people and those living in slum areas in the capital city; 2) calculate the contribution of unpaid and paid care to the Mongolian economy using existing data sources and data generated by the surveys; and 3) develop a macroeconomic model to estimate the impact of care policies on factors including paid/unpaid care, employment and output. This project will show the pandemic's impact on women and vulnerable populations, provide evidence for a rethink of care as a social/economic investment, and contribute to gender-transformative recovery strategies in Mongolia and other low-middle-income countries.

The COVID pandemic has hugely increased women’s carework. In low-middle-income countries, climate-related adversities--longer droughts, increased dust storms--have further added to women’s heavy care burden. Research show the importance of unpaid carework in nurturing and protecting current and future generations of people and for sustaining labor force, even as much of women's carework remains outside of the GDP. Studies also show systematic devaluation of paid carework: carework is relegated to vulnerable people—women, racialized and immigrant workers, and increasingly, migrant workers. We need to rethink care in postpandemic recovery—from a family responsibility to a key investment for human wellbeing, decent work, fiscal health and sustainability. New macroeconomic models incorporating care can show how investing in care can provide widespread benefits.

Mongolia is experiencing demographic changes, climate concerns, and urgently need effective gender macroeconomic policies. The number of children and seniors has grown since 2000, creating a heavy care burden for women. With pandemic, pre-school enrollment rates declined. But little paid care is available for children, even less for elders. Care needs in Mongolia is further complicated by its large nomadic population and those live in slum areas outside the capital. Mongolian women have higher education than men, but women’s employment rates are lower and declining due to the care burden.

There is hardly a person or place on earth that has not been affected by the 2020-2022 SARS-CoV-2 pandemic. In most countries, socio-economic, education, and health systems experienced massive disruptions, with repercussions expected to continue for decades. While focusing on effective and sustainable recovery, we must also look back on the pandemic response of the last two years and learn from it. The UN Research Roadmap lays out a path from the lessons learned through meaningful recovery to a resilient future.

The proposed project contributes to Pillar 5: Social Cohesion and Community Resilience, Pillar 2: Social Protection and Basic Services, and Pillar 1: Health Systems and Services. Within these themes, we focus on the two research priorities 5.1 (How can communities be optimally engaged in decision-making during emergencies to strengthen social cohesion?) and 5.2 (How can governments most effectively communicate with local communities to build trust, forge consensus and promote cooperation to achieve shared goals?), while also addressing the three research questions 1.3.2, 2.3.4, and 2.5.1. This research contributes to achieving the four UN Sustainable Development Goals 3, 4, 11, and 16.

The project team comprises a diverse group of researchers from across the globe. The principal investigators are affiliated with six universities in the Province of Ontario, Canada, and represent different social and health sciences. Canadian co-applicants add expertise in governance, healthcare, law, media and communications, while international collaborators from Jamaica, Western Europe, Israel, Kenya, and Uganda specialize in behavioural sciences, economics, epidemiology, and philosophy. The project also engages non-profit and private-sector organizations in the areas of One Health, and democracy and civil society.

According to the team’s interdisciplinary composition, a set of nested conceptual frameworks and a variety of research methods will be used. A theoretical foundation in bio- and geopolitics, epistemology, and complexity theory is complemented by operational considerations around the social determinants of health and value-based governance, along with an applied framework in rational, evidence-informed and participatory decision-making under uncertainty. The methods that will be used by subgroups of researchers include critical analysis, discourse analysis, secondary data analysis and visualization, as well as oral histories and creative work.

Background: The COVID-19 pandemic has intensified many systemic inequalities such as the rural-urban divide. The digital divide goes well beyond infrastructure, and impacts access to quality education, healthcare, jobs, and gender equality. According to the UNCTAD Digital Economic Report (2019), digital developments have implications for all the UN sustainable development goals and will affect all countries, sectors, and stakeholders, advancing some while leaving others behind, necessitating multi-disciplinary and collaborative solutions.

Social innovations, or new ideas to create effective solutions to entrenched social problems, create opportunities to advance equity in rural/remote communities, such as women-led micro-finance enterprise initiatives. Examining potential synergies between digital tools of western countries and the social innovation capacities of developing countries has the potential to inform novel strategies towards digital inclusion.

This proposal will address priorities 2.4 from the UN Research Roadmap: How can an exclusionary digital divide be prevented in an increasingly virtual world? and 5.5 How can digital technologies be harnessed to promote social cohesion while ensuring no one is excluded?

Objectives: The overarching aim of this mixed methods, multi-country, multi-disciplinary project is to examine the ways social innovation and technology synergies can advance rural community resilience. A team including scholars and stakeholders from Canada, Africa, and Southeast Asia, will address three primary objectives:

1. Identify local social innovations and the impact of digitalization on their operations.
2. Identify and prioritize rural digital inclusion solutions for COVID-19 recovery.
3. Foster within and between country exchange strategies supporting digital inclusion.

Research Approach: In obj 1, a multi-disciplinary environmental scan will be used to map an inventory of social innovations; In obj 2, country-specific concept mapping will foster community-engagement to generate novel solutions supporting rural digital inclusion; In obj 3 a knowledge exchange forum will explore convergences/divergences in moving towards global digital inclusion.

Significance: Using an interdisciplinary lens through a multi-country analysis of digital technology and social innovation, the DIGITY project will deepen actionable understanding of the digital divide as well as situate Canada within a global context.

In this project, we answer the call from the UN Roadmap for Recovery for research to address how stimulus and recovery programs can include diverse women’s voices and promote gender-transformative changes that simultaneously address the underlying causes of gender inequities. We mobilize an interdisciplinary, transcontinental, and intercultural team of researchers to design and study socially transformative practices with and by marginalized women in STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics). The pandemic has magnified the exclusionary practices of the STEM fields towards women and their intersectional identities while exacerbating long-standing inequities for women pre-pandemic. Thus, the voices and innovations of women have largely been absent from STEM recovery efforts. We work with undergraduate marginalized women in STEM to support their reframing of the deficit “women in STEM'' discourse as they engage in post-pandemic recovery solutions specifically for women in their communities. We also adapt an anti-deficit artificial intelligence, called AutoScholar, to quantitatively study the effectiveness, sustainability, and scalability of systemic and individual changes across our study. In our research we

1. Conduct qualitative cross-case analyses with cross-cultural groups of marginalized undergraduate women in STEM as they collaborate, innovate, lead, and implement solutions for post-pandemic recovery and longer-term systemic changes for marginalized women globally and within their communities.
2. Use an intersectional lens and gender-based analysis to understand
   1. how marginalized women’s multiple identities (e.g., race, age, refugee status, disability) can be leveraged for recovery efforts, and
   2. how agency-based strategies can support women’s leadership development, policy activism, and skills for the digital economy.
3. Conduct quantitative analysis to study systemic and individual changes in our study.

The findings from this project will address UN Research Priorities from pillars 2, 3, and 5. It will help to fill the knowledge gap on how to support the intersectional identities of marginalized populations of women and support reforming long-standing inequities in STEM. Our project will also help us to prepare for the next crisis by moving beyond critical and incremental attempts at change and instead using more radical approaches that reframe deficit discourses and promote the agency of marginalized populations of women.

In late 2020, at the height of the first wave of the COVID pandemic, hurricanes Eta and Iota hit parts of Guatemala. Both the pandemic and these extreme weather events disproportionately impacted marginalized rural Indigenous communities. They also exposed serious problems with Guatemala’s centralized emergency response. Subsequent efforts to decentralize responsibility for emergency response placed stresses on municipalities and rural Indigenous communities, but also led to the emergence of local innovations, such as food bartering systems. This experience shows the need to go beyond generic blueprints in emergency response planning. As climate and pandemic related crises converge and increase, the need for emergency response strategies that place Indigenous communities and local governments at the centre becomes urgent.

Project objectives

1. To implement community-based action research to map gaps and lessons learned from the convergence of pandemic and hurricane emergency response in 10 Indigenous communities in 5 rural municipalities in Guatemala (Phase I).
2. To use quantitative research and big data visualization methods to track budget allocations for emergency response from national to municipal level (Phase I).
3. To design and pilot a participatory methodology to create community-based emergency response strategies that promote greater equity and resilience in 10 Indigenous communities in 5 rural municipalities in Guatemala (Phase II).

This project will be implemented by an interdisciplinary team of academic and community partners from Canada and Guatemala from 2023 to 2025. The team will work collaboratively with ten rural Indigenous communities in five municipalities where one of the Guatemalan partner organizations has long standing relationships. While mapping local emergency response, particular attention will be paid to gender dimensions. The tracking of national budget allocation will focus on identifying equity issues. The results from the first phase, supported by extensive review of relevant literature, will be used to inform the design of an innovative methodology to co-create emergency response plans and strategies that integrate local knowledge and foster greater social cohesion and community resilience. The project fits under the UN Research Roadmap’s Pillar 5: Social Cohesion and Community Resilience, priority 5.3. The anticipated impacts will help with progress toward the achievement of SDGs 5, 10, 13, and 16.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the challenges of ensuring equitable access to care during a pandemic. Given the ongoing risks of emerging infectious diseases and the increase in the frequency of extreme weather events, hospitals and health systems are increasingly vulnerable to conditions that may result in periods of scarcity of life-sustaining resources. We propose to develop data-driven models and algorithms for addressing the imbalances in allocations of critical care resources (e.g., ventilators and ICU beds) arising from the heterogeneity of demand and supply across various communities, locations, and times.

We consider the allocation of critical resources at both the hospital and health system levels. Our primary objectives are: (1) Developing data-driven, and interpretable triage guidelines for life-saving healthcare resources: Allocation, and particularly rationing, of healthcare resources is a challenging and fraught decision. Well-defined guidelines to manage scarce life-saving resources must be designed to promote transparency, trust and consistency. To facilitate buy-in and use during high stress situations, these guidelines need to be interpretable and operational. (2) Quantifying the impact of patient transfers on outcomes, resource utilization, and disparities in access to care, and developing evidence-based transfer policies: Inter-hospital patient transfers were utilized at unprecedented levels during the pandemic to cope with the geographical mismatch between demand for hospitalization and available resources. Little is known about the impact of these transfers on patient outcomes and equity in access to care. In addition, transfer decisions were made using expert opinion on a case-by-case basis, and without a systematic approach.

Our approach is based on developing novel machine learning methods and stochastic network models to guide decisions and inform policies. As it is paramount to consider the clinical and ethical ramifications of these decisions, our project relies on a unique interdisciplinary collaboration with clinicians, ethicists, and social epidemiologists to assess and ensure the practicality and inclusiveness of the developed policies.

Our project aims to address the Research Priority 1.1. and 1.2 of Pilar 1 (Health Systems and Services) of UN Research Roadmap. Our proposed guidelines will contribute to the achievement of the Good Health and Well-Being goal of UN Sustainable Development Goals.

Our objective is to leverage high performance computing to provide a robust and open-source machine learning tool for uncertainty quantification in population-level long-term prediction of COVID-19 (including long COVID). For COVID-19 pandemic, statistical knowledge of model parameters is often imprecise (e.g. due to unmeasured and/or unknown biological transmission features). A recently developed multi-model inference and sparse Bayesian learning algorithm can overcome this limitation, leading to enhanced robustness in prediction. Unlike current approaches that assume no model error and that the probabilistic information of its parameters and initial states are precisely known, the proposed framework accounts for model selection uncertainty and structural error, with the spatio-temporal parameter variabilities calibrated using sparse and noisy observational data (from limited and/or inaccurate virological testing). The spatio-temporal spread of COVID-19 will be modeled by a stochastic Susceptible-Exposed- Infected-Recovered-Deceased (SEIRED) compartmental model, with heterogeneous and time-varying population-dependent diffusion coefficients and will explicitly account for public health interventions (i.e. quarantine, social distancing), disease severity (i.e. hospitalization with/without ICU admission). The inference scheme will be used to quantify the influence of multiple COVID-19 strains (due to mutations), vaccine types and temporary immunity on COVID-19 prediction modeled through a time-varying feedback mechanism from recovered to susceptible populations/compartments. The overall objective of this project is to propose a robust modeling framework for COVID-19 spread. The methodology involves COVID-19 model structure improvement, improved accuracy in model calibration and targeted data collection. The proposed research provides timely role-specific features, for instance, for healthcare services, front-line workers, policy-makers, individuals with long COVID, with and without comorbid cardiovascular and/or respiratory diseases, people in long-term care, at certain age group and/or living within certain geographical locations. In addition, the system uses error and uncertainty in the geo-spatial model to guide data gathering strategies (e.g. including mobility data from cellphone network), and offer options; on targeted additional data collection, that subsequently enhance the robustness of the prediction.

Higher education is a priority area for reform globally, as the pandemic has highlighted how postsecondary institutions are fragile and inaccessible, and require reconceptualization to build community resilience and social cohesion (RP5) for next generation learners. This study investigates how immersive learning activations (quick-wins) operate as iterative, open systems (best-buys) in higher education to productively cultivate student competences for transformative changes in the 21st century (game-changers). Our objectives include: 1) identifying strategies that facilitate learning continuity and accessibility; 2) pinpointing institutional constraints; 3) discerning digital technologies that urgently address sustainable learning as more equitable, diverse, and inclusive. Our goal is to enable collaborative, unifying activations as a blueprint for higher education globally.

As part of the post-pandemic frontier, we are guided by three core research questions: How do international university student collaborations advance transnational learning partnerships (RP 2.3; 2.3.2)? In what ways do art-science partnerships contribute to decolonizing discourses of creativity and learning (RP 4.3)? How does technology function to equalize access and transform lifelong learning (RP 2.4.3; 5.5)?

As members of signature SDG universities, we have adopted the UN Roadmap in a host of research activities that we continue to develop for this call (SDG 4.7.1): 1) International virtual exchanges: Teachers-in-training focus on heterogeneous competencies (teamwork, communication, affective responses+) to develop coherence skills that address accessible learning as global citizens; 2) Convergences: Fine arts students join with neuroscience graduates to develop multisensory and multimodal methods of inclusive creativity to reduce structural learning barriers; and 3) Livable futures: Produce transmedia immersive activations as an open access archive that will serve as a roadmap for education reform.

Adopting the architecture of creative commons, our tripartite ecosystem of transnational (local, national, international), transdisciplinary (technology, art, science) and transmedia (digital media platforms), co-creates activations among researchers and practitioners affiliated with higher education in Colombia, Japan and Canada. Building resilience by adapting rapid response best practices fosters pedagogy for more sustainable, equitable learning environments (RP 2.3.4).

Covid-19 resulted in a veritable surge in the prevalence of violence perpetrated against women and girls globally, a phenomenon UN Women (2020) has characterized as the ‘Shadow Pandemic’. Repeated lockdown measures led to widespread sexual abuse and assault perpetrated against young women and girls in Uganda, resulting in countless unsought adolescent pregnancies. If no action is taken, “about 64% of teenage mothers will not complete a primary education level” (UNFPA Uganda, 2022, p. 2), leaving them, and their children, with bleak prospects for the future. Aligning with Pillar 2: Social Protection and Basic Services of the UN COVID Recovery Roadmap, the objective of the study is to understand how best to support young mothers and their children to thrive in the post-Covid recovery. The research approach uses a Participatory Action Research (PAR) orientation, and a case study design, to collaboratively explore a holistic intervention to expand opportunities for well-being and empowerment for young Ugandan mothers and their children. The PAR team will be comprised of young Ugandan mothers from the Masaka District who did not return to school after the pandemic due to pregnancy/childbirth, and international, interdisciplinary co-applicants and collaborators (i.e., Ugandan educators, academics, researchers, health professionals, and representatives from the Ugandan government). Tekera Resource Centre (https://www.tekera.org/) will facilitate access to its health and education resources for the young mothers and their children (e.g., primary/vocational school, health clinic) and it has the infrastructural capacity to provide food and shelter for them, if funds are forthcoming. This project has four stages. Stage 1: All ethics approvals secured; young Ugandan mothers (ages 12-19; n=15-20) recruited; interviews conducted to inform intervention. Stage 2: Data analysis; implementation over an 18-month period. Stage 3: Reflections on intervention; modifications to intervention as informed by participants (for remaining 6 months of project). Stage 4: Knowledge mobilization. Novelty and significance: The Government of Uganda has identified the crisis of unsought adolescent pregnancies and the threat to girls’ education and future opportunities as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic as a high priority area for research and intervention. The design of this intervention could potentially serve as a model for adoption across the country.

La pandémie qui sévit depuis quelques années a révélé la vulnérabilité des chaines d’approvisionnement stratégiques du Canada. Avec la multiplication des perturbations et des crises, la situation restera inquiétante au cours des prochaines années. Il devient donc crucial d’investir dans un nouveau modèle de chaines d’approvisionnement local, responsable et ouvert, afin non seulement de réduire la dépendance du Canada aux approvisionnements externes, mais aussi contribuer au développement durable. Transformer l’écosystème d’innovation et d’affaires devient nécessaire afin d’assurer à long terme la résilience, la sécurité et la prospérité du pays.

Cette étude vise à repenser les chaines d’approvisionnement agroalimentaires du Canada afin de les rendre plus locales, plus vertes et plus durables en misant sur la collaboration et l’innovation ouverte entre les divers intervenants de l’écosystème, depuis le producteur jusqu’au consommateur final. Précisément, les objectifs spécifiques associés sont: 1) d’identifier les défaillances actuelles de la chaine d’approvisionnement agroalimentaire du Canada; 2) de proposer un modèle d’optimisation local et responsable de cette chaine, dans lequel les cloisons fonctionnelles sont éliminées et les intervenants de l’écosystème sont connectés entre eux permettant une visibilité intégrale, une collaboration et une souplesse; 3) de recommander des pistes d’actions concrètes pour soutenir les gestionnaires d’entreprises et les décideurs politiques grâce à une équipe d'experts interdisciplinaires.

L’approche de recherche adoptée inclut des études empiriques portant sur les pratiques des intervenants de l’écosystème agroalimentaire au Canada. Ces études adopteront une perspective qualitative, quantitative ou mixte en collaboration avec des intervenants internationaux, et notamment brésiliens. Elles visent à recueillir et à traiter des données en matière de traçabilité des produits agroalimentaires, de confiance des consommateurs ou d’optimisation de la chaine d’approvisionnement. À l’aide des algorithmes d’intelligence artificielle et de modélisation, il sera possible de tester des modèles alternatifs pour la production, la transformation locale et la distribution à l’international.

Cette étude inédite envisage développer de nouvelles chaines d'approvisionnement responsables, au cœur du pilier 3 du Schéma directeur des Nations Unies qui encourage une relance économique basée sur l'optimisation des chaines d'approvisionnement.

The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the importance of social cohesion and community resilience in our road to recovery. Low social cohesion has been linked to the spread of the virus, higher mortality rates, and lower vaccination rates, while high social capital can be a protective factor on collateral effects of the pandemic, including for mental health and well-being. Our connections to others, our daily mobilities and how we interact with our environment (e.g., telework, remote learning, reduced activity space) have been significantly altered. City governments and communities have put in place temporary and permanent built environment interventions to offer safe places to connect, yet it is unclear whether they’ve had their full intended effect, and whether those who were most in need benefited from these strategies.

We propose an action-research program designed to deliver community-developed evidence on ways to build equitable, socially connected and resilient cities. How can community spaces enhance social cohesion and resilience? What are the best initiatives to increase social cohesion in community spaces, and thereby contribute to building resilient cities that protect people from future pandemics and other disasters?

We aim to assess the role and impact of built environment interventions, such as pedestrian streets, green back alleys and reappropriation of public spaces by citizens, and their formulation and implementation context - on social cohesion and community resilience; and recommend strategies to implement such interventions in cities. To do so, we propose to document and compare the implementation of community spaces that seek to increase social cohesion in major cities.

Our objectives are to 1) Document elaboration, decision-making and implementation processes that led to built environment interventions in major cities. 2) Co-develop a framework of recommended strategies to successfully develop, coordinate and maintain these interventions, and identify hindering and enabling factors; and 3) Support participating cities and organizations in implementing interventions through the co-development of tools.

This research proposes a novel data-driven approach to co-develop solutions with cities and organizations. Solutions identified with our participating cities will be transferable to other cities and enable stronger community resilience for all.

The COVID-19 pandemic disrupted supply chains and accelerated the need for local and sustainable foods. A post-COVID world is a unique opportunity to replace precarious food systems by more empowering, resilient, and sustainable ones. Indigenous communities in Canada are in need for such a tailor-made transition. This project aims to build a research and knowledge exchange framework that will support food valorization by and with the Indigenous Waswanipi community, the southernmost community of the Cree Nation. This framework will be used to study naturally sourced food used by the community. An interdisciplinary codevelopment team of community members and researchers will document, coordinate and create traditional and non-traditional knowledge on the food: processing, chemical and sensory properties, as well as cultural and territorial values. The environmental impact of the food value chain will be evaluated in terms of eco-efficiency and management practices in the community context. This will guide the team in selecting strategic processing methods, culinary uses, innovation practices, and commercialization avenues that are aligned with the community’s values and ambitions.

This study will be the first to relate cross-dimensional food knowledge to the environmental and economic impacts of food production using the eco-efficiency concept. Outcomes include integrated knowledge of food resources supporting new products and economic opportunities for the community. Of note, the framework will be transposable to other resources and Indigenous communities to support the development of a resilient Indigenous-based economy. The priorities of the UN COVID-19 recovery research roadmap targeted are: 1) Mobilizing knowledge to use the land for food resource in an economically viable and sustainable way (2.3); 2) Supporting gender-inclusive, community-anchored small and medium businesses to build a more resilient regional economy (3.2-3.5); 3) Strengthen the food supply chain of marginalized populations through the development of more accessible, delicious, and sustainable food (3.3). The project also targets the UN sustainable development goals, as: zero hunger, decent work and economic growth as well as and responsible production and consumption. Developing this framework will empower indigenous communities with tools to support their sustainable economic growth and food resource management in a sustainable and culturally relevant way.

The current and future environmental challenges of sustainable buildings require the development of new and highly efficient materials and processing technologies. To answer these issues, the main objective of this project is to advance our understanding on the overall properties of biobased materials for a better building envelopes design. In this project, smart engineered wood panels with high thermal and sound insulation performances will be developed for exterior walls and roofs. These multifunctional panels will store and release heat when necessary, leading to substantial reduction in cooling and heating loads of building. Furthermore, the outstanding sound insulation property of the panels will help architects and engineers to achieve acoustic comfort for the inhabitants.

This project meets many needs and challenges: 1) The wood composite panel industry needs new and better products to meet market demands; 2) Cities with high population densities require buildings with good thermal and acoustic insulations to protect their occupants from high and low temperatures, as well noise; 3) New climate-resilient building materials will respond to high temperature changes (day vs. night), as well as throughout the year (summer vs. winter) to achieve net zero energy buildings.

This project includes the following activities: 1) Development of new materials and technologies of engineered wood panels for the envelope of smart buildings having increased energy and acoustic performances; 2) Characterization and modeling of these new materials as components of a complex building envelope system; 3) Evaluation of their performance via laboratory and on-site tests; 4) Life cycle assessment and techno-economic analysis; 5) Cost/performance optimization for different geographical/economic markets.

The final products will not only significantly improve energy efficiency and acoustic comfort, but also would be available at an affordable cost to populations in need. The potential economic and social benefits of using biobased materials in buildings will lead to low-carbon emission technologies which represents a great opportunity for Canada and the rest of the world. This key partnership with Mozambican community reflects a specific focus on the needs of people being left behind. This project meets the UN research priority 2 - Social protection and basic services by optimizing access to shelters including those living in poor and densely-populated areas.

Like many people with disabilities, autistic transition-age young people (aged 16-25 years) have been disproportionally impacted by public health measures relative to the general population. In addition, it is particularly important to note that autistic people are also more likely to have intersecting identities that place them at greater risk of marginalization, further compounding the risk of languishing during the pandemic, defined as a life of low wellbeing. The contrast of languishing is thriving, defined as a process of experiencing positive a) emotions, b) psychological functioning, and c) social functioning (Keyes, 2007); otherwise known as positive mental health. Consultations with autistic people reveal that the community wants to prioritize research and supports that focus on acceptance of neurodiversity and on positive psychological outcomes, such as thriving. Within this context of autistic languishing then, how do we address the NFRF Special Call that is focused on “building back better”? Building back better means focusing on initiatives to increase POSITIVE outcomes in a way that appreciates autistic people, is founded in their lived experience, and acknowledges their intersecting identities; helping them to thrive as autistic people. The current project aims to address the UN Research Roadmap Research Priority 2.3: How can environments be built, shaped and sustained in ways that allow all people to thrive? The current project goals are to inform how natural, built and social environments can maximize thriving in autistic young people post pandemic, and to identify how thriving can be improved on both physiological and psychological levels. We will do so by having participants engage in therapeutic photography, taking pictures of environments that are linked with their experiences of thriving and of negative mental health states. We will then examine change over time in this intervention, and will use an experimental paradigm to isolate whether the positive environments are indeed causally linked to improvements in thriving. Finally, the qualitative portion of this work will focus on lived experience as a means of identifying autistic knowledge that can help them thrive, by engaging in photo-elicitation interviewing with the participants about their photos, and ending with a curated digital art exhibit for further reach and impact.

The North American overdose epidemic is a leading cause of mortality among marginalized populations, particularly people who inject drugs. The overdose epidemic has been driven by an increasing saturation of unregulated drug markets with fentanyl and other high-potency opioid analogues since approximately 2015, the COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated existing disparities, introduced novel risk factors, and decreased access to overdose prevention services—with dire consequences. Indeed, in the year after the imposition of COVID-19 restrictions beginning in March 2020, over 7,000 people died of an overdose in Canada, while over 100,000 died of an overdose in the United States, both of which represent substantial increases from the pre-COVID period. Given the heightened risk for overdose mortality that people who inject drugs experience, the ongoing impact of COVID-19 related public health restrictions on this risk, and the impact of inevitable future public health emergencies, understanding the intersection of COVID-19 and overdose on people who inject drugs across distinct North American settings is critical to mitigate current and future sources of morbidity and mortality. We therefore propose the following aims, which we will explore among people who inject drugs in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada; San Diego, USA; and Tijuana, Mexico:

1. Identify setting-specific and shared correlates of overdose, COVID-19 infection and morbidity, and other health harms among people who inject drugs across North American settings during the COVID-19 pandemic;
2. Evaluate the impact of COVID-related service closures and restrictions on people who inject drugs compared to the pre-pandemic period;
3. Dynamically model the impact that maintaining service access during the pandemic would have had on the incidence of overdose, COVID-related infections and morbidity, and related health outcomes among people who inject drugs.

This work, undertaken by a multidisciplinary international team, will leverage three cohorts of people who inject drugs in settings impacted by overdose. It also directly responds to multiple research priorities in the UN Research Roadmap for the COVID-19 Recovery, including to improve the responsiveness, adaptability and accessibility of health systems (1.1); to tackle socio-economic disparities (2.2); and to support more coordinated and collective responses against those health threats that transcend national boundaries (1.4).

An essential feature of facilitating an equitable, resilient, and sustainable COVID-19 recovery will be effective multisectoral collaboration, drawing on the One Health (OH) approach. There are a number of global health threats with complex causality where a multisectoral policy response is needed for effective coordination and collaboration across sectors, including: climate change; infectious disease and pandemic prevention, response and recovery; antimicrobial resistance; food (in)security; and habitat destruction and water degradation. Our research project will assess to what extent multisectoral coordination mechanisms are currently used in addressing these health challenges in four case countries: Brazil, Canada, Ecuador, and Rwanda. We will assess the operation of OH governance, and draw comparative lessons about best practices from a series of case studies.

Our project directly addresses the following research question:

What mechanisms can enable different parts of government to work together on critical “One Health” challenges that cross human, animal and environmental health?

To answer this question, we will conduct a scoping review of the OH governance literature, as well as a situational and institutional analysis of OH governance systems, led by researchers in each case country and drawing on health sciences, legal studies, and political economy approaches. This will include both an environmental scan of multisectoral policies, and actions used in response to the five global health challenges identified above (Year 1), as well as expert interviews (Year 2, n=20) and a focus group discussion with OH stakeholders in each case country. The scan will include a sex and gender analysis (led by dedicated gender experts in each country) and will include the development of a OH governance evaluation framework. The findings from our study will inform various KT products, including a Policy Brief series and a OH Governance Toolkit that will outline OH-informed governance models and identify innovations in effective governance strategies that will support the development of effective policy coordination. Our study will build on connections facilitated through the Global One Health Network and its existing Community of Practice which includes senior-level government knowledge users, as well as representatives from the World Health Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization, and the Lancet One Health Commission.

Almost everyone in the world was subject to stay-at-home and work-from-home orders in the first two years of the COVID-19 pandemic, including scientists, engineers, and technical staff. Having to abandon lab experiments and working from afar certainly had an impact on research activities and technological innovation. However, what effect did the double burden of adapting to working from home while also having to tend to children and family members have on gender equality in technological innovation? Was this burden shared equally between genders or was there asymmetry? If there was asymmetry, how did it differ across sectors? Did the pandemic perhaps roll back milestones of gender equality that had been reached in this area before 2020? This project addresses these questions with the following three objectives:

• 01: analyze the patterns of patent applications by women inventors based on the data from the US Patent and Trademark Office and examine whether women inventors have been more negatively affected by the COVID-19 pandemic than their men counterparts;
• 02: examine whether a potentially disproportionate disruption to women inventors during the pandemic will slow down technological progress related to women-focused technologies, using natural language processing techniques to quantify the degree of woman-focus of patented inventions; and
• 03: assess the policy implications of the research in the context of a post-pandemic innovation policy for boosting gender equality in technological innovation.

Our interdisciplinary team will merge their expertise in gender studies, innovation studies, and machine learning, to gauge the extent to which the pandemic has disrupted innovation activities of women scientists and how likely it is to have a long-term effect on the gender-regressive trend. Given the lack of prior studies on the gendered effect of the pandemic on innovation activities, the outcome of the proposed project will be path-breaking, providing a basis for the global efforts to develop a more equitable and gender-sensitive innovation policy after the pandemic. Further, the project will respond directly to the UN Research Roadmap in respect to Priority 3.5 (How have recent economic changes disproportionately impacted women and how can recovery strategies be inclusive and gender-transformative?) and to the UN Sustainable Development Goals with respect to gender equality (No. 5) and reduced inequalities (No. 10).