Better cancer care for Indigenous Canadians with arts and dialogue in a new proposal

With the number of First Nation, Inuit, and Métis (FNIM) Canadians diagnosed with cancer currently growing, it turns out that little is done to study and address their unique needs in a timely enough manner. In his grant proposal, submitted to the annual Canadian Institutes of Health Research competition for postdoctoral fellowships, Dr Chad Hammond at the University of Ottawa suggests an innovative and inclusive approach to studying the challenges within Indigenous communities in Ontario.

The proposed research, described in the open-access journal Research Ideas and Outcomes (RIO), suggests a collaborative interdisciplinary approach using visual arts and participatory dialogue with stakeholders involved in cancer care for FNIM peoples.

Participants for the project will include 10 health care professionals, 5 health administrators, and 5 FNIM community leaders who will engage with photovoice and photo-elicitation techniques to develop priorities and solutions in FNIM cancer care in Ontario. By the end, a report of recommendations is to be generated and dispensed to participants, bringing together various experiences, themes, perspectives, and recommendations for improving the state of care. The final report will serve as the basis for discussions around implementing the recommendations, for which additional funding opportunities will be sought.

“The use of photography as data and for eliciting data marks an innovative and inclusive approach to studying challenges within FNIM cancer care, while extending the reach of established projects,” explains the author.

“Through strong partnerships and a stakeholder-driven agenda, this research promises to build timely knowledge exchange initiatives between professional stakeholders and to identify viable pathways toward improving cancer care for FNIM peoples in Ontario.”

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Original source:

Hammond C (2016) Widening the circle of care: An arts-based, participatory dialogue with stakeholders on cancer care for First Nations, Inuit,and Métis peoples in Ontario, Canada.Research Ideas and Outcomes 2: e8615. doi: 10.3897/rio.2.e8615

Empowering stakeholders: FP7 project EU BON shares know-how on biodiversity data policies

Engagement with relevant political authorities and other stakeholders is of crucial importance for a research project, making sure its objectives are in tune with the real-world problems and its results provide adapted solutions. The EU-funded FP7 project Building the European Biodiversity Observation Network (EU BON) shares the outcomes, lessons learned and conclusions from a series of three roundtable meetings designed to identify stakeholder needs and promote collaboration between science and policy.

The collection of EU BON stakeholder roundtable reports provides a summarized overview of shared experiences gained in the three different workshops that were organized from 2013-2016. With more than 100 participants from over 20 countries altogether, the roundtable reports provide insights and exchange of ideas on highly relevant issues concerning policy, citizen science and local/regional stakeholders and its networks.

The roundtables seek to build up a stakeholder dialogue with exemplary sector-specific user communities to incorporate feedback loops for the products of EU BON, as well as to develop improvements of existing biodiversity data workflows. Being published via the innovative Research Ideas & Outcomes (RIO) journal conclusions, derived knowledge and results are now made available for other projects and the wider community to ensure their re-use.

The three roundtable papers report on conclusion on highly relevant issues related to biodiversity information and its open-access and availability, data workflows and integration of citizen science as well as science-policy interfaces.

“In each of the three detailed reports of the roundtables we outline its aims, intentions, as well as results and recommendations, that were drafted based on the roundtable discussions, world café sessions and working groups. Such project results are now published for the first time in the new series of EU BON results, featured in RIO, providing a unique new medium to share experiences, outcomes and conclusions,” comments Dr. Katrin Vohland, Museum für Naturkunde, Berlin.

“The three reports were published as workshop report provided by the Research Ideas & Outcomes (RIO) journal. This allows readers to publish, distribute and computationally analyse myriads of workshop reports that otherwise often get forgotten or just lost,” comments Prof. Lyubomir Penev, co-founder and publisher of RIO.

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Original Sources:

Rationale of the roundtables

Wetzel F, Hoffmann A, Häuser C, Vohland K (2016) 1st EU BON Stakeholder Roundtable (Brussels, Belgium): Biodiversity and Requirements for Policy. Research Ideas and Outcomes 2: e8600. doi: 10.3897/rio.2.e8600

Vohland K, Häuser C, Regan E, Hoffmann A, Wetzel F (2016) 2nd EU BON Stakeholder Roundtable (Berlin, Germany): How can a European biodiversity network support citizen science? Research Ideas and Outcomes 2: e8616. doi: 10.3897/rio.2.e8616

Vohland K, Hoffmann A, Underwood E, Weatherdon L, Bonet F, Häuser C, Wetzel F (2016) 3rd EU BON Stakeholder Roundtable (Granada, Spain): Biodiversity data workflow from data mobilization to practice. Research Ideas and Outcomes 2: e8622. doi: 10.3897/rio.2.e8622

General synthesis and lessons learnt from the three EU BON stakeholder roundtables

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About EU BON:

EU BON stands for “Building the European Biodiversity Observation Network” and is a European research project, financed by the 7th EU framework programme for research and development (FP7). EU BON seeks ways to better integrate biodiversity information and implement into policy and decision-making of biodiversity monitoring and management in the EU.