Pandemic Flu and the role of Universities

Influenza Pandemic   ≠  Seasonal Influenza 

Influenza Pandemic   ≠   SARS

Influenza Pandemic  ≠   Avian Influenza

This summer I attended a meeting/forum in Toronto hosted by the Council of Ontario Universities (COU) on the subject of "Pandemic Flu Planning and the Role of Health Science Students".  Various Ontario universities including Western attended the forum.  Several researchers and administrators were in attendance from the Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry and the Faculty of Health Sciences.

Although the day focused primarily on the role of health practitioners and students in the event of a widespread pandemic, the overview of the possible scenarios were chilling. I thought I would share with you the two presentations given in the morning.

The first was an excellent overview of the epidemiology of the issue given by Dr. Maureen McGeer from the University of Toronto and Mount Sinai Hospital.  She dispelled many misconceptions surrounding Flu Pandemics, gave us a brief history lesson on past pandemics and ended with a somber reminder – it is not a matter of “if we have a Pandemic” but rather “when it will occur”.

A representative of the Emergency Management Unit of the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care gave the second presentation.  The presentation provided an overview of the current plan in place in Ontario and detailed how the province believes the Universities and their students should be involved in a pandemic.

It was clear from the presentation and the discussions that more research findings and evidence-based knowledge must be transferred to the front-line workers and the policy makers.  I was surprised to hear for instance that we are still debating which kind of mask health care workers should use during a crisis.

Overall this was a good networking opportunity.  There is plenty going on across campus at Western in terms of research into this topic.  This meeting gave me the opportunity to put these research projects into context.

Attached are the two presentations:

McGeer Presentation

Emergency Management Unit Presentation

There's more to the forest than trees...

Part of my role is to collect knowledge on funding opportunities and strategies to approach those opportunities, and to share that knowledge with the research community here at Western.  My focus is primarily on SSHRC-based funding opportunities, beyond any one specific faculty or discipline.  Occasionally I will find agencies or opportunities that can be a surprisingly good fit from sources not traditionally approached by some disciplines.

This is how I have come to converse with the Canadian Forest Service (CFS).  They are eager to see more researchers from Western engaging in research and networks in the forest sector - especially from social, cultural, economic, environmental and management perspectives.  Amongst other things, this includes understanding the role of forests in communities, in local economies, in cultures and histories, and in sustainable management practices.  The CFS has provided some information on four groupings within forestry that may be of interest:

1. Forest Research Opportunity B.C. (FROBC)

Founded in June 2005, "the purpose of Forest Research Opportunity B.C. is to develop stronger, more productive relationships with universities, research institutes, industry and the Government of British Columbia.  The aim is to maintain and enhance innovation, while fostering dialogue and collaboration among the vast talent pool that exists in Canada."

The following news release on FROBC provides further information on this cluster:

http://www.nrcan.gc.ca/media/newsreleases/2005/200537a_e.htm

2. science enterprise Algoma (seA)

seA is a Northern Ontario initiative based on bioproducts and biosciences, and sounds like a good fit for those looking at the possibilities for the conversion of existing forestry sector infrastructure into new forms of bioproduction (i.e. turning pulp mills into biorefineries/bioreactors).

Their website: http://www.seainnovation.com

3. Aligning Environmental, Social and Economic Values

With regard to putting together the various elements of forest sustainability including environmental, social and economic factors, one of the mechanisms that CFS has been working with is the Model Forest Network.  The Network aims for healthy forests and a healthy forest sector, and works co-operatively with the land owners involved.

The link to the Network is: http://www.modelforest.net/

There are two model forests in Ontario, out of 11 across the country:

The Eastern Ontario Model Forest http://www.eomf.on.ca/

and

The Lake Abitibi Model Forest http://www.lamf.net/

Another sources of research in this area is the Sustainable Forest Management Network, one of the NSERC funded National Centres of Excellence (NCE's).  The link is http://www.sfmnetwork.ca

And work that CFS does itself in the socioeconomic area can be found at: http://www.nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/cfs-scf/science/resrch/socioeconomics_e.html

4. Fire

Issues such as loss reduction, re-forestation, fire management strategies and fire fighter training/mobility are central to better fire management practices.  The following links would be good start points on forest information:

At the CFS: http://nrcan-rncan.gc.ca/cfs-scf/science/resrch/forestfire_e.html

At the Forest Engineering Research Institute of Canada (FERIC) http://fire.feric.ca/

And at the Canadian Interagency Forest Fire Centre http://www.ciffc.ca/

In addition to what is happening in Canada, some of the above groups also have an interest in how other countries approach forest fire management.  Management and loss reduction strategies include sophisticated software packages that help the provinces strategically position their fire fighting equipment and personnel based on weather conditions and patterns, fire histories and other determining factors.

This is just a first glance at what's out there for those with research interests of relevance to forests and the forestry sector.

Alison

 

New opportunities from the CIHR

One of the things I do at Research Western is to keep an eye on new initiatives and announcements from the CIHR, then try to connect our researchers to the relevant opportunities. This can be a challenge given the large number of opportunities offered by the CIHR throughout the year. Fortunately, the CIHR has recently improved how they list current opportunities on their website. The link to the CIHR "master" list which includes everything from graduate training awards to team grants is located here:
CIHR Opportunities

I think there are several CIHR funding opportunities that are under-utlilized at Western, in part, because researchers aren't always aware of what's offered beyond the typical open grant competitions. For instance, there are numerous grants funded through the CIHR's 13 institutes that I think Western should be more active in pursuing. Many of these opportunities are in health services, health systems and population health, rather than the more traditional biomedical or clinical sciences. I hope to see Western taking greater advantage of these opportunities, particularly in the areas of aging, obesity, disease prevention and knowledge translation.

Derek

Research Update from AUCC

The President of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC - www.aucc.ca) writes a report periodically that discusses some of the key issues facing the University research community.  I encourage you to read the report - it can be found here:

> AUCC President's Report May 31, 2006

The report higlights some of the changes in the senior public service including the transfer of the National Science Advisor (Dr. Art Carty) from the Privy Council Offic to Industry Canada. 

If you any any questions about the report please contact me or post a comment to this page...the comment link is below.

Dan

FAQ - Who works in Research Development

Within the unit, each team member (called “Consultants) is responsible for a suite of programs from both the public and private sector.  Over the next several weeks, each of the consultants will be posting information on their own portfolios.  Bios for each Consultant and their areas of specialization can be found on the right side bar. Although the unit is organized into the specific sectors, there is significant cross-promotion of opportunities – for example, if an opportunity is presented in the health sciences and has an international component, both Melanie and Derek would work on the development of the proposal.  The following is a brief summary list of the team’s responsibilities:

Melissa Gordon:  Natural Sciences and Engineering

mjgordon@uwo.ca  x85315

NSERC Partnership Programs
CFI – Leader’s Opportunities Fund
Ontario Research Fund – Early Research Awards
Western’s Awards and Distinctions

Alison Ariss: Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities, FIMS

aariss@uwo.ca    x84768

SSHRC – Strategic Research Cluster Grants
SSHRC – Major Collaborative Research Initiatives (MCRI)
SSHRC – Community-University Research Alliances (CURA)
SSHRC – Research Development Initiatives (RDI) 
Knowledge Mobilization Programs
Youth Outreach Programs

Derek Newton: Life and Medical Sciences, Health Sciences

dnewton2@uwo.ca    x85313

CIHR – All Strategic Programs
CFI – Hospital Research Fund, Large Scale Institutional Endeavors
CFI – Clinical Research Initiatives

Melanie Katsivo: International Programs

mkatsivo@uwo.ca    x87970

CIDA - UPCD, Canada Corps, Global Classrooms, Consultancies
IDRC Programs
AUCC Administered Programs
DFAIT Programs, Bilateral (e.g EU Framework and Shastri) and Multilateral (e.g
UN) Programs, International Foundations (e.g The Ford Foundation and Carnegie
Foundation.
CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC International Opportunities Programs
Canadian Higher Education Group (CHEG) Consultancies.

Guiti Massoumi: Large Infrastructure Programs, Federal and Provincial

massoumi@uwo.ca    x85301

Canada Foundation for Innovation – all programs
Canada Research Chairs
Ontario Research Fund – Research Excellence

Mark Allemang:  Industrial Contracts

malleman@uwo.ca    x83933

Contracts Research
Collaborative Research Projects

Antoinette Martin: RD Support

amartin3@uwo.ca    x82161

All grants and awards
Proposal submission
Reporting Requirements
Coordination

FAQ - What is Research Development?

Not surprisingly one of the most frequently asked questions about the unit is:

"What is Research Development"

Research Development Services' primary role is to assist faculty members and University administrators gain a competitive edge when it comes to external, internal and international funding proposals.  Research Development also plays an important role in identifying funding opportunities that are consistent with the University's research strengths and emerging priority areas.

Six consultants along with experienced support staff assist with the development of funding proposals for research projects of strategic national and international importance to Western. The public sector funding sources managed by Research Development include the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) - Innovation Fund and Leaders Opportunity programs; the Ontario Research Fund (ORF) – Research Infrastructure and Research Excellence; the Ontario Early Research Awards (ERA); the Canada Research Chairs;  Programs from the International Development Research Centre (IDRC), the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), the Global Health Research Initiative (GHRI) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH); and other international programs.

Research Development also supports faculty with the development of strategic and industry matching grant funding proposals from the three federal granting agencies – NSERC, CIHR and SSHRC.  Industrial contracts are also managed through the unit.

Welcome to our Blog

Welcome to our first post on the Research Development Blog.   We are excited about using this new technology to create a dialogue with the research community at Western.

So why a blog?  We have a new web site on the way for Research Development and Services.  Each of the granting agencies has a well organized web site. Simply put – this blog will allow the RD team to reach out to the Western research community in a more friendly and interactive manner.   Type in the words: “what is a blog” into Google and you get a number of definitions.  I like this in particular:

"A collaborative space either stand alone or within a website that visitors can post comments, link to, add to, or just read on a weekly, daily, hourly basis. Used extensively on journalism sites for breaking news etc."

Blogging is part of the rapidly growing world of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 refers to a second generation of services and software tools available on the Web that lets people collaborate and share information online – think blogs, wikis, podcasting and infectious communities like www.youtube.com and www.myspace.com ...all of them have two thing in common – they build communities and provide a two way dialogue in the virtual world. Want to see what the top 100 Blogs are in the world?….go to

http://www.technorati.com/pop/blogs/

Interesting that the top blog in the world in terms of links and visits is based in China – that says something about the significant influence China will play in the internet’s future….but that is for another discussion.

Now that you know what a blog is and why we are creating this one, we are ready to go.  I hope you enjoy this web site and I welcome your participation.

Dan Sinai
Manager, Research Development

Research Development

Welcome!