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Happy June everyone!
This is that time of year where I always hear as a part of general small talk, "Do you have any plans for the summer?".
Just a gentle reminder to have this conversation with your partners too. It can be a bit perplexing for a partner when they don’t hear from their research team for a while. Consider taking a moment to check in; whether through a quick Zoom call or a short email. Let them know you’ll be away and they might not hear from you for a bit. A little communication goes a long way!
Need some help building your community? Connect with me!
Warmest regards,
Rae Martens
FER Knowledge Broker
Research Engagement Strategist
| Request a chat with Rae, FER Knowledge Broker | | 👀 Looking for lived experience opportunities in this newsletter? Look for the "🌟" to find highlighted opportunities! | | What's Happening in the FER Community? 🌟 | | 🚀 Applications for the Family Engagement in Research (FER) Course are now open! | | |
🚨 Exciting news! Applications for the Family Engagement in Research (FER) Course are now open! 🚀✨ This 10-week online program fosters inclusive research engagement through collaborative learning.
🗓️ Fall 2025: Sept 15 – Nov 23 🗓️ Winter 2026: Jan 19 – Mar 29
💡 Learn how to collaborate, co-create, and make a real impact in the research community.
🤔 Questions? Contact fer@mcmaster.ca
| | 🏡 We are Having an Open House! 🏡 | | |
🏡 The Spring Open House is your opportunity to learn about the Family Engagement in Research (FER) Course, meet members of our team, and explore how our program can help you feel confident to partner in research. Whether you’re a researcher, family member, or community partner, this event is for you!
📅 When: Wed June 18 at 7:30-8:30pm ET and again Tues June 24 at 12-1pm ET
📍 Where: Virtual via Zoom
✨ What to Expect:
- Insights into the FER course
- Interactive Q&A session
- Stories from researchers and families
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What We're Excited About This Month 🌟 | |
EACD 2025
Members of the FER Team, as well as several FER Course graduates will be attending the 4th Triennial Meeting of the International Alliance of Academies of Childhood Disability (IAACD) and the 37th Annual Meeting of the European Academy Of Childhood-onset Disability (EACD) in Heidelberg, Germany, from June 24th to 28th, 2025.
Attending? Tag us on Instagram @ferprogram, LinkedIn, and BlueSky!
See you there!
| | FER Community News and Updates 🌟 | | Multiple FER Graduates Receive Kids Brain Health Network 2024–2025 Outstanding Awards | | |
Congratulations to this year's winners! 🎉
Kids Brain Health Network is celebrating excellence through the 2024–2025 Outstanding Awards, honouring individuals for their exemplary contributions to neurodevelopmental disability advancements, mentorship, and inclusive family engagement. This year’s awardees reflect the focus of KBHN: advancing programs, amplifying lived experience, and transforming outcomes for children and families.
Featured in photos from left to right:
Outstanding KBHN Trainee Member Award
Carly Magnacca (Fall 2024 FER Course Grad)
Olivia Tsihlias (Winter 2024 FER Course Grad)
Outstanding Promising Researcher Award
Alice Soper (Fall 2024 FER Course Grad & FER Program Research Assistant)
Outstanding KBHN Leadership in Family Engagement in Research
Amanda St. Dennis (Winter 2023 FER Course Grad & FER Program Accessibility Champion) Yvonne Spicer (Winter 2024 FER Course Grad)
Inclusive Researcher/Innovator Awardee
Samantha Micsinszki (Winter 2019 FER Course Grad & FER Program Training Director)
| | ADVANCE Network Fellows to Drive Policy Change for Youth with Neurodevelopmental Disabilities |
Kids Brain Health Network (KBHN) and the University of Calgary’s Disability Policy Research Program (DiPo) have named four ADVANCE Network Fellows to lead an initiative improiving disability programs and policies across Canada. These include Dr. Laura Mudde, Dr. Sarah Raza, and two FER graduates: Kelsey Seguin (Winter 2025 FER Course Grad) and Meaghan Reitzel (Winter 2020 FER Course Grad & Winter 2024 Leadership Academy Graduate).
Congratulations! 🎉
| FER Graduates Representing on This Year's PxP Planning Committee | |
Anna Samson (Winter 2025 FER-Youth Course Grad), Karen van Meeteren (Fall 2018 FER Course Grad & Fall 2023 Leadership Academy Grad), and Logan Wong (Winter 2024 FER-Course Grad & FER-Youth Co-Instructor) are representing on this year's planning committee for the PxP Conference.
PxP. These three letters represent their ethos in a nutshell.
Standing for ‘For Patients, By Patients’, PxP is entirely led by an international team of experienced patient and public partners. Their purpose is to share resources, mentorship and community with patient partners and others involved in health research. Ultimately, their goal is partnering to make research stronger.
This year's conference takes place September 9-13th and is a free event.
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Facilitating Patient and Family Engagement in Research:
Best Practices in Creating Healthy Partnerships
| FER graduate (Winter 2019 FER Course Grad, Winter 2023 Leadership Academy Graduate, & FER Co-Instructor) Kristina McGuire and FER Knowledge Broker Rae Martens recently gave a presentation to students at UCalgary Cumming School of Medicine about 'baseline values' that can help equip future researchers when they partner with patients and people with lived experience in family engagement. | | Have you ever wanted to contribute to medical research? These women can show you how to do that. | | FER graduate Amanda Doherty-Kirby (Fall 2020 FER Course Grad & Fall 2022 Leadership Academy Graduate) was recently featured on CBC News: Compass alongside Kate Kelly. They spoke about their partnership with the Centre for Health and Community Research at UPEI, about a workshop on partnering in research. | | Congratulations to the Newest Member of the CHILD-BRIGHT Network Communications Team | | Congratulations to FER graduate Sunny Yimeng Dong (Winter 2023 FER Course Grad & FER-Youth Co-Instructor) who recently joined the CHILD-BRIGHT Network Communications team! 👏 | | Upcoming Community Opportunities🌟 | | If you need any support in signing up for any events or opportunities, connect with Rae at martensr@mcmaster.ca | | | | |
2026 Alberta Adapted Physical Activity (AAPA) Summit in Edmonton, AB
May 7-9, 2026 Presenter applications will be open in mid August 2025.
| | This multidisciplinary gathering aims to foster community and enhance inclusivity of physical activity and sport across the province, for all Albertans experiencing disability. Our theme for 2026 is "Advocacy, Access, Action: Moving Forward Together"- with the goal to energize action for adapted physical activity across communities in Alberta through connection and collaboration. The AAPA Summit invites researchers, professionals, students, and community members to join us in learning and action. | | IHDCYH Talks Competition Coming Summer 2025 | | The IHDCYH Talks Competition (The Institute of Human Development, Child and Youth Health) is a creative way to share a clear evidence-based message with a general audience that is designed to have an impact on the health of children, youth and families. For the 2025 competition, three submission formats will again be accepted: Videos, infographics and podcasts. Stay tuned for more info coming soon! | | 🌟 FER Course Graduates: This is a great opportunity to submit an abstract about your project (Knowledge Translation (KT) tool) from the course. If you need any support, please email Rae at martensr@mcmaster.ca | |
Job Opportunity: Research Coordinator, Azrieli Adult Neurodevelopmental Centre | 🗓 Deadline to apply: July 8, 2025 | | CAMH is seeking a full-time, 12-month contract Research Coordinator to lead and support the coordination of a new multi-year, multi-site research initiative. This initiative aims to support system-level implementation and evaluation of the CC-ACT Program (www.actforcaregivers.com), an evidence-based group psychological intervention aimed at supporting the wellbeing of family caregivers of people with neurodevelopmental conditions. The successful candidate will be the central point of contact across local, regional, and national teams and play a pivotal role in knowledge translation, stakeholder engagement, implementation planning, and evaluation efforts. | | Job Opportunity: Canadian Medical Association: Advisor, Patient & Public Engagement (1-Year Term) | | |
Unit | Department: Advocacy, Engagement and Governance | Patient and Public Engagement
Reports to: Manager, Patient and Public Engagement
Type: Temporary | Full-Time | 1 Vacancy
Location: Ottawa ON (Hybrid) or Toronto ON (Hybrid) or Ontario CA (Remote) or Quebec CA (Remote)
| | Call for Submissions: PiPER Research Day 2025 | | |
🗓 PiPER Research Day: October 8, 2025
🗓 Deadline to submit: July 11, 2025, at 11:59 PM EST
💡Need support with your submission? Join a virtual information and support session to learn more about submission types and share your story:
🔹Tuesday, June 24 @ 10 AM EST Click Here For The Zoom Link
Can’t attend live? No worries—recordings will be available.
Check out the Research Day website here: PiPER Research Day
Submit your work by : Submit Your Work Here
| | 🌟 FER Course Graduates: This is a great opportunity to submit an abstract about your project (Knowledge Translation (KT) tool) from the course. If you need any support, please email Rae at martensr@mcmaster.ca | | Call for Submissions: Disability Without Poverty Virtual Research Symposium | | |
🗓 Disability Without Poverty Virtual Research Symposium: December 3, 2025
🗓 Deadline to submit: August 1, 2025
Encouraging a wide interpretation of how disability poverty affects disabled people in Canada, including, but not limited to:
- The Canada Disability Benefit, what it is and what it could be;
- The patchwork of benefits, services, and programs that disabled people need, and issues related to accessing them;
- Eligibility at all levels,
- But specifically the Disability Tax Credit;
- Definitions of disability,
- And solutions to consolidating the many definitions that exist across Canada;
- Housing, and solutions for disabled people living in poverty;
- Medical Assistance In Dying (MAID) and disabled people who live in poverty;
- Institutionalized poverty;
- And any other topics relevant to disabled people living in poverty in Canada.
Reach out to research@disabilitywithoutpoverty.ca to discuss your ideas before you submit!
| | Call for Papers: Special Issue on “Caregiving and Health Inequities” | | |
📅 Deadline for submissions: September 30, 2025
Consider submitting for a new Special Issue of the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (IJERPH) titled: “Caregiving and Health Inequities: Intersections of Gender, Race, Class, and Work”
This Special Issue invites contributions that explore how unpaid caregiving—shaped by gender, race, class, and employment status—contributes to health inequities across diverse contexts.
| | Resources and Learning Opportunities 🌟 | |
Webinar: Beyond Education & Training: Identifying and applying implementation strategies
📅 Thursday, June 19, 2025, 12pm ET
📍 Online
| | Implementation strategies are the specific methods or actions used to get people to use evidence-based programs in real-world settings. This session will explain what are implementation strategies and introduce you to a list of (many!) potential strategies that can help you think about ways to implement your research program beyond just education and training. | |
Webinar: Where Do Communities of Practice Fit in Learning Health Systems?
📅 Thursday, June 19, 2025, 12-1:30pm ET
📍 Online
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Featured speaker, Dr. Stephanie Brooks, will walk us through the concepts and real-world applications, offering actionable insights to help attendees build stronger, more effective collaborative communities.
Whether you're a researcher, practitioner, policymaker, or community leader, this session will offer valuable guidance on strengthening implementation efforts and advancing health equity through learning health systems.
| | Video: Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Priority Setting Partnership | | |
The Adolescent and Young Adult (AYA) Cancer Priority Setting Partnership brought together patients, caregivers, clinicians, and community organizations from across Canada to establish the Top 10 research priorities for AYA cancer.
They put together a video that shares the journey they took to establish the top 10 priorities, which will guide the future of AYA cancer research in Canada and beyond!
| | Engage Your Team With Lego: Get certified in the LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® methodology | | The LEGO® SERIOUS PLAY® process offers a unique way of engaging participants through the power of using 3 dimensional, physical models to fire-start authentic stories. Use this unique, innovative process to create meaningful conversations that lead to actionable insights. | |
Youth in Research Instagram
Authors: Amanda Doherty Kirby, Jim Reeder, and Nicole Proudfoot
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The Youth Engagement in Research Instagram account was created to increase awareness about how youth can engage in health-related research beyond being a participant. The @youth_in_research page shares knowledge about how youth engagement works, spotlights youth (both those with lived experience and researchers), and shares opportunities for youth to partner in research.
Have content that you would like to share with young people? Reach out to: feryer2020@gmail.com
| | Have questions or content to share in the next FER Newsletter?
Email us at fer@mcmaster.ca | |
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