Three organizations in the Fraser Valley community have pooled their innovation funding to help develop a centre for social and health research at UFV.
Three divisions of Family Practice from Abbotsford, Mission, and Chilliwack approached the university two years ago regarding the development of a research centre using a year of funding from the three organizations’ innovation grants.
Now nearing completion, the Health and Social Innovation Hub will be starting to conduct research on a broad spectrum of topics relating to health within the Fraser Valley and beyond, including homelessness, poverty, and the opioid crisis.
Martha Dow, associate professor of sociology at UFV, will be the Hub’s project coordinator for the first year to get it started. After an official organization structure is decided on, which will depend on its needs as determined over the first year, leadership will be hired to run the Hub.
The Hub will be a place of knowledge exchange for both researchers at UFV and in the community, and for UFV students. It will be interdisciplinary by nature, and Dow sees opportunities for projects and research ranging outside of the social sciences, including GIS, communications, journalism, and more.
The topics that the Hub will cover have been left broad and open for this reason, to allow for interdisciplinary exploration and research into “health” and the meaning of health within the Fraser Valley community.
“When we think about health as an example, we really want to be attentive to a very nuanced understanding of both the individual and community health,” Dow said.
As it was originally the community that approached the university, it will maintain a strong community connection with its research.
“What I think is powerful about this is the community came to the university, and the university picked up the ball and has worked, I think, in a really strong collaborative way,” Dow said.
Dow sees opportunities for the community coming forward with concerns and topics for research and discussion within the Hub. There will also be opportunities for community researchers, partnerships, and collaborations within the Hub, and for community members to advise the strategic direction of the Hub on the external advisory committee.
In addition to research, one of the long-term goals of the Hub will be to create a database of local health and social information for students and researchers in the community. A local database would provide more “nimble” access to Fraser Valley-specific data, such as statistical data from Fraser Health or Statistics Canada.
A number of learning opportunities will be available for students, including paid research assistant positions and directed study opportunities. Dow said that student engagement will be a significant component of the Hub’s activities. Three student researchers have already been hired and are working on components of the first project of the Hub: homelessness in Abbotsford.
The Hub has also found a permanent location on the Abbotsford campus in room B164. Renovations to the space are ongoing, and Dow said the opening is planned for this April, around the same time the Hub will launch its official web presence.
Dow considered the physical space one of the most significant components of the Hub. A physical space allows UFV students to directly interact with the community and UFV researchers, to share ideas and to see topics discussed in the classroom being implemented in real-life situations.
“There are things that happen at learning institutions such as ours in that room, where all of a sudden students are rubbing up against community researchers and UFV researchers and getting that excitement and spark for curiosity, asking the questions and engaging in academic curiosity,” Dow said.
The space has been designed to inspire, and to be “alive and vibrant.” The room will contain open spaces to work, tables, and screens to connect laptops to, but no offices. One wall will be covered in art, which Dow hopes to rotate.
“I’m a big believer about the power of literature, visual art, and music to move us into conversations about important social and health issues,” Dow said.
