Congratulations to the ‘Empowering Voices, Shaping Futures’ Research Team!

The Empowering Voices, Shaping Futures: Co-designing and co-implementing a toolkit with Indigenous and Marginalized Youth for culturally safe engagement in research study has recently been approved for a 5-year grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Congratulations to the team, including POPCORN members Drs. Amy Shawanda, Thierry Lacaze-Masmonteil, Caroline Quach-Thanh, Francine Buchanan, Miss Yimeng Dong, Dr. Patricia Li, and Ms. Sarah Mooney.

This study aims to increase Indigenous and Marginalized Youth (IMY) involvement in health research to enhance capacity for meaningful research engagement, as IMY voices are often underrepresented, which limits the progress toward health equity. This project aims to address barriers to IMY engagement in research by:

• Adapting educational training materials and delivering training for IMY and child health researchers

• Creating IMY Advisory Circles for Research (IMYACRs)

• Developing a Community of Practice (CoP) to support collaboration between IMY and researchers and enhance capacity for meaningful research engagement

IMY will be partners throughout the research process, working alongside the research team, and the team aims to integrate Indigenous and Western approaches to health and research. Designed with input from Indigenous youth and family services in Canadian children’s hospitals, the team also works closely with many pediatric research networks, including the Pediatric Outcome imProvement through COordination of Research Networks (POPCORN), the Canadian Pediatric Inpatient Research Network (PIRN), the Pediatric Emergency Research Canada (PERC), and the Maternal Infant Child and Youth Research Network (MICYRN). The team plans to advance reconciliation by empowering Indigenous youth perspectives in research, where they will gain skills to lead youth-relevant research and advocacy aimed at improving healthcare experiences and outcomes.