Team

The project is under the auspices of the University of Ottawa and four of its centres described below:

• The Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services (CRECS) collaborates primarily with the educational, social service and community health sectors, to improve the well-being of children, adolescents and adults, especially those who are vulnerable or have special needs. CRECS provides significant expertise in program evaluation.
• GAP-Santé is a research unit in the Faculty of Social Sciences, affiliated with the Institute of Population Health. It focuses on the psychosocial aspects of health, stress, risk and resilience at the individual and collective levels, with a special interest in organizational and community environments.
• The Centre on Governance examines public policy and community-based citizenry, researching effective mechanisms of coordination in situations where power, resources and information are widely distributed. The Centre is also widely known for its work on diversity, gender, francophonie and immigration.
• The University Centre for Global and Community Engagement is a service bureau which promotes lifelong commitment to community engagement and social responsibility among members of the uOttawa community by facilitating meaningful volunteer service and community partnerships.

Supported by the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Faculty of Education, training is also offered to a number of graduates and undergraduates from many disciplines.

Investigators

Louise Lemyre, Ph.D., FRSC, is a social psychologist who has a track record of applied research projects developing the psychosocial elements in mobilizing public response such as in risk perception and management, preparedness to disasters, stress and population health.

Elizabeth Kristjansson, Ph.D., specializes in neighbourhoods and health, knowledge transfer and community interventions. She also has special expertise in measurement and in quantitative data analyses.

Brad Cousins, Ph.D., is interested in program evaluation including participatory and collaborative approaches, utilization issues and evaluation capacity building. He is the recipient of the Paul F. Lazarsfeld Award from the American Evaluation Association (2008) and the Distinguished Scholar award (2012) from the American Educational Research Association's special interest group on Research on Evaluation.

John Sylvestre, Ph.D., specializes in community psychology, supportive housing and community mental health issues. He has authored or co-authored several articles and book chapters in these areas. Professor Sylvestre teaches in the Graduate Diploma Program (Program Evaluation) in addition to teaching courses in community and social psychology.

Caroline Andrew, Ph.D., is a full professor at the School of Political Studies and the Director of the Centre on Governance. She is a nationally recognized authority on urban and feminist studies, as well as on cultural diversity.

Stéphane Sophie Cardinal is the director of the Centre for Global and Community Engagement. She is responsible for promoting community engagement, social responsibility and service within the University of Ottawa community. Her experience includes institutional capacity building, governance, and economic activity development in the areas of health, food security and education.

Personnel

Celine Pinsent, Ph.D., is the project director. She has expertise in program evaluation, project management, applied quantitative and qualitative research techniques, community health assessment, and social programs. She has extensive private sector experience in evaluating national initiatives in the charitable, non-profit, and health sectors.

Paul Boutette, MBA, MA, B.Ed., is an experienced instructional designer and training specialist. He has worked extensively as an instructor/consultant in both private and public sectors in Canada and abroad. He currently serves as Program Manager at the GAP-Santé Research Unit.

Alejandro Gomez, MA, M.Sc., is the Coordinator at the Centre for Research on Educational and Community Services (CRECS). He has international experience in the conception of knowledge mobilization materials and with leading edge information and communications technologies. He holds a MA in Educational Technologies and MSc in Environmental studies for Sustainable Development.