University Expertise in Shaping Government Policy and Guidance
McMaster researchers regularly offer guidance to municipal, provincial, and federal governments. The examples provided show how our researchers collaborate with public health officials to develop mental health resources for first responders, work with the local and federal governments to help prevent opioid-related deaths, address climate change, and guide health policy to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.
Canada Research Chairs
McMaster researchers are recognized as leaders in their field, 79 McMaster faculty members have been named Canada Research Chairs in recognition of their research excellence in sciences, engineering, health sciences, humanities, or social sciences. Canada Research Chairs are the centre of a national strategy to make Canada one of the world’s top countries in research development
Water research at McMaster
McMaster researchers collaborate with lawmakers to craft environmental and water policy at the local, provincial, federal Indigenous and international level.
Developing watershed management strategies
Altaf Arain, Director of McMaster University’s Centre for Climate Change, guides municipalities and conservation authorities in developing watershed management strategies to offset the effects of shifts in land use and climate change. Extensive land use changes, agricultural activities and forest harvesting in the Great Lakes region are putting pressure on this key source of drinking water.
Inaugural meeting of Global Water Futures held on a First Nation
McMaster hosted what is believed to be the first major science gathering on a First Nation in Canada for the inaugural meeting of Global Water Futures on the Six Nations of the Grand River to discuss critically important issues related to Canada’s freshwater resources. The meeting was an opportunity for hundreds of people from the community and across the country to come together and discuss the latest research, future scenarios, and possible solutions. Regional partnerships are a centrepiece of the work of Global Water Futures researchers, who recognize the importance of involving Indigenous ecological knowledge and leadership in solving water issues.
McMaster research team tackles water issues in First Nations communities
As part of a Global Water Futures project, Co-Creation of Indigenous Water Quality Tools, an interdisciplinary team of McMaster University researchers is working to identify sources of contaminants in drinking water sources and local aquatic ecosystems within two Indigenous communities, the Six Nations of the Grand River in Ontario and the Lubicon Cree Nation of Little Buffalo in northern Alberta.
McMaster researchers work to ensure community water supply is safe
FloodNet is a multi-disciplinary research collaboration between academic experts including those from McMaster University, government scientists, and end-users such as flood forecasters. The group works to address the challenges of forecasting and managing floods to mitigate the impact on human life and agriculture, reduce socio-economic impacts and human distress, and protect community water systems and the environment.
McMaster water researchers named to International Joint Commission advisory board
The International Joint Commission (IJC), a 110-year-old initiative between the U.S. and Canada to prevent and resolve disputes around the country’s shared bodies of water, appointed McMaster researchers to its Great Lakes Science Advisory Board in 2019: Karen Kidd, a professor in the Department of Biology and the School of Geography and Earth Sciences, and Gail Krantzberg, a professor with the Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology.
Canada-U.S. collaborations on Great Lakes water research
Gail Krantzberg, a professor in McMaster’s Walter G. Booth School of Engineering Practice and Technology, is an expert in Great Lakes science, policy, and governance. She has worked with local and provincial governments for decades on the issues of water security and policy. She collaborates on Canadian-American efforts to restore Areas of Concern in the Great Lakes (including Hamilton Harbour), which have invested US$22.8 billion over the last 35 years, according to an article in the Journal of Great Lakes Research. The money has been well-spent, the article finds, with every dollar toward cleanup catalyzing more than $3 worth of community revitalization.
Public Health Research
McMaster researchers guide governments in their efforts to address a range of public health crises – from viral pandemics to the opioid epidemic, and the health impacts of climate change.
Local/Regional
Professor helps combat Niagara opioid crisis
McMaster University professor Karl Stobbe is teaming up with Niagara-area welfare agencies, McMaster’s Department of Family Medicine and the federal government to ensure a supply of safer drugs for people at risk of overdosing on opioids.
Stobbe, a clinical professor in the Department of Family Medicine is also medical director of the Regional Essential Access to Connected Health (REACH) Niagara. REACH, which provides health care to marginalized and homeless people in the Niagara region, has received $1.2 million from Health Canada to implement and evaluate a safer supply program.
Per capita, Niagara has consistently trended in the top five regions in Ontario reporting opioid-related deaths. Niagara Public Health says there were 165 opioid-related deaths in the region in 2021, up from 93 deaths in 2019.
Provincial
McMaster researchers have been at the forefront of the fight against COVID-19 in Ontario, investigating the impact of the virus on long-term care home residents, and advising the government on ways to protect the public.
The COVID in Long-Term Care study by Dr. Dawn Bowdish and Dr. Andrew Costa consisted of over 1,000 residents across 25 homes in the province. Through collaboration with residents, staff, essential caregivers and partners, the research team is working to contribute a greater understanding of the impact of COVID-19 in residents of congregate care settings.
McMaster’s Global Nexus for Pandemic Prevention and Response shared data directly with public health officials in real-time to support policy decisions. Global Nexus research helped inform Ontario’s COVID-19 vaccination strategy and prompted a policy change that accelerated eligibility for third, fourth, and fifth doses of vaccines for long-term care residents, a policy credited saving lives.
Vaccines are the key to preventing more pandemics, expert tells Public Health Ontario.
Vaccine development may be the biggest factor in our ability to ward off the next pandemic, says Matthew Miller, Director of the Michael G. DeGroote Institute for Infectious Disease Research at McMaster University.
Innovation in vaccinology and immunology are critical to the future of public health preparedness, Miller told health experts from across the province in a talk delivered at Public Health Ontario Rounds.
“Prevention really needs to be the major focus of our strategy against emerging infectious diseases,” said Miller, an associate professor of biochemistry and biomedical sciences.
“Vaccines — especially those that provide broad protection against families of viruses that have pandemic potential — are the best way to ensure that we are sufficiently prepared in the future.”
Miller and his colleagues at McMaster are doing their part by leveraging mucosal immunology to design new and improved vaccines: He is part of the team of experts driving the development of McMaster’s next-generation COVID-19 vaccines, which are designed to target emerging and future variants of SARS-CoV-2.
National
Peer support app for first reponders
McMaster researchers are working with the Public Health Agency of Canada to develop mobile applications to better equip first responders with access to peer-to-peer mental health support and resources.
Championing federal support for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows
McMaster’s Dean of Graduate studies Steve Hranilovic addressed the House of Commons’ Standing Committee on Science and Research to advocate for additional funding for students and postdoctoral fellows in the current inflationary environment.
That additional funding is also needed for Canadian universities to remain competitive globally and attract top talent.
Two McMaster instructors, engineering physics professor David Novog and associate professor of chemistry and chemical biology Saman Sadghi also addressed the committee as individuals to advocate for enhanced supports for student researchers.
Crafting post-COVID syndrome guidelines in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada.
McMaster University clinician-researcher Holger Schünemann is receiving $9 million in federal funding to develop official guidelines for post-COVID-19 Condition (PCC), commonly known as long COVID.
Schünemann’s project, titled McMaster Development and Dissemination of Post COVID-19 Condition (PCC) Guidelines and Knowledge Translation Products, is being developed by McMaster in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC).
Schünemann said that Cochrane Canada and the Grading of Recommendations, Assessment, Development and Evaluation (GRADE) Centre at McMaster will develop, disseminate and evaluate six evidence-based health guidelines on PCC that will focus on its Canadian context. These guidelines, to be published early in 2024, aim to cover identification, prevention, assessment, management, follow-up and monitoring of people with PCC.
The large national team with links to global health organizations will be co-led by Robby Nieuwlaat from the Department of Health Research Methods, Evidence, and Impact (HEI) and Nancy Santesso, Jan Brozek, Wojtek Wiercioch, together with a team of experts in the field at McMaster, plus Kevin Pottie at Western University.
A new global centre focused on climate change promises to address complex water crises that span international boundaries and jurisdictions.
Gail Krantzberg, a professor and program lead from McMaster’s Masters of Engineering and Public Policy program in the W Booth School of Engineering Practice and Drew Gronewold from the University of Michigan (U-M) will lead the project. The Global Centre for Understanding Climate Change Impacts on Transboundary Waters will have a special focus on collaborating with Indigenous populations.
The centre received $3.75 million in funding from the National Science Foundation Global Centres – a joint initiative between the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the US National Science Foundation (NSF), Australia’s Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) to encourage and support international collaborative research on climate change and clean energy.