Social Inclusion and Health Equity

About Us 

The Social Inclusion and Health Equity research group is a dynamic hub for community partners, undergraduate and graduate students, and research partners to collaborate on high quality, rigourous research that results in program and policy change. Our research is interested in the broad areas of population health, HIV/ AIDS, health care access, sexual health, and human sexuality, and focuses specifically on the impacts of various forms of social exclusion on health, mental health, and well-being.

In order to conduct our research, we have recieved funding from various ogranizations, including: 

• Ontario HIV Treatment Network
• Canadian Institutes of Health Research
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
• Public Health Agency of Canada
• Wilfrid Laurier University 

Areas of Research

Our research philosophy attends to three central questions:

• What are the significant issues minority communities face today?
• How do we build the most effective research collaborations with service providers, community members, and policy makers to ensure that their issues and concerns are attended to?
• How do we ensure that our research findings are used by decision-makers to create change?

With that, our research focuses on:

• Identifying population, community, and individual determinants of health and well-being for minority groups (sexual orientation, gender, ethnoracial, and their potential intersections)
• Identifying factors that foster individual, community, and population health and wellness among minority groups
• Identifying structural factors and how these are potentially linked to health and well-being for minority groups

The research we undertake is both population and community-based. We take a collaborative approach, involving a number of community members, service providers, and policy stakeholders as partners, with the ultimate goal of improving community health and eliminating health inequities through knowledge to action strategies. 

We have partnered with various organizations in Waterloo Region and beyond, including:  

• AIDS Committee of Cambridge, Kitchener, Waterloo & Area (ACCKWA)
• Region of Waterloo Public Health and Emergency Services
• Rainbow Community Council
• Region of Waterloo Crime Prevention Council
• Waterloo Region District School Board
• KW Counselling Services (OK2BME)

The Social Inclusion and Health Equity research group prioritizes knowledge transfer initiatives and methods that get data into the hands of decision-makers who need them. We have been successful in ensuring that data from our studies have impact, including mentions in The Record and Xtra News.