Grant: Planning and Dissemination Grant - Institute Community Support

Concerns about the aging Canadian population and the needs to adapt to the growing and changing needs of the seniors are obviously much in the public discussions these days, as it can have wide ranging effects on social, economic and health systems. Increasingly many innovative approaches like artificial intelligence (AI) are being used to address the needs of the clients and the caregiver needs in the home and to decrease burden on the hospital or institutionalized care. However, this has not only raised various social and ethical concerns but also has opened more channels about accessing health-related misinformation. Through our next public forum series, we will be addressing the three topics: healthy aging, AI in health, and learning about your health in the age of misinformation. Drawing on the success of our previous public forums, Science & Policy Exchange proposes to organize a public forum series in 2018-2019 to disseminate current research and policy issues surrounding health in the context of current aging population in Canada, the impact of artificial intelligence and disruptive technologies in health, as well as on the causes and possible solutions to address the viral spread of misinformation about public health. These forums are a platform for the public to engage with experts in this field, to not only increase their knowledge on these topics but also to ask their burning questions and inform the experts on the public's concerns. In the long-term, we hope these forums empower the public to take an informed decision or stance when faced with medical issues and to be conscious of potential misinformation. Science & Policy Exchange (SPE) is a non-profit group run by graduate students and post-doctoral fellows in Montreal, whose mission is to foster the student voice in policy making and to bring together leading experts from academia, industry, and government to engage and inform students and the public on issues at the interface of science and policy.