Congratulations to the recipients of the OOAQ-REPAR research partnership scholarships!

The research partnership program between the Ordre des orthophonistes et audiologistes du Québec (OOAQ) and the Réseau provincial de recherche en adaptation-réadaptation (REPAR) of the Fonds de recherche du Québec-Santé (FRQ-S) encourages research projects in speech-language pathology and audiology aimed at improving clinical practice and the quality of services to the population in the field of communication disorders. In 2023, this partnership made it possible to award two grants worth $15,000 each.

The winning projects are :

• Myriam Breton and Vincent Martel-Sauvageau, speech-language pathologists, for their project État des besoins orthophoniques et de la prise en charge des personnes atteintes de la COVID longue au Québec : vers l’établissement de recommandations provines adaptées aux besoins orthophoniques de cette clientèle. (State of speech-language pathology needs and management of people with long-onset COVID in Quebec: towards the establishment of provincial recommendations adapted to the speech-language pathology needs of this clientele.)
• Claudia Côté and Philippe Fournier, audiologists, for their Projet d’amélioration des outils d’évaluation clinique de l’hyperacousie et de la misophonie au Québec. (Project to improve clinical assessment tools for hyperacusis and misophonia in Quebec.)

Find out more about these two projects, we invite you to view a video produced in conjunction with the award ceremony, featuring a discussion with Paul-André Gallant, President of the OOAQ.

Source: OOAQ

In the photo:
Bottom row: Phillipe Fournier (Cirris researcher and professor in the Audiology Program at Université Laval, project co-leader, audiologist), Claudia Côté (audiologist, project co-leader). Top row: Samuel Montminy (audiologist, Catherine-Ève Morency (audiologist), David Ratelle (audiologist), Véronique Rivest (audiologist), Anaîs Gros-Louis (audiologist), Richard Larocque (audiologist and interim program leader).

Chantal Desmarais and Véronique Caron receive the OOAQ’s Innovation sociale-Desjardins 2023 award

The Ordre des orthophonistes et audiologistes du Québec (OOAQ) awarded this year’s Prix Innovation sociale-Desjardins to speech therapists Chantal Desmarais and Véronique Caron for their ESCALADE intervention program, aimed at supporting adolescents with developmental language disorders (DLD). Under the responsibility of Cirris researcher Pre Desmarais, the Université Laval research team and its partners in the education and health and social services networks designed the program in response to a critical lack of resources in the field. The ESCALADE program helps teenagers with LD to gain self-awareness and master strategies to develop better communication skills.

The ESCALADE program is designed to meet the needs of two main groups: junior high school students with developmental language disorders (DLD), for whom few services are currently available, and school practitioners who welcome and accompany these young people, and who report a lack of tools to support them in their progress towards better communication skills.

The program includes 17 turnkey activities for use in the classroom, and 5 main tools: a facilitator’s guide, a student workbook, support and training videos for facilitators, posters featuring the program’s key visuals, and PDFs of the training capsules. All this material can be viewed and downloaded free of charge here.

Congratulations to the whole team!

Alexandra Lecours wins the Prix de la Francophonie for young researchers, 2023 edition – Humanities and Social Sciences section

On November 1, as part of the Semaine mondiale de la Francophonie scientifique (SMFS) in Quebec City, the Prix de la Francophonie for Young Researchers, 2023 edition, was awarded. Alexandra Lecours, a researcher at the Centre interdisciplinaire de recherche en réadaptation et intégration sociale (Cirris), was awarded a prize in the Humanities and Social Sciences category.

The Prix de la Francophonie for young researchers are awarded by the Scientific Council of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) to recognize the merit and worth of researchers under the age of 40 who have achieved scientific recognition and made a significant breakthrough within the Francophonie. They take into account the diversity of the French-speaking academic world, particularly that of developing countries. The prizes are awarded every two years and cover two disciplinary fields: Science and Technology, and Humanities and Social Sciences.

Alexandra Lecours is a professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR), a regular researcher at Cirris and holder of the UQTR (jr) Research Chair on the health of aging workers. Her research projects aim to promote equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace, in order to foster the healthy participation of aging people in the workplace.

A proud French-speaking researcher, she collaborates with researchers from the scientific Francophonie in several countries of the Americas, Europe and Africa, so that her projects respond to the different cultural realities of aging workers. Our projects aim to develop theoretical and practical knowledge that can be used internationally, particularly in the French-speaking world.

She also makes a point of supporting graduate students from various French-speaking countries. As a first-generation university student herself, she attaches particular importance to equality of opportunity and diversity of backgrounds in her research team. Equity, diversity and inclusion are values that guide both the conduct of her research projects and the management of her team.

She holds leadership roles in occupational health research at provincial, national and international levels. In particular, she is responsible for the Cirris Environment Axis, and co-leads the Prevention, Screening, Evaluation and Innovative Intervention Axis of the Réseau provincial de recherche en adaptation-réadaptation. She is also associate editor of the Canadian Journal of Occupational Therapy. She also organized an international symposium on the health of aging workers in 2022, which brought together researchers, students and partners from across the French-speaking world.

The importance of the French language in her career is evident, and has led to prestigious awards, including the Prix Publication scientifique en français Louise-Dandurand from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et Culture in 2022. To date, she has received over $3.5 million in research funding, published 72 papers and given some 100 lectures around the world.

The entire Cirris community offers her its most sincere congratulations!

$55,689 to UQTR for an inclusive management program

The Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) recently announced $155,689 in financial support from the Quebec government to help it deploy the Inclusive Hiring and Management Program, which aims to promote the recruitment of employees living with an intellectual disability or an autism spectrum disorder, while meeting the workforce needs of companies.

This innovative program is the result of a collaboration between the Jules Dallaire Family Foundation, Sylvie Dallaire Inc. and the UQTRC Chair in Self-Determination and Disability. Martin Caouette is a professor in the Department of Psychoeducation and Social Work at UQTR and a researcher at Cirris.

Read the article published on Néo UQTR (in French)

REISD call for projects – Have your innovation validated in a real-life context

As part of its first funding round, the Réseau d’évaluation et de l’innovation en santé durable (REISD) is launching a call for projects to support an innovator over a 12-month period in the development and clinical evaluation of his or her innovation. This call for projects is open to individuals wishing to develop or market a new product or service relevant to health and social services centers (CIUSSS).

Eligibility criteria

Innovators are eligible:

• whose innovation (product or service) is relevant to CIUSSSCN service delivery ;
• whose innovation has a minimum technical maturity level (TRL) of 6 AND a minimum commercial maturity level (CRL) of 2. (You must use the MatMax by WSL scale to assess your project’s TRL and CRL – MatMaX (wsl.be);
• whose innovation is designed AND manufactured or assembled in Quebec ;
• whose innovation is being developed with a view to commercialization.

Steps to follow

1- You must first register as an innovator with REISD using the following form (in French)

2- You can then submit your innovation via that same link.

Deadline for submitting your innovation: August 27, 2023, 11:59 p.m.

For any questions: info@reisd.ca

Funding for two research projects led by Alexandre Campeau-Lecours

Two research projects led by Alexandre Campeau-Lecours, professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Université Laval and researcher at the IngRéadaptULaval laboratory and at Cirris, have recently obtained financial assistance to pursue their objectives focused on improving the quality of life of people living with muscular limitations.

Project “Intelligent Mechatronic Assistive Technologies in Rehabilitation Engineering: Prevention at Work, Adaptation to Daily Life and Physical Intervention”

This research program aims to develop and evaluate, iteratively, new rehabilitation technologies to improve different components of the quality of life of people with disabilities. Funding of $295,451 awarded over a 4-year period by the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Santé’s Junior 2 Scholars program will ensure the development of the program, which is based on robotics, mechatronics and artificial intelligence.

Project “Development and validation of an electromyographic control (EMG) interface”

Conducted in collaboration with Benoît Gosselin, professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering at Université Laval, as well as Laurent Bouyer, professor in the Department of Rehabilitation of the Faculty of Medicine of Université Laval and director of the Centre thématique de recherche en neurosciences (CTRN), This project aims to develop an electromyographic system (EMG), which captures electrical signals from nerves and muscles, at low cost. This will be for the benefit of people living with disabilities to control their computer via muscle contractions. Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada will support this mission with a grant of $140,000.

The interdisciplinary project, which combines expertise in engineering and medicine, is part of Professor Campeau-Lecours’ many research activities focused on adaptation, physical rehabilitation and injury prevention in the workplace or in sport.

Source: Laval University

Amélie Sanfaçon-Verret wins Chief Scientist Award at Science POP 2023 Final

Amélie Sanfaçon-Verret, a PhD student in rehabilitation sciences at Université Laval, affiliated with Cirris, recently won the 1st Chief Scientist Award (valorization challenge) at the 2023 Science POP national grand finale. Her presentation entitled Speech Language Pathology Care Adapted to the Atikamekw Nation: A Necessity! valued research aimed at improving access to culturally safe speech-language pathology care, adapted to the Atikamekw Nation, and contributing to improving the quality of life of its members.

The provincial science communication final, organized under the aegis of the Fonds de recherche du Québec-santé (FRQS), was held on May 28 at the Institut de recherches cliniques de Montréal (IRCM). Fifteen Quebec research institutions took part in the 2023 edition of this popular science competition, which aims to promote science-society dialogue.

Emmanuelle Careau wins the Université Laval Young Graduate Award

Emmanuelle Careau, a regular researcher at Cirris, is the second recipient of the 2023 Young Graduate Award awarded by the Fondation de l’Université Laval as part of the annual recognition of Les Remarquables. An occupational therapist by training and a graduate of a master’s degree and doctorate in experimental medicine – adaptation/rehabilitation from Université Laval, she has distinguished herself in the fields of interprofessional training and collaborative practices.
Professor at the University since 2013, Emmanuelle Careau was appointed Vice-Dean of Social Responsibility of the Faculty of Medicine in 2017, then Vice-Dean of Professional Development, Pedagogy and Social Responsibility in 2022. Previously, she was Scientific Director of the Collaborative Network on Interprofessional Practices (CNIP) and representative of Quebec and Université Laval on the Pan-Canadian Consortium for Interprofessionalism in Health (CPIS).

The Fondation de l’Université Laval spoke with Ms. Careau during a podcast, where she explains the concept of social responsibility through the care and services offered to the population. “It’s important to train health professionals and do research to ensure that care and services remain relevant to everyone and remain as equitable as we […] lives in the city or whether you live in a region or even in remote areas,” she says.

Organized by the Fondation de l’Université Laval, the annual Les Remarquable recognition brings together the winners of the Young Graduate Award, reserved for those aged 40 and under, and the Grand Graduate Award, awarded to those aged 41 and over.
The Grand diplômé award has been awarded since 1952 to Université Laval graduates who, through their professional activities and their contribution to society, bring honour to Université Laval and their profession. Among the most notable graduates are Sophie Brochu, the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney, Manon Brouillette, Jean-François Lépine, Pauline Marois and Yvon Charest.
Awarded since 1987, the Young Graduate Award recognizes the exceptional merit of Université Laval graduates who are having a dazzling start to their careers. Among the most notable winners of the Young Graduate Award are Laurent Turcot, Marie-Maude Denis, Stéphanie Harvey and Luc Langevin.

Source: Université Laval

Seniors at higher risk of pedestrian collisions

When driving in a public place, seniors use a different pedestrian avoidance strategy than young people, shows a team from Université Laval following experiments in a virtual environment. The slower reaction time to adjust their movement could lead to unfortunate consequences.

“Our results suggest that older adults need more time to analyze the visual information they collect. As a result, their attention is diverted from obstacles that may be in their way. In seniors with mobility or balance problems, this circumvention strategy could increase the risk of hitting an object or making a misstep resulting in a fall,” says the professor at Université Laval’s Faculty of Medicine and researcher at the Centre interdisciplinaire de recherche en réadaptation et intégration sociale (Cirris) of the CIUSSS de la Capitale-Nationale, Bradford McFadyen.

To arrive at these results, the team studied the circumvention strategies of 14 young people with an average age of 24 and 14 people over the age of 70. Participants were walking through a virtual reality environment representing a shopping mall.

“They were asked to walk with a normal step towards a food counter. During the journey, a virtual pedestrian appeared in their field of vision and walked towards them. Participants had to get around it,” says Professor McFadyen.

During the tests, the research team measured, among other things, the observation time of the virtual pedestrian, the location of the participants looking, the virtual pedestrian-pedestrian distance at the time the bypass was initiated, and the minimum bypass distance.

Their results revealed that older adults:

• look at the virtual pedestrian 70% of the time, compared to 50% for young people;
• spend half as much time as young people looking at the environment;
• spend twice as much time as young people observing the legs of the virtual pedestrian;
• initiate the bypass later when they are 1 m closer to the virtual pedestrian.

When the virtual pedestrian moved without wiggling the limbs, members of both groups began the bypass earlier, but the difference was more pronounced among the elderly. “This indicates that the movements of the virtual pedestrian limbs are being used to plan the bypass. When deprived of this information, participants, especially older people, are more cautious,” says Professor McFadyen.

To improve the avoidance strategy of older adults and prevent accidents, Professor McFadyen points out that the virtual environment used in the study could serve as a training tool for people whose mobility is reduced due to age or health problems such as stroke.

This study was published in the scientific journal Human Movement Science. The authors are Félix Fiset and Bradford McFadyen of Université Laval and Anouk Lamontagne of McGill University.

Source:

Public Relations and Protocol Team
Université Laval

Presenters stand out at the Cirris 2022 Student Conference!

On Thursday, September 29, the 11th Cirris Student Conference was held at the Musée National des Beaux-Arts du Québec. The event generated rich exchanges between students, panelists and members of the scientific community. It also allowed participants to appreciate the diversity of research projects underway at Cirris! Thank you to everyone present and congratulations to the recipients of the awards for the best oral or poster presentations:

Award for The Best Oral Presentation
• Flavie Bédard-Bruyère
• Marie-Pier Gingras
• Myriam Chrétien Vincent
• Isabelle Bradet-Lévesque

Award for the 2nd best oral presentation
• Béatrice Ouellet et Caroline Charrette
• Maude Gagnon
• Justine Marcotte et Maxime Kiki
• Noémie Fortin-Bédard

Best Poster Presentation Award
• Alexandre Thibeault-Piedboeuf
• Ghada Derbel
• Mégane Lacombe-Thibault
• Laurence Bergeron
• Ophélie Martinie
• Valérie Coulombe
• Léane Beaulieu-Laliberté
• Audrey Lalancette
• Rose Gagnon

Knowledge Transfer Award
• Sheryl Bourgaize

A huge THANK YOU also to all our sponsors without whom this event would not have been possible:

MAP, Participation sociale et villes inclusives, Bia formations, MEDTEQ, Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQS), Réseau Provincial de Recherche en Adaptation-Réadaptation (REPAR), Centre Thématique de Recherche en Neurosciences (CTRN), Ordre professionnel de la physiothérapie du Québec (OPPQ), Chaire de recherche en paralysie cérébrale de l’Université Laval (CRPC), Physiothérapie Nomade, Fédération des kinésiologues du Québec, Fondation Élan, Clinique Synapse, La Clinique Du Coureur, Office des personnes handicapées du Québec (OPHQ), Coop Zone, Physio Interactive et Clinique Cortex, IMPAKT Scientifik, Centre dentaire Julie Beaudoin, ACCEM ULAVAL et Braver

Marianne Boyer published in IEEE Sensors

Congratulations to Marianne Boyer, a student at Cirris under the supervision of Professor Alexandre Campeau-Lecours, for her article entitled Calibration and Adjustment Algorithm to Attenuate the Effect of Arm Orientation on a sEMG-Based Muscle Fatigue Indicator, which has just been published in the prestigious journal IEEE Sensors!

North American Congress on Biomechanics: Sheryl Bourgaize and Félix Fiset win the honours!

Congratulations to Cirris’ students Sheryl Bourgaize and Félix Fiset who won the Canadian Biomechanical Society President’s Award for their poster presented at the North American Congress on Biomechanics. The event took place from August 21 to 25 at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa!

Sheryl Bourgaize is co-supervised by Bradford James McFadyen and Michael Cinelli (WLU), and Félix Fiset by Bradford James McFadyen and Anouk Lamontagne.