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Creation of a Chair in Leadership in Teaching, Awareness, Self-Management, and Support (SENSAS) for the Well-Being of Veterans and Their Families.
Laval University, in partnership with the Center of Excellence on Chronic Pain for Canadian Veterans (CESLDC), is launching a first in Canada with the creation of the SENSAS (Awareness, Self-Management, and Support) Chair in Teaching Leadership for the Well-Being of Veterans and Their Families. This initiative aims to address a pressing need: chronic pain affects 41% of veterans, twice as many as in the civilian population, while specific resources remain scarce, particularly in Quebec.
The Chair, led by Pascale Marier-Deschênes, assistant professor in the Department of Anesthesiology and Critical Care, will develop, among other things, a bilingual online program for chronic pain self-management, co-created with veterans. This program can be used alone or as a complement to professional care. At the same time, the Chair aims to raise awareness among the student community, faculty, and health professionals about the unique realities of veterans and their families by developing interactive training modules on topics such as military culture and the transition to civilian life.
The CESLDC’s $500,000 in financial support over five years will enable the Chair to roll out this innovative program, in addition to promoting the ongoing professional development of clinicians already in practice. This interdisciplinary and collaborative approach reflects the values of social engagement and responsibility upheld by Laval University and its Faculty of Medicine.
For Laval University Rector Sophie D’Amours, this project illustrates the concrete impact that the university can have on society, while Dean Julien Poitras emphasizes the importance of training professionals who are better equipped to support veterans in their care journey. This chair marks an important step toward greater recognition of the specific needs of this population.
Source: Laval University News
Photo credits: Yan Doublet, Laval University
Congratulations to the recipients of FRQ-2025-2026 funding!
The Fonds de recherche du Québec (FRQ) recently announced the recipients of its 2025-2026 funding programs. Congratulations to the Cirris researchers and students whose projects have been funded through this competition!
Prof. Alexandre Campeau-Lecours
Program: Team Research Project
Project: Development and validation of a voice control interface for assistive technologies for people living with disabilities
Program: Audace
Project: Development of an anticipatory assistance system using electromyography to assist with involuntary movements in people living with motor incoordination
Prof. François Routhier
Program: Dialogue / Researchers
Project: Xprescience: A media project for popularizing science by, for, and with people with disabilities
Simon Tremblay-Turcotte
Program: Doctoral Research Scholarship
Project: Inclusive aviation: designing accessible and inclusive toilet areas in commercial aircraft for all passengers
Megan Veilleux
Program: Master’s Research Scholarships – Regular Component
Project: Supporting the social participation of people living with traumatic brain injury through the co-development of an intergenerational intervention.
Bérangère Naudé
Program: Springboard Grant
Project: Ergonomic audit of an application promoting residential independence for people with disabilities.
Héloïse Baglione
Program: Doctoral Research Grants for Professional Degree Holders – Regular Component
Project: Clinical management of deficits in understanding affective prosody: a new treatment approach
Aristide Honado
Program: Doctoral Research Scholarships – Research Reintegration Component
Project: Co-creation program for individualized assistive devices to promote social participation among people with disabilities
Ismaël Breton
Program: Master’s research fellowships
Project: Development and validation of a new generation of physical assistance robots
Jean-François Filiatrault
Program: Postdoctoral fellowships
Project: Institutional pathways of people with intellectual and sensory disabilities: life trajectories, self-determination, and intervention strategies
Karine Gendron
Program: Master’s Research Scholarships
Project: Understanding the life trajectories and factors influencing the residential transition experiences of aging adults with intellectual disabilities who left their family home after the age of 40.
Lucie Gattaz
Program: PBEEE / Doctoral Research Scholarships
Project: Social participation and cognitive difficulties following cancer and its treatments: better understanding to better support those affected and their caregivers.
Maxime Boutet
Program: Master’s Research Scholarships
Project: Use of rhythmic sensory stimulation in exploring the neural mechanisms involved in pain perception.
The mission of the Fonds de recherche du Québec is to support and promote excellence in research and the training of the next generation of researchers in the natural sciences and engineering, health sciences, social sciences and humanities, arts, and literature.
Gabrielle Leblanc Huard, Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Scholar
Congratulations to Gabrielle Leblanc Huard, a doctoral student in social work at the Faculty of Social Sciences affiliated with CIRRIS, who is one of 16 recipients of the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation’s 2025 cohort, selected from more than 680 applications!
Her research project, entitled “Growing Up in Pain: A Qualitative, Exploratory, and Critical Study of the Transition to Adulthood for Young People Living with Chronic Pain,” explores the challenges these young people face when they have to balance chronic pain with the transition to adult independence.
Using a qualitative approach, Gabrielle Leblanc Huard analyzes the support mechanisms available, the social dynamics, and the structural inequalities that influence their journey.
Socially engaged, the doctoral student actively participates in collaborative projects, awareness-raising activities, and initiatives aimed at promoting the rights of people living with invisible health conditions and improving access to social services.
In recognition of her outstanding career and the quality of her research, she has also received doctoral scholarships from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Société et culture, as well as a prestigious Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship.
These distinctions highlight her commitment to social innovation and her desire to have a lasting impact on social work policies and practices.
Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Doctoral Scholarship
Awarded for academic excellence, social engagement, and openness to diverse perspectives, the Pierre Elliott Trudeau Foundation Doctoral Scholarship is a three-year program. It aims to train leaders capable of transforming their ideas into concrete actions for the good of communities in Canada and around the world. Through its scholarships, mentoring, and public events, the Foundation supports the development of researchers committed to addressing the contemporary challenges facing our society.
See the complete list of 2025 scholarship recipients
Source and photo credits: Laval University
Alexandra Lecours receives the UQTR Scientific Succession Award
On Wednesday, April 16, the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières (UQTR) presented 23 honorary distinctions to members of its university community during the Distinction UQTR ceremony. During the ceremony, Alexandra Lecours was awarded the UQTR Scientific Succession Award, given to a professor at the beginning of their career who stands out for the excellence of their research and demonstrates exceptional leadership and scientific qualities that enable them to develop constructive and lasting relationships with the research community. Dr. Lecours had also previously won the 2023 Francophonie Award for Young Researchers in the Humanities and Social Sciences category.
Alexandra Lecours is an associate professor in the Department of Occupational Therapy at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, a regular researcher at CIRRIS, and a Junior 2 Research Fellow with the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Secteur Santé. She also holds the UQTR Research Chair (jr) on the health of aging workers.
The entire CIRRIS community would like to offer her its most sincere congratulations!
Embark on Jimmy Pelletier’s World Tour!
Goal: 500 kilometers = $5,000 for inclusion
The Cirris Social Participation and Inclusive Cities (PSVI) research team is launching its own campaign to support Jimmy Pelletier’s Tour du Monde and contribute to the creation of the Adaptavie Health Complex and Hub. The team’s goal is to help bring together research, community engagement, and concrete action. We invite the research community to donate to show their support for this ambitious initiative, which will benefit people with disabilities in Quebec.
It’s simple: 1 km = $10
Each donation symbolizes one kilometer traveled by Jimmy around the world… and a collective step toward a more inclusive world.
Our goal is to mobilize members of our research and teaching community, our collaborators, and partners to collectively purchase kilometers. Together, let’s spread the word about Adaptavie’s mission and support a social project that is essential for the social participation of people with disabilities.
And visit the Jimmy Pelletier hike website for all the details.
Amélie Sanfaçon-Verret winner of the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia Award
Congratulations to Amélie Sanfaçon-Verret, who recently won a £500 scholarship from the Tavistock Trust for Aphasia! She has distinguished herself through the excellence of her aphasia research, which is already having a concrete clinical impact. Amélie’s work, which began while she was studying for her professional master’s degree in speech-language pathology, led to the creation and validation of a new clinical assessment tool for people with acquired communication disorders. Today, she is pursuing her research in the field of aphasia as part of her doctorate in rehabilitation sciences at Université Laval and Cirris, under the supervision of Laura Monetta (Université Laval/Cirris) and Vanessa Taler (University of Ottawa).
The Tavistock Trust for Aphasia Award recognizes members of the student community from all universities in the UK, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and Ireland with a speech-language pathology program.
*In the photo, Amélie Sanfaçon-Verret (recipient/PhD student) Laura Monetta, PhD (research director) and Vincent Martel Sauvageau PhD, (director of the speech-language pathology program, Université Laval).
Teaching Excellence Award for Simon Beaulieu-Bonneau
Congratulations to Simon Beaulieu-Bonneau, Associate Professor at Université Laval’s School of Psychology, who has been awarded the Prix d’excellence en enseignement in the Associate or Full Professor category for 2023-2024! These awards recognize outstanding research and teaching by faculty members.
Simon Beaulieu-Bonneau is a Cirris researcher and FRQ-S Scholar (Junior 1). A psychologist by training, he holds an attestation for the evaluation of neuropsychological disorders, and his research interests focus on evaluation and intervention in rehabilitation neuropsychology, more specifically with adult clients who have suffered a traumatic brain injury or stroke. He is particularly interested in the functional impacts of cognitive disorders, the links between sleep and cognition, and the use of technology in neuropsychological assessment and intervention.
Photo credits: Faculty of Social Sciences, Université Laval
FRQNT STRATEGIA grant awarded to Cirris team
A Cirris team led by Benoit Gosselin, and also including researchers Véronique Flamand, François Routhier, Alexandre Campeau-Lecours and Édith Martin, was recently awarded a STRATÉGIA grant from the Fonds de recherche du Québec – Nature et technologies (FRQNT) worth a total of $1,125,000 over 3 years for their project “MAIN: Myo-prothèse à Apprentissage Interactif et Neuro-renforcement”.
The STRATÉGIA initiative is part of the SQRI2 2022-2027 and the FRQNT Strategic Plan 2022-2025. Its main aim is to drive sustainable innovation in key economic sectors, by increasing research capacity tenfold, supporting the next generation of researchers, and generating significant spin-offs for Quebec.
About the project
Myoelectric hand prostheses enable people with upper-limb amputations to regain their abilities and independence in everyday life. However, the products currently on the market are very expensive, often uncomfortable, and still counter-intuitive, which greatly limits their positive impact.
The MAIN project aims to design the first intelligent hand prosthesis technology based on HD-EMG myoelectric sensors exploiting interactive deep learning. In addition to enhancing the user experience by compensating for their disabilities in a natural way, interactive learning combined with an on-board HD-EMG sensor platform will enhance users’ neuromuscular capabilities and fully exploit the capacities of their residual limbs, beyond current limits.
This project brings together international experts from five FRQ-NT strategic clusters (UNIQUE, ReSMiQ, INTER, REPARTI, CQMF), an FRQ-S network and center (REPAR and Cirris), two college technology transfer centers (TOPMED and Groupe CTT), public and industrial partners (CIUSSS-CN and BIO6), and four university research chairs (two Canada Chairs and two Canada-CIFAR Chairs). The team brings together world-renowned complementary expertise in biomedical engineering, clinical rehabilitation, artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and materials science to create a new intelligent myoelectric prosthesis technology that will revolutionize current approaches and transform healthcare in Quebec and around the world.
Catherine Mercier awarded Canada Research Chair in Sensorimotor Rehabilitation and Pain
Catherine Mercier is Scientific Director of the Centre interdisciplinaire de recherche en réadaptation et intégration sociale (CIRRIS), Full Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation, Faculty of Medicine, Université Laval, and a member of the Québec Pain Research Network (QPRN). She was recently awarded a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Sensorimotor Rehabilitation and Pain. Tier 1 Chairs are awarded to outstanding researchers recognized by their peers as world leaders in their field. For each Tier 1 Chair, the institution receives $200,000 per year for seven years. The mission of this Chair is to develop a better understanding of the interactions between sensorimotor functions and pain, focusing in particular on the changes that occur in the central nervous system in response to injury, disease or intervention, in order to maximize the effectiveness of rehabilitation interventions.
The Canada Research Chairs Program is at the heart of a national strategy to make Canada one of the best countries in the world for research and development. It invests approximately $311 million a year to attract and retain a diverse group of top-notch researchers, in order to consolidate excellence in research and training at Canada’s post-secondary institutions. This program is a joint initiative of the three research funding agencies: the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
The entire Cirris community extends its most sincere congratulations to you, Pre Mercier!
Source: RQRD
Maxime Robert receives ISVR’s Early Career Investigator Award 2024
Congratulations to Maxime Robert, winner of the 2024 Early Career Investigator Award from the International Society for Virtual Rehabilitation (ISVR)! The award, which recognizes and honors outstanding leadership and dedication, will be officially presented to him at the organization’s next world congress, to be held in Amsterdam from June 26 to 28, 2024.
Each year, ISVR brings together interdisciplinary experts engaged in cutting-edge research, clinical advancement and entrepreneurial exploration, offering an in-depth presentation of new technologies and clinical developments in virtual reality (VR), extended reality (ER) and advances applied to rehabilitation.
Maxime Robert has been an assistant professor at Université Laval’s École des sciences de réadaptation since 2019 and a researcher at Cirris. His research program covers a broad spectrum and has enabled him to acquire and develop unique multidisciplinary expertise in motor control, learning and the development of intensive intervention with virtual reality for children with cerebral palsy.
Among the innovations in the field of virtual rehabilitation that earned him this prestigious award:
The clinical use of active video games for children with cerebral palsy:
Children with diplegic cerebral palsy exercise at a similar intensity to typically developing children when playing on an active video game console. This was demonstrated by Professor Robert in a study cited more than 60 times by the scientific community, proving that active video games can promote physical fitness in children with cerebral palsy.
Motor learning, the role of sensation and the use of virtual reality in children with cerebral palsy:
Professor Robert and his team have demonstrated that after intensive functional intervention using a virtual reality system, motor improvements can not only be retained, but also transferred to a similar task. The functional task adapted to the study is now being used in other laboratories, notably in studies on adult stroke victims.
A clinical site for intensive interventions with children suffering from cerebral palsy:
In partnership with clinicians at CHU Sainte-Justine’s Centre de réadaptation Marie Enfant, Pr Robert and his team have set up a summer training camp for children with cerebral palsy. This 2-week, 60-hour intensive therapy integrates virtual reality into an intensive reference intervention, offering a range of exercises not usually performed in a clinical setting. The clinical trial began in summer 2022 and is due to be repeated over the next five years. Around 60 children will benefit.
Virtual reality in the service of adapted physical activity for people with neurological disorders
A virtual platform can be a valuable tool for clinicians wishing to offer stimulating and motivating physical rehabilitation activities to people with physical disabilities, in a variety of settings, including the home. In collaboration with technology and community partners, Professor Robert is developing innovative solutions to promote physical activity using virtual reality outside the clinical setting.
For more information: communications@cirris.ulaval.ca
Stéphanie Bernard, winner of the program to support young leaders and the next generation of sustainable healthcare professionals
On March 28, the Chaire de recherche en santé durable announced the results of the first competitions in its program to support young leaders in sustainable health.
Among the winners: Stéphanie Bernard, assistant professor in the Department of Rehabilitation at Université Laval and researcher at Cirris. She was awarded a $40,000 grant for her project entitled “Perineal and pelvic health needs of LGBTQIA2S+ people: understanding them better to respond more effectively”.
Through this program, the Chair aims to support intersectoral projects co-constructed with citizens and communities that can contribute to the production of knowledge relevant to the various dimensions of sustainable health.
Twenty-three eligible applications from a variety of disciplines were assessed by independent evaluation committees made up of members of the scientific community and citizens. At the end of this process, 9 scholarships and 4 grants, totalling $349,500, will be awarded to outstanding candidates.
Congratulations, Pre Bernard!
Source: Sustainable Health Research Chair
Photo credits: Martin Roy, Communications Department, Université Laval
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).