Monthly Meeting

Fuzzy cognitive mapping: Applications in AI/ML

The PRAM team unites monthly to provide project updates, present research protocols, practice dissertations defences, and more.

This month, Drs Neil Andersson and Iván Sarmiento led a team discussion following their presentation of additional options for the analysis of FCM, potential usages of Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) in participatory research, and how we can integrate participants' voices in AI. 

Project Update

Kangiqsualujjuaq: Fuzzy cognitive mapping sessions

This month, PRAM research partners Elisapie Padlayat and Pasha Saviakjuk visited Kangiqsualujjuaq to continue mapping community perspectives on what contributes to giving birth in a good way in Nunavik. We wanted to acknowledge the hard work of these two women, who have been leading fuzzy cognitive mapping sessions with community members despite challenging climate conditions! An additional note of thanks to the people from Kangiqsualujjuaq, for their gracious hospitality and contributions.

Student Successes

Yasmine Elmi

A brief note of congratulations to Yasmine Elmi, a McCall MacBain Scholar and student under Dr Anne Cockcroft, who has recently been awarded the Canada Graduate Scholarship - Master's program (CGS-M). Well done, Yasmine!

If you had just one minute to change the world, what would you say?

The Festival is hosted by the Institute for Human Development and Well-being and the Participatory Cultures Lab, and provides an opportunity for individuals and communities alike to harness the transformative and creative potential of cellphone cameras to engage with critical social issues.

Cellphilm Submission Date: 25 May 25, 2023

Festival Date: 15 June, 2023 

For more information, visit their website or contact the organizers at thecellphilmfestival@gmail.com

Meet Mona Ziba Ghadirian

Mona has a BASc in International Development and Biomedical Science from McGill University and a Master of Public Health from the University of Waterloo. She has over 15 years of experience working in community development and adolescent empowerment. 

Last year, Mona completed her PhD in Human Nutrition at McGill based on her work in Ghana, where she studied how participatory video nutrition education could play a role in influencing nutrition literacy among adolescent girls in rural Ghana.

About the Asesewa Nutrition Film Festival

Adolescent girls in the 10 intervention schools made educational videos on prevalent nutritional issues in their respective communities as part of the cluster randomized controlled trial. A total of 20 videos were made on getting a balanced diet and preventing anemia in adolescent girls.

The goal of the film festival was to show the videos to a wide range of people who would not only benefit from the key nutrition information in the videos, but also may become ambassadors of its message. There was a concerted effort to invite key stakeholders such as the district Directors of Ghana Education Service and Ghana Health Service, local chiefs and queen mothers, community health workers, and the headmasters and girl child coordinators of the 20 participating schools.

A Success Story

There are many examples of success stories that came from these activities. One story stands out of a father who attended the local video screening in one of the more rural communities. There, he watched his daughter play the role of one of the anaemic students in the video. 

After the video was screened, he shared that his daughter had recently been diagnosed with anemia. He explained how difficult it was for him and his family to understand what had caused this ailment and what they should do to treat it. He was proud to see his daughter eloquently explain what anemia was in the video and was grateful to have learned more about it. 

This was a reminder of how important knowledge about iron deficiency anaemia is, how adolescents could be natural teachers in their communities, and how grateful and ready their parents were to learn. By hosting the festival and local screenings, this vital information was able to many families in the area!