鈥�Pain is not just a biological signal鈥攊t鈥檚 a social one.鈥�
With these words, Dr. Anna Zajacova opened the 2025 CAnD3 Keynote Address, held at the 好色TVl Faculty Club on June 10th, 2025. Her keynote,听鈥�The Hidden Epidemic: Chronic Pain in Social and Demographic Context",听delved into how education, gender, and geography shape the experience and measurement of chronic pain across North America. This capstone event marked the culmination of the 2024鈥�2025 Training Program and the official onboarding of CAnD3鈥檚 sixth鈥攁nd final鈥攃ohort of Fellows.
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Dr. Anna Zajacova speaking at the 2025 Keynote Address Event.
The day began with a Meet-the-Speaker session, where Fellows engaged directly with Dr. Zajacova in an intimate Q&A. They explored how structural forces intersect with individual experiences of health, and how cross-national datasets can be harnessed to surface hidden inequalities in pain prevalence and treatment.
Later, Dr. Zajacova鈥檚 keynote address challenged participants to reconsider assumptions about chronic pain, highlighting data blind spots and social gradients in pain management. Her talk underscored the importance of population-level data science in addressing underrecognized dimensions of public health and was met with wide engagement from both in-person attendees and online viewers.
The whole keynote lecture can be viewed on our .
Fostering the Next Generation of Population Data Scientists
The 2025 Keynote Address also served as the official onboarding of CAnD3鈥檚 sixth and final cohort. These Fellows join the program from across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, and bring diverse disciplinary training, from sociology and epidemiology to data science and policy analysis. As the last cohort in this landmark initiative, they carry forward a legacy of excellence and impact.
At the heart of CAnD3's mission is its comprehensive training program, which delivers a trifecta of modules: substantive introductions to cutting-edge population research topics, hands-on skills training in various research methods and tools, and invaluable professionalization insights for career development. This holistic approach caters to researchers across Master's, PhD, and postdoctoral levels, fostering a new generation of interdisciplinary experts.
Bridging Academia and Real-World Challenges
The Keynote Address underscored CAnD3's dedication to fostering interdisciplinary and intersectoral approaches addressing challenges in aging societies. This commitment is realized through the program's experiential learning opportunities, connecting Fellows with governmental, non-profit, and private sector partners for internships and hands-on research projects.
This year鈥檚 Partner & Fellow Showcase featured two insightful presentations that highlighted how research can directly inform policy and practice.
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Statistics Canada was represented by听2023-2024听Fellow, Chris Borst,听who presented their work on early learning and child care data systems. Chris shared projects related to the Early Learning and Child Care Information Hub and national child care agreements, with a focus on accessibility, affordability, and inclusivity. They听also walked the audience through ongoing survey tools like the Canadian Survey on Early Learning and Child Care (CSELCC) and the Survey on Early Learning and Child Care Arrangements (SELCCA),听highlighting how data infrastructure supports critical investments in child care and family policy.
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The Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) was represented by Shaimaa Yassin, who partnered with 2024-2025 Fellow,听Jiaxin Gu,听who presented on IRPP鈥檚 Flagship Assignment under the Future Skills Centre. Their project examined place-based workforce planning for the net-zero transition, drawing from eight international case studies. Their research explored solutions to skill mismatches, employment shifts in emissions-intensive industries, and equity-focused strategies, including reconciliation and inclusion, in the Canadian context.
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From Left to Right: 2024-25 Fellow Jiaxin Gu, CAnD3 Director Dr. Am茅lie Quesnel-Vall茅e, 2023-24 Fellow Christ Borst
These partnerships highlighted the value of CAnD3鈥檚 experiential learning approach, enabling Fellows to work closely with partner organizations on research that addresses real-world demographic challenges.
Dragons' Den: Turning Insight into Impact
The day concluded with our annual Dragon鈥檚 Den Finals, where twenty Fellows (presenting individually or in pairs) pitched their research through compelling data visualizations to a panel of expert Dragons. This year鈥檚 judges,听Kiwon Lee (Centre for Data Science and Informatics, 好色TVl), Krystle van Hoof (Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives), and Giovanna Badia (好色TV Library), provided thoughtful feedback and posed insightful questions on clarity, creativity, and policy relevance.
We extend our warmest congratulations to the competition winners:
- 1st place: Excessive medication use among people living with chronic pain: an issue that varies across generations in Quebec - Hermine Nguena Nguefack
- 2nd place: The Pandemic鈥檚 Hidden Toll: Trends in Five Leading Causes of Death Before, During, and After the COVID-19 Pandemic among the Younger Populations in the United States - David Okunlola
- 3rd place: Mental health and wellbeing across generations - Helena Huynh
- Fan Favourite Award:听Regionalization of Immigration in Quebec: Studying Growth Trends -听Ian Van Haren & Nicole Antunes Rezende
CAnD3 Director Dr. Am茅lie Quesnel-Vall茅e and the "Dragons" present certificates and gifts to the CAnD3 Dragon's Den winners. From left to right, Ian Van Harren, Nicole Rezende Antunes, and Helena Hyunh. Hermine Nguena Nguefack and David Okunlola are not pictured.
Throughout the day, CAnD3 Fellows showcased their independent research in a series of poster presentations. Topics spanned a wide array of social and demographic questions, from aging and caregiving to racial inequality and urban policy. The posters reflected the interdisciplinary, data-driven spirit that defines the CAnD3 Fellowship.
- A Population-Based Study of Cancer Survival in Canada- Akwugo Balogun, 2022-2023 Fellow
- Racial and Sex Disparities in the Association between Stressful Life Events and Cardiovascular Diseases - Nkasiobi Nwobi, 2024-2025 Fellow
- Association between sociodemographic factors and mobility among older adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis听 - Dr.听, 2024-2025 Fellow
- Trends in the Prescription of Central Nervous System Depressants in Patients with Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease in the United Kingdom Primary Care, 2000-2022听- Omotayo Olayole 2024-2025听Fellow
- State Legislature Partisanship听and Timing of Hate Crime Law Adaptation听 - egan Johnston, 2023-2024 Fellow
Top Left: 2024-25 Fellow Oochukwu Onyeso, Bottom Left: 2024-25 Fellow Nkasiobi Nwobi, Right: 2024-25 Fellow Omotayo Olaoyle
Top Left: 2022-23 Fellow Akwugo Balogun, Bottom Left: 2023-24 Fellow Regan Johnston, Right: 2021-22 Fellow Tyler Bruefach
Empowering the Next Generation: CAnD3's Pan-Canadian and Global Initiative in Population Analytics for Aging-Related Decision-Making
As CAnD3 continues to forge connections between academic research and practical applications, the 2024 Keynote Address served as both a celebration of past accomplishments and a launching pad for future innovations in population data science and computational social sciences.
Since its inception in 2020, CAnD3 has successfully trained 99 Fellows, with additional 20 new Fellows joining for the 2025-26 Academic Year. The program's success is further evidenced by the $4.1M in pledged cash and in-kind support from 39 partners and the $2.5M Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Grant that established CAnD3. Moreover, the program's impact extends beyond training, with 42% of Fellows' internships being extended and 70% of those extensions resulting in offers of full-time positions post-internship. Detailed information about these accomplishments can be found in CAnD3's annual reports.
With less than half of the program remaining, CAnD3 is poised for even greater achievements. The consortium eagerly anticipates the future contributions of its Fellows, who are set to become leading population researchers and professionals, making significant impacts in communities and societies across Canada and beyond.
The CAnD3 Team sincerely thanks Dr. Anna Zajacova, partner representatives, the judges (Dragons), the Fellows, all in-person and online participants, and the staff at the Faculty Club for making our 2025 Keynote Address a success. All photos by Kyle Jones.听
