The LIFE Research Institute is happy to share that our membership is continuing to grow. We now have 200 members! In 2024–2025, we organized seven talks and other events.

• From January 20th to 24 2025, we ran the second edition of our five-day challenge on social media.
• On April 3, 2025, we collaborated with Professor Cintia Quiroga, director of the Office of Public Policy Research and Outreach at the University of Ottawa, other research centres and institutes at the University and the Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue to host the first event of the uOttawa Pop-Up Lab on Housing and Homelessness.
• On April 16 2025, we collaborated with Professors Martine Lagacé and Cintia Quiroga to host an event titled Forum on Inclusion and Exclusion in the Workplace: A Focus on Ageism.
• On May 5, 2025, we held our annual general meeting, on the theme of housing affordability.

We also recorded and posted seven video capsules on our YouTube channel with experts sharing knowledge on various topics like travelling as seniors and the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on our daily lives.

Learn more about the LIFE Research Institute.

Over the past year, the Interdisciplinary Centre for Black Health has made a name for itself as leader in health equity promotion.

• May 16, 2024: The Centre first made its presence felt at Acfas, bringing together researchers and professionals to discuss heath-care issues specific to Black communities.
• June 18, 2024: The Centre launched the Black Women’s Health Initiative, a pioneering effort to strengthen research, care and support regarding Black women’s health.
• June 20, 2024: As part of World Sickle Cell Awareness Day, the Centre, along with the Sickle Cell Disease Association of Canada, organized a parliamentary breakfast bringing together decision-makers and organizations to advocate for better access to care and for reform of blood donation criteria.
• October 16 to 18, 2024: The Centre held a conference titled Black Mental Health: Reclaiming the Path to Joy, bringing together researchers, artists and community members to discuss mental health from an Afro-centric perspective, rooted in resilience and collective well-being. As well, on October 18, we launched the BlackFit project on diabetes prevention in Black communities, an awareness raising and education initiative focusing on nutrition, physical activity and preventive health care.
• March 20, 2025: The Centre organized a national conference on vaccination in racialized and Indigenous communities, looking at trust, culture and public health practices.

These achievements illustrate the Centre’s growing impact in transforming health-care knowledge, practices and policy for Black communities in Canada.

Learn more about the Interdisciplinary Centre for Black Health.

The Music and Health Research Institute (MHRI) has had several achievements over the past year.

• November 5, 2024: The MHRI and the Royal’s Institute of Mental Health Research officially inaugurated the Music and Mental Health Research Clinic at the Royal. This initiative aims to integrate music-making in mental health care by demonstrating and validating the well-being benefits of community-based music programs.
• November 7, 2024: An event titled “The Impact of Participatory Music on Mental Health” took place as part of the Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue. It was an afternoon of discovery and dialogue with presentations on innovative approaches and a panel discussion with health practitioners, researchers, policymakers and community groups, along with musical performances.
• May 13 to 16, 2025: Our third annual conference took place. The dynamic program, with 30 oral presentations, 11 posters, six roundtables and 11 workshops, highlighted cutting-edge research and outstanding practices from across disciplines. The conference brought together 130 participants from seven Canadian provinces and abroad, resulting in a rich synergy of reflection on musicians’ health and the benefits of music for the health of various populations.
• We organized 19 training sessions and various social events to foster cohesion and support among students, four Student Research in Focus Colloquia (during which students could share their projects and receive feedback from MHRI members) and two Research Toolbox Webinars organized to meet needs expressed by students.

Besides these events, the research partnerships set up since the Institute’s launch have produced their first research results (presented at the MHRI third annual conference in May 2025), including the description of pedagogical approaches in three community music schools in Ontario and British Columbia and the effects of the Opera de Montréal’s workshops on the well-being of people suffering from long COVID or on transgender women.

Learn more about the Music and Health Research Institute.