Anna-Liisa Aunio & team are finalists for $5 M grant

Implementing Smart Cities: Interventions to Build Healthy Cities is the name of a training platform and research project that is in the running for a $5 million grant from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Anna-Liisa Aunio (Sociology) is a co-applicant in the multi-disciplinary project led by David Ma of the University of Guelph, Laurette Dubé of McGill University, and Miyoung Suh of the University of Manitoba.

On Feb. 20, Anna-Liisa learned that her team has made it as a top-five finalist and earned a $25,000 grant to further develop the partnership and final proposal. As finalists, they will submit a full partnership plan by late summer and learn the results in late fall 2020.

“From gardening to food systems to developing more sustainable interventions for our future, this grant is an incredible step towards leveraging Dawson College research and assets in sustainability for inclusive, healthy, and just solutions for all,” Anna-Liisa said.

All of this is key to an ongoing partnership development among these parties to utilize data and AI for tools and training in health and sustainability across Canada.

The finalist award and development grant provide a framework for further engagement and development in this partnership. Anna-Liisa’s research and data, in this case building on an over 14,500-point food access database for Montreal and neighbourhood-specific insights for 13 neighbourhoods, will provide the basis for a geo-located environment and data observatory connected to the CIHR grant and Smart Cities goals (social data for food access and mobility).