Translating research into social change

A new program at the O’Brien Institute for Public Health will support research aimed at addressing the needs of society’s marginalized, and translate that research into action.

The Social and Structural Vulnerabilities Program, led by Dr. Katrina Milaney, PhD, will advance existing work being done at the O’Brien Institute in this area, and foster new opportunities with researchers, community agencies and decision makers to affect social change.

“There is already very good research happening in the area of social and structural vulnerabilities at the O’Brien Institute, and there is an opportunity to be a national leader in this work,” says Milaney, who is an associate professor in the Department of Community Health Sciences at the Cumming School of Medicine.  

Milaney, who has spent her research career working in the area of social vulnerabilities such as homelessness, poverty, domestic violence, mental health, and addiction says supporting vulnerable groups requires an understanding of the systemic and structural issues that have a negative impact on health and wellbeing. Focusing on the “upstream” determinants of health can influence change at a high level, rather than focusing on individual people and individual problems, she says.

With the right infrastructure in place, Milaney hopes to learn from the experiences of people who live with these vulnerabilities and move beyond academia to improve service delivery, the health care system and public policy. 

“We have an obligation as academics to take this work beyond traditional publications and conference presentations to really start to move the needle on social and structural vulnerability at a systems level,” she says.  

After undertaking broad consultation with community, government and other stakeholders, Milaney says there is an identified gap between academic research, the community organizations supporting vulnerable groups, and decision makers and policymakers which this program will address.

A public health priority

The Social and Structural Vulnerabilities Program reflects one of two O’Brien Institute research priority themes under Improved Population Health — the other being healthy cities.

Read about the research priority themes of the O’Brien Institute here.

The large body of work already being done at the Institute in the area of social and structural vulnerabilities, along with funds from an anonymous donor and a societal need spurred the development of this program, says Dr. Jamie Day, PhD, O’Brien Institute administrative director. 

"Both member 'push' and community 'pull' in social and structural vulnerabilities have made this a priority research area for the Institute, and Dr. Milaney is an ideal lead to further our capacity and excellence in this area,” she says.   

In addition to Milaney, a research associate and catalyst funding will support the work of this program, as well as O’Brien Institute members working in this area. 

Institute members who are interested in working with the research associate, or applying for catalyst funding for their projects with a focus on social and structural vulnerabilities should contact iph@ucalgary.ca.

A note on language: The title social and structural vulnerabilities has been chosen intentionally as other more common phrases such as ‘vulnerable populations’ can obscure structural determinants of vulnerability, or the ways in which systems, structures, policies and programs make people vulnerable.