Rural360: incubating socially accountable research in the Canadian North

Abstract

People in Northern Newfoundland and Coastal Labrador (NNCL), Canada, face major challenges obtaining accessible and contextually-relevant healthcare. Rural360 is a socially accountable research incubator that provides funding for NNCL physicians to research solutions to these issues. NNCL graduates of the adjoined 6for6 research training program for rural physicians are invited to submit the research project they have conceptualised as part of that initiative as a letter of intent, and subsequently as a research proposal, to Rural360. These submissions are reviewed by relevant subject matter experts as part of the Rural360 adjudication process. This process is iterative and strives to guide and assist participants in refining their submission. The overarching objective of Rural360 is to collaborate with rural physicians to conduct, disseminate or otherwise catalyze unsupported community-based research in NNCL. In so doing, it is highly socially accountable, empowering participants to become change-makers who investigate contextually important health issues that emerge from NNCL communities.

Keywords

• capacity building
• social accountability
• research skills
• physicianled
• community-driven
• newfoundland and labrador
• canada