“Pain is not just a biological signal—it’s a social one.”
With these words, Dr. Anna Zajacova opened the 2025 CAnD3 Keynote Address, held at the McGill Faculty Club on June 10th, 2025. Her keynote, “The Hidden Epidemic: Chronic Pain in Social and Demographic Context", 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 2024–2025 Training Program and brought together the 6 cohorts of CAnD3 Training Program Fellows.
Dr. Anna Zajacova answering questions during the 2025 Keynote Address Q&A.
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’s 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.
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’s 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 2023-2024 Fellow, Chris Borst, 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 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), 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, Jiaxin Gu, who presented on IRPP’s 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.
Bottom Right Photo, From Left to Right: 2024-25 Fellow Jiaxin Gu, CAnD3 Director Dr. Amélie Quesnel-Vallée, 2023-24 Fellow Christ Borst
These partnerships highlighted the value of CAnD3’s 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 featured our annual Dragon’s 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’s judges, Kiwon Lee (Centre for Data Science and Informatics, McGill University), Krystle van Hoof (Healthy Brains, Healthy Lives, McGill University), and Giovanna Badia (McGill University Library, McGill University), 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’s 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: Regionalization of Immigration in Quebec: Studying Growth Trends - Ian Van Haren & Nicole Antunes Rezende
CAnD3 Director Dr. Amélie Quesnel-Vallée 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.
Poster Presentations: Highlighting the Fellows' Research Excellence
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 - Dr. Ogochukwu Kelechi Onyeso, 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 - Omotayo Olayole, 2024-2025 Fellow
- State Legislature Partisanship and Timing of Hate Crime Law Adaptation - Regan 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 2025 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. It also marked the official onboarding of CAnD3’s sixth and final cohort—Fellows hailing from across Canada, the United States, and the United Kingdom, with disciplinary backgrounds ranging 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.
Since its inception in 2020, CAnD3 has trained 99 Fellows and secured $4.1 million in pledged cash and in-kind support from 39 partners, made possible by a $2.5 million SSHRC Partnership Grant. These milestones underscore the program’s role as a national leader in graduate and postdoctoral training at the intersection of research, data, and policy.
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 diverse methods and tools, and essential professional development. This holistic approach prepares Fellows at the Master’s, PhD, and postdoctoral levels to become interdisciplinary experts and future leaders in population research.
With less than half of the program remaining, CAnD3 is poised for even greater achievements—powered by its community of researchers and partners committed to translating knowledge into action for the benefit of society.
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.
