Christopher (Chris) Yurris
Chris recently co-authored an article in Policy Options on fiscal federalism in Canada’s three territories. Writing alongside Prof. Daniel Béland, CAnD3 team member, and Prof. Trevor Tombe, Chris argues that the unique circumstances of the territories—like the devolution of lands and natural resources and healthcare spending in the context of aging populations—need to be considered when looking at fiscal arrangements between Ottawa and territorial governments.
The piece closely aligns with Chris’ passion in research: being born and raised in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, he has always been interested in the territories’ distinct political systems and institutions. He is now completing his Master’s in Political Science at McGill University, focusing on Canadian politics and public policy. His master’s thesis evaluates how incumbency advantage operates in the non-partisan system of governments in the Northwest Territories.
In his free time, Chris enjoys watching sports and going to concerts. This past August in Montreal, he got to see one his favorite bands, Wilco!
Before coming to McGill, Chris was working in the Government of the Northwest Territories, including the NWT Legislative Assembly and the Housing NWT. There, he worked to prepare briefing materials for Members of the Legislative Assembly and senior-level staff and process funding applications, among other things. And there he also developed an interest in social policy.
Chris is now training with CAnD3 to find ways to apply his research to tackle tangible challenges in public policy and government. “I chose to train with CAnD3 to improve my quantitative data analysis skills and develop more applied research skills,” he explains. “I have enjoyed meeting all of the Fellows and learning from people in a wide array of different academic disciplines and professional fields. This has helped me gain new perspectives on my work and the potential career paths once I graduate.”
You can learn more about Chris here.
Shawna Hopper
Shawna recently published on a range of topics researching aging and older adults—from reviewing the evolution of Canadian mental health law, policy, and research to examining the determinants of satisfaction with life in mid-aged and older adults with emphasis on the roles of personality and minority stress variables. What connects these works is Shawna’s passion for studying older adults.
“I believe [older adults] are a population that is often forgotten and undervalued,” she says. “Specifically, the importance of social connectedness for older adults has become evident over the past two years due to the pandemic and requires more attention. With the current demographic shift to an older Canadian population, it is only becoming more crucial to support the health and well-being of older adults.”
In pursuing this passion, Shawna is in her first year of the Gerontology PhD program at Simon Fraser University, under the supervision of CAnD3 team member, Prof. Theodore Cosco. Her doctoral work focuses on the impacts of social isolation on older adults’ mental health throughout the COVID-19 pandemic. Previously, Shawna’s master’s research used data from the Canadian Longitudinal Study on Aging (CLSA), a CAnD3 partner, to determine associations between biopsychosocial variables and subjective cognitive decline.
Outside of school and work, Shawna spends a lot of time being active, walking along the Vancouver seawall with her puppy and, according to her, an embarrassing amount of time watching reality TV.
To complement her doctoral studies, Shawna chose to pursue training with CAnD3 to advance her quantitative research skills and improve the quality of her research. “The opportunity that CAnD3 provides to network with professors, government leaders, industry professionals, and other graduate students is [also] invaluable,” she says.
When asked about her experience with the program thus far, Shawna said, “My experience, in the short time that I have been a Fellow, has been amazing. With support from CAnD3 I had the opportunity to attend the REVES workshop and conference in Halifax. This experience exposed me to novel research ideas and methods, while also providing me the opportunity to network with academics based around the world.”
You can learn more about Shawna here.
About the training program
The Population Analytics in an Aging Society Training Program is a rigorous one-year fellowship hosted by the Consortium on Analytics for Data-Driven Decision-Making (CAnD3), funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and based at McGill University. The program upskills rising researchers in Master's, PhD, and postdoctoral programs in the areas of population data science and computational population social science from a multidisciplinary lens. It also connects Fellows to experiential learning opportunities, which include hands-on research projects and internships with government, not-for-profit, and private sector CAnD3 partners. Since the first year of the program in 2020, CAnD3 has trained 32 Fellows and welcomes 20 new Fellows for the 2022-23 Academic Year.
