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Introducing Dr. Habib Chaudhury, CERi Researcher-in-Residence

March 01, 2022

By Grey Nguyen

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We’re pleased to announce Dr. Habib Chaudhury has joined CERi as a Researcher-in-Residence from September 2021 to April 2022.

Dr. Habib Chaudhury is the Chair and Professor in SFU’s Department of Gerontology. His research mainly concentrates on the field of environmental gerontology, such as the physical environment for people with dementia in long-term care facilities, dementia- friendly communities, and community planning and urban design for active aging.

I am interested in conducting community engaged research that has the potential for real impact on policy and practice. Along with my colleagues with similar orientation, we are engaged in participatory research with community partners, older adults and care partners in British Columbia,” said Chaudhury.

He sees CERi as a platform where the gap between research and practice is being minimized. “I am a firm believer about the importance of addressing the gap between research and practice” noting that there are limitations of the traditional “top-down” research approach. For him, not only do community-based research practices provide the chance to gain unique insight and perspective about the research topics and participants, but also provides a more tangible long- term impact to the general community rather than limiting itself within the context of academic knowledge.

One of Dr. Chaudhury's recent project, InterGenNS, is a community-engaged project concentrating on intergenerational programs on the North Shore. This is an excellent example of community-initiated project by multiple stakeholders in the North Shore and led by North Shore Community Resources. By targeting the challenge of social isolation and ageism, the project is working to support programs that will bring together generations and diversities in the community and to highlight the benefits of intergenerational initiatives.

Chaudhury and his team has recently started a project to examine the role of neighbourhood-built environment on influencing the mobility, wayfinding and social participation among people living with dementia. The research project, funded by the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) and the Alzheimer Society of Canada will directly engage persons living with dementia and their family care partners in a participatory method to generate evidence base in this area of knowledge. The project is partnering with three municipalities in British Columbia and the Alzheimer Society of BC.

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