IN∙GAUGE
Founded by Dr. Roberta L. Woodgate on the belief that young people have a right to be heard in research, the IN∙GAUGE research program creatively engages children, youth, and families as partner advisors and co-investigators in health and social sciences research projects with an overall aim to amplify their voices, improve their well-being, and advance the type and extent of care they receive.
IN•GAUGE is physically located at the University of Manitoba campuses in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
meet IN•GAUGE’S TEAM
Dr. Roberta L. Woodgate PhD, MN, RN
she/HEr
Dr. Woodgate is a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Child and Family Engagement in Health Research and Healthcare; a Distinguished Professor at the University of Manitoba, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, College of Nursing; an accomplished scholarly author (ORCID: 0000-0002-7176-2390) whose works are regularly cited by like-minded investigators around the globe; as well as Founder and Principal of the innovative IN•GAUGE research program.
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Dr. Woodgate founded the child and youth rights-based IN•GAUGE research program on a belief that children and youth have the right to be involved as much as possible in the decisions that affect their lives, and that the way children and youth are engaged in critical discussions about their lives matters. For these reasons, the IN•GAUGE research program importantly provides young participants with a spectrum of creative ways to explore ideas and express themselves.
IN•GAUGE takes an integrated knowledge translation approach (IKT) to identifying, researching, and problem-solving complex health and social issues with young people, which is a strategy for redistributing power over the course of research by engaging young people as co-investigators. Over the course of an IN•GAUGE research project, Dr. Woodgate provides her co-investigators with mentorship, but otherwise allows them the freedom to select their research topic, implement a study of their own design, and then creatively share their results across numerous meaningful platforms.
Dr. Woodgate’s IN•GAUGE research program is helping to identify and explain the experiences of children, youth, and families in today’s world; providing guidance on how best to engage children, youth, and families in research; and improving health and social outcomes for children, youth, and families.
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Distinguished Professor, College of Nursing, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba
Adjunct Scientist, Research Institute in Oncology and Hematology, CancerCare Manitoba Research Institute (CCMR)
Research Affiliate, Manitoba Centre for Nursing and Health Research, College of Nursing, Rady Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Manitoba
Meet Staff
Geneva Gudmundson BKin
She/Her/They/Them
Research coordinator for the research project 'Making Visible the Life Stories of Families of Children who are immunocompromised during COVID-19'.
Research Interests:
Health psychology and sociology, health behaviours, mental health, mixed methods, arts-based methods
Julianna Petrasko MA
She/Her
Research coordinator for the research project ‘Advancing Patient-Centered Care in Young People Living with Chronic Pain’.
Research Interests:
Harm reduction, mental health, access to healthcare, quantitative methods, mixed methods
Ashley Bell RN, BN
She/Her
Graduate Student Research Assistant who contributes to research projects that are part of Dr. Roberta Woodgate's IN•GAUGE research program. Youth co-researcher on 'Partnering for youth mental health and well-being: Co-Designing policy recommendations and research priorities for Manitoba youth hubs' and 'Understanding the impacts of COVID-19 on the mental health and well-being of Canadian youth coming of age in COVID times'.
Research Interests:
Families and children, 2SLGBTQIA+ healthcare, qualitative and arts-based methods, mixed methods
Corinne Isaak MSc, PMP
She/Her
Research Coordinator who contributes to numerous IN•GAUGE research program projects. Focusing on grant writing, ethics submissions, administrative data acquisition, and writing manuscripts for journal publication.
Research Interests:
Healthcare access, mental health, qualitative methods, mixed methods, population health
Rachelle Sass MA
She/Her
Research coordinator for Dr. Roberta Woodgate's research project 'Non-Suicidal Self-Injury among Youth: Perspectives of youth who self-harm, their families and service providers'.
Research Interests:
Child and adolescent health, health psychology, behavioural neuroscience, medical technology
Alesia Riddell Msc
She/Her
Research coordinator for the research project 'Young Immigrants and Refugees Co-designing Mental Health and Wellbeing Solutions'.
Research Interests:
Research with children and youth, intersectionality and health equity, mental health, mixed methods
Katrina Martin BN, MN
She/Her
Research coordinator for the research projects ‘The Journey for Patients of Childhood Brain Tumours: From Post-Treatment into Adolescence and Adulthood’ and ‘Mobilizing Communities: Enhancing partnerships between schools and youth hubs for mental health and well-being’.
Research Interests:
Mental health, sexuality, arts-based research methods and knowledge translation
Abeer Alraja MSN, PhD
She/Her
Research coordinator for the research projects ‘Understanding the Impacts of COVID-19 on the Mental Health and Well-being of Canadian Youth Coming of Age in COVID-times’ as well as ‘Connections Matter: Fostering Social Connectedness in Youth to Optimize Mental Health & Well-Being’.
Research Interests:
Mental health, mixed methods research, nursing leadership
Lisa Mary-Quigley BN, RN
She/Her
Research coordinator for the research project ‘Engaging youth in mental health research in the COVID-19 pandemic context via a youth codesign arts-based approach’.
Research Interests:
Understanding and supporting the lived experiences of nursing students, and theoretical and clinical education of nurses in Manitoba's baccalaureate nursing programs in the area of mental health
Paulina Occhino
She/Her
Graphic Designer who contributes to research projects that are part of Dr. Roberta Woodgate's IN•GAUGE research program. Creates graphics for posters, as well as assets for research papers and journals.
Research Interests:
Using design and illustration to facilitate the spread of important research-focused information
LEAH NICHOLSON PHD CANDIDATE
She/Her
Research coordinator for the research project ‘Partnering for Youth Mental Health and Well-Being: Co-Designing Policy Recommendations and Research Priorities for Manitoba Youth Hubs’ and the study ‘Understanding Childrearing Families’ Decisions to Vacccinate Against COVID-19 and Influenza’.
Research Interests:
Health and well-being research with children, youth, families, and communities, health care, arts-based methods, mental health
Lindsay Allen Msc, PhD student
She/Her
Graduate Student Research Assistant who contributes to research projects that are part of Dr. Roberta Woodgate's IN•GAUGE research program.
Research Interests:
Community mobilization, Indigenous-led health care, cultural humility, youth-driven eco-village design and implementation, qualitative methods, arts-based methods
Salam Al Sayed bsw, mA
She/Her
Research Coordinator for the research project ‘Addressing the Wider Health Impacts of COVID-19 on families of children living with disabilities’.
Research Interests:
Newcomer youth and families, cultural studies, program facilitation and evaluation
Bekelu Negash BSC, MSC
She/Her
Research Coordinator for the research projects ‘Mobilizing Communities: Enhancing partnerships between schools and youth hubs for mental health and well-being' and ‘Connections Matter: Fostering Social Connectedness in Youth to Optimize Mental Health & Well-Being’.
Research Interests:
Patient-doctor relationships within marginalized populations, knowledge translation science, culturally appropriate care for African immigrants and Indigenous Peoples
the Research Program
How it works
Funding for IN•GAUGE research projects is identified and secured by Dr. Woodgate and her team from various public sources through an extensive grant-writing process.
Once funding for an IN•GAUGE research project has been secured, Dr. Woodgate engages with anywhere from one to dozens of young people and families as her advisors and co-investigators in research.
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A typical engagement begins with either recruitment for a particular project, or an idea for a project that is submitted by you! Dr. Woodgate and her team are generally looking for children, youth, and families who are willing to share their experiential knowledge on a range of health and social sciences topics.
Once recruited, IN∙GAUGE program participants receive creative freedom and mentorship from Dr. Woodgate and her team as they share in deciding the research topic, how the research is to be done, which data collection and analysis methods to use, and how to creatively share the resulting research evidence.
IN∙GAUGE program participants even have a say in how they receive compensation and acknowledgement for their specific contributions. And because new knowledge creates more opportunities for discovery, participants are often given the choice to continue their engagement in the IN∙GAUGE research program over a series of projects.
get in touch
CONTACT us!
IN•GAUGE on social
IN•GAUGE in-person
University of Manitoba
Helen Glass Centre for Nursing
Room 465 - 89 Curry Place
Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2
204.474.8338
Land Acknowledgement
The University of Manitoba campuses are located on original lands of Anishinaabeg, Cree, Oji-Cree, Dakota and Dene peoples, and on the homeland of the Métis Nation. We recognize and honour Treaty 3 Territory Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, the source of Winnipeg’s clean drinking water. In addition, we acknowledge Treaty Territories which provide us with access to electricity.
IN•GAUGE believes that acknowledging this truth is a small but critical step in building stronger relationships with Indigenous communities. We respect the spirit and intent of Treaties and the process of creating them, and we are committed to working in partnership with First Nations, Inuit and Métis people.
Vision
To become a globally recognized leader in engaging children, youth, and families as partners in health and social sciences research, and in advocating for equality, diversity, and inclusion in the design and delivery of health and social programming to children, youth, and families.
Mission
IN∙GAUGE is committed to creatively engaging children, youth, and families as partners in health and social sciences research projects with an overall aim to improve the well-being of, and the type and extent of care received by children, youth, and families.
Values
Amplifying the voices of children, youth, and families in health and social sciences research.
Creatively engaging children, youth, and families throughout the research process.
Minding how we identify problems, approach research topics, engage with each other in research, share research results, and recognize individual contributions to research.
Supporting current expressions of youth culture.
Being open to diverse perspectives and ways of doing things.
Promoting how young people say they want to be engaged in research and which topics matter most to them.
Moving towards a more equitable health and social system that values anti-poverty and anti-racism in research and care.
Achieving equality, diversity, and inclusion in the design and delivery of health and social programming for children, youth, and families.
Improving care for and the overall well-being of children, youth, and families
Educating others with respect to these values.