Mapping Together: The Messy, Meaningful Work of Co-Design
What happens when researchers and communities truly build something together? It’s rarely neat—and that’s the point.
In this candid and engaging webinar, Mary-Ann Standing and Dr. Kate Kelly from the Secure Island Data Repository explore the messy, meaningful work of co-design through a project that brought researchers and public partners together to co-create maps and tools for equity-informed climate adaptation in Prince Edward Island.
Rather than following a predetermined path, the project evolved through shared decision-making. Lived experience and community priorities shaped the data, indicators, interpretation and final outputs. Along the way came uncertainty, tension, unexpected turns and important lessons.
Hear how co-design worked in practice, what made the process meaningful, and how it challenged conventional approaches to data-driven research. Participants will also lear about unexpected deliverables: the relationships, insights and ways of working that continue to influence future work.
Come for the maps. Stay for the messy, human work behind them.
About the Speakers:
Mary-Ann Standing is Director of the Centre for Health and Community Research and the Secure Island Data Repository at the University of Prince Edward Island. She has more than 20 years of experience in research, analytics and data infrastructure across federal, provincial and academic settings. Her work focuses on the use of administrative data to support research, policy and decision-making, with particular interests in ethical data use, governance and public engagement.
Dr. Kate Kelly is a Research Scientist at the University of Prince Edward Island’s Centre for Health and Community Research, where she supports researchers accessing data through the Secure Island Data Repository. Her work includes supporting multi-jurisdictional data research and collaborating with public partners and representatives from community organizations, governments and health authorities. Her interests focus on public engagement and the application of inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility principles in data-driven research.
About the Series:
The Big IDEAs About Health Data Speaker Series brings together leading voices from across research, policy, health care and the public sector to explore how administrative data can be used to advance health equity in Canada. Through thought-provoking presentations, speakers examine the responsible use of disaggregated data—including sex and gender, race and ethnicity, disability, income, housing, language and other social determinants of health. They also spotlight emerging research methods and data research practices that embed inclusion, diversity, equity, accessibility and community perspectives into algorithms, distributed analytics, community involvement and equity assessment tools.
Missed a session? Watch recordings of past webinars. External Link. Opens in new window. and explore the ideas shaping the future of equitable health data research.