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Reconciling Divergent World Views on Mercury Pollution:
Evolving thoughts on interdisciplinary and translational research
Nil BasuAssociate Professor and Canada Research Chair
(CRC) in Environmental Health Sciences
McGill University, Montreal, Canada
ASGM
•Artisanal & Small-scale Gold Mining•>1,000 years old•Mainly in LMICs (low- and middle-income countries)
•Mainly informal (or illegal)•10-15 million miners; >100 million community members
•World’s largest source of mercury
You and I →
HealthGuideline
Paruchuri et al. 2009. Sci Tot Environ. 408: 6079-85
Uri
ne
mer
cury
(u
g/L
)
Group ID #
In the beginning…
• researcher
• discipline
• problem
• year
• $
• method
• plan
• understand
My evolving thoughts…
• researchers
• disciplines
• problems
• years
• $$$
• methods
• plans
• understand broadly
My evolving thoughts…
• researchers
• disciplines
• problems
• years
• $$$
• methods
• plans
• understand broadly
Integrated Assessment (IA) of ASGM
“… a way of bringing together knowledge of ecosystems, people, and policy in order to find solutions for particularly challenging problems and to develop tools and information that policy makers can use.”
Natural Sciences
Social Sciences
Human Health
Policy and Economics
Four discipline-specific workgroups: • 1+ Ghana-based co-leader• 1+ N. American co-leader• 4-6 members/group [30+]• 1 external, international advisor• 6 Ghanaian postdocs trained
Up front, co-design the plan
20
12
20
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15
2 31 4 5a b c d e f
Meetings → Activities → Outputs
EnvironmentalToxicologist
Physicians
Social Scientists
Ecologists
Epidemiologists
Ecologists
Social Scientists
Epidemiologists
Social Scientists
Physicians Epidemiologists
Social Scientists
Ecologists
Epidemiologists
EnvironmentalToxicologist
Social Scientists
Physicians
Ecologists
Epidemiologists
-noise-injuries-malnutrition-stress-STDs
-globalization-family struct-women’s work-regulations-land tenure
-land degradation-deforestation-biodiversity loss-climate change-waste mgmt
-migration-community-malaria-WASH
A more divergent view…
yet a more holistic & convergent view
My evolving thoughts…
• researchers (conversations, comradery = team)
• disciplines (natural, medical, social)
• problems (collaboratively; grander)
• years (trust, language, understanding)
• $$$ (is key)
• methods (interfaces + frontiers; time & practice)
• plans (meetings, project manager, evaluations)
• understand broadly (& deeply)
• YET, HOW APPLY AND MAKE AN IMPACT?
“Action without study is fatal; study without
action is futile”- Mary Ritter Beard
- [thank you Richard Gutierrez, BanToxics]
Photographer: Shawn Baldwin/Bloomberg
- 26 Ghanaian Scientists- >10,000 datapoints reviewed- 37 presentations delivered- 22 publications- 6 Ghanaian postdocs trained- --------------------------------------- 38 Stakeholders- 35 Institutions represented- 9 meetings in 4 years- Inform national and
international programs- Spin-off activities numerous
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12
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2 31 4 5a b c d e f
Researchers → Stakeholders
Delphi Poll: Evidence → Options
• Based on inter-disciplinary evidence
• Iterative method of trawling opinion amongst stakeholders
• Process repeated until consensus/clusters of opinion reached
• Private and groups• Quantitative and
qualitative• Facilitated by STEPRI
Impact(economic, social, environmental)
Feasibility(cost, acceptance, political will, logistics)
- Convergent and divergent results = deeper understanding
Delphi Poll: In Action
Delphi Poll: No Simple Solutions
*** Input from diverse disciplinary scholars; stakeholder groups; Ghanaians
Delphi Poll: No Simple Solutions
*** Input from diverse disciplinary scholars; stakeholder groups; Ghanaians
MERCURY FREE METHODS
”low” implementation & economic feasibility
vs. “high” benefit to people and environment
Researchers → Stakeholders → ACTION
• Oct 10-11, 2013: adopted and signed in Minamata and Kumamoto, Japan (Diplomatic Conference)
• Annex C - ASGM: reduce mercury, but also education, formalization, public health, vulnerable groups, etc.
• Article 16 (Health Aspects) emphasizes vulnerable populations (16.1a) including multi-sectoral approaches, education, risk reduction
• Article 18 (Public Information, Awareness) emphasizes education & training, and NGOs and vulnerable communities
• Article 19 (Research, Development, Monitoring) emphasizes a need to focus on vulnerable populations (19.1c)… collaboration
• Article 22 (Effectiveness Evaluation) evidence-based metrics
My evolving thoughts…
• research team incl. blue chip partners
• inter-disciplinary + sectoral
• grand problems & solutions
• Years → trust (flexibility & go to next level)
• $$$ (is key and more is better)
• diverse tested toolkit ever expands, innovates
• management plans → improvements in research
• basic & applied understanding → synthesize
• YET, HOW SCALE-UP & SUSTAIN?
GEOHealth Program – Build Capacity
GEOHealth - Objective
To support the development of institutions in the Low- or Middle-Income Countries (LMICs) that will serve as regional hubs for collaborative • research
• research training
• data management
• curriculum development
• knowledge translation
around high priority local, national, and regional environmental and occupational health threats
→ build capacity & sustainability
Award to US
institutions
Award to LMIC
Institutions
Research
Institutions
NGOs
Government Ministries and
Agencies
‘HUB & SPOKE MODEL’
- 26 Ghanaian Scientists- 38 Stakeholders- 35 Institutions represented- 9 meetings in 4 years- >10,000 datapoints reviewed- 37 presentations delivered- 22 publications- 6 Ghanaian postdocs trained
ASGM TEAM
IDRC EcoHealth Chair
Air Pollution Team
SADC, W Africa, EU, Canada, USA, etc.
metals
malaria
nutrition
dried bloodspots
metabolomics
legacy organics
emerging organics
TB
lung function
socio-demographics
air pollutants
personal cameras
wearable sensors
WASH
stress
job activities
DNA methylation
fish, birds, cattle
water, soil, food
My final thoughts… (slide 1 of 3)
• researcher-stakeholder team shovel ready
• interdisciplinary esp. social scientists (justice, $$$)
• Stakeholder-driven problems = research → action
• years (time to build trust, platforms) - investment
• $$$$$ (is key; diversification; partners invest)
• quality toolkit fit for purpose; core-interfaces-frontiers
• management plans→ improved outputs & outcomes
• basic & applied understanding → synthesize & scale-up
• Design Thinking (empathize; define; ideate; test; iterate)
We face grand challenges
But we are NOT connecting
Environmental Health
(40,650 articles)
Infectious Disease
(53,406 articles)
PubMed Search Jan 11, 2019; last 10 yrs
471 articles0.5%
Many Thanks to Teams and FundersG
EOH
eal
thIA
Te
am
NIL BASU, PhDCanada Research Chair (CRC) in Environmental Health Sciences; Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, McGill University
research
action
GEOHealth
Funders: Stakeholder-driven
Mandate it
GE3LS: Stakeholders-first
GE3LS: ???
Opening Remarks
• Apologies for missing yesterday
• Pollution kills; infectious agents kill; burden of disease is much too high
• Disproportionate impacts and vulnerable populations
• Env, biomedical, and health → economic and human rights issue
• Win – win – win solutions that sustain are possible
• Who “commands and controls”? The system is broken
How to operationalize this?
• *** You could, therefore, lead the participants to thinking more holistically about collaborative types of research, especially across disciplinary boundaries,
• explain how to integrate such complex data and
• *** We would also like to hear your thoughts on the involvement of diverse communities in such collaborative research and especially in the decision-making process.
• what are the implications of such research for public health, medical, policy or even regulatory decisions.
NSF Definition
• "Interdisciplinary research is a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the
Planetary Health
• Money
• Time
• People
• Disciplines
• Listen
NSF Definition
• "Interdisciplinary research is a mode of research by teams or individuals that integrates information, data, techniques, tools, perspectives, concepts, and/or theories from two or more disciplines or bodies of specialized knowledge to advance fundamental understanding or to solve problems whose solutions are beyond the
R&D (?)
Uptake (→)
Impact (*)
EcoHealth & Planetary Health
Slide 84
EcoToxChip
Resources needed to nucleate
Nucleate
Sponsors
• connect themselves
• mandate project managers
• My stories are mine.• Subjective over objective; feelings are evidence
• What are yours
• Why do you do what you do?
• We need more heart in our work
• What is it?
• How do we do it?
• Why do we do it?
Interdisciplinarity
• http://drnissani.net/mnissani/pagepub/SMOOTHIE.htm
• Many forms
• Knowledge: 2+ disciplines
People first
• Not for everyone; disciplines matter
• Respect voices
• Not easy. Dialogue of the deaf
Yet we struggle with diversity
• Gender and ethnic put aside
• Gap between left and right especially in higher education
• Gap between science and affected communities
• Gap between science and at-large population
Depth and Breadth
• Employers are increasing requiring expertise but also an expertise in reaching across
• Real-world often involves teams and stakeholder-driven research
• Training the next generation to engage in inter-disciplinary dialogue is central in tackling grand challenges
Who are the stakeholders?
• How do we make our work more relevant to the public and ensure that it solves grand challenges?
• Extends beyond the nuts and bolts of our research to what it means and its ultimate goals
• First base: the right people with right skills
• Second base: motivation and resources to do the research
• Third base: talk share your story. Have results…
• Home base: Home run. Translational
• Wait, the team, the team…. Interdisciplinary and intersectoral team
