26 Jun Reverse Science Fair Brings Community Groups and Researchers Together to Advance Mental Well-Being
Charlottetown, PEI, June 26, 2025 — On May 1st, the Alliance for Mental Well-Being hosted PEI’s first-ever Reverse Science Fair on mental well-being on campus at the University of Prince Edward Island’s Faculty of Sustainable Design Engineering (FDSE). Co-hosted with UPEI’s Office of Commercialization, Industry, and Innovation (OCII), the event brought together over 120 participants including researchers, students, policy makers, and 21 community organizations for a day of knowledge-sharing, connection, and collaboration.
The event flipped the traditional science fair model, placing community organizations at the center by hosting booths to share their lived experience, insights, and challenges from real-world practice. Researchers and students visited the booths to listen and learn, exploring how their research expertise could help address community needs.
“Research has been something that historically has been done to communities rather than with communities,” said Megan MacKenzie, Director of Knowledge Mobilization and Impact. “And if we’re really going to solve problems about mental well-being, we need to involve people with lived experiences in telling their stories and identifying the questions that matter to them.”
The program opened with a keynote presentation by Jason Newberry and Andrew Taylor of Taylor Newberry Consulting. Their session, “Partners in Discovery: How Community-Based Research Sheds Unique Light on Complicated Community Issues” set the tone for collaborative learning throughout the day.
Three case studies highlighted successful community-research partnerships:
- CHANCES (with their Community Navigator, Patricia Davies) and Dr. Shauna Reddin (UPEI Health Research Network) shared their work on community navigation to address the social care needs of at-risk primary care patients.
- The PEI Transgender Network (PEITN) (with Executive Director AinZ Kendrick), alongside Dr. Margie Burns (Assistant Professor, UPEI Faculty of Nursing) and Lucky Fusca (Sexual & Gender Diversity Specialist, UPEI; former Executive Director, PEITN), explored research into the experiences of Islanders seeking gender-affirming care.
- The Equine Assisted Services Consortium, including Kristi Rockley (Spirit’s Whisper Ranch), Eileen Conway-Martin (Let’s Talk Horses), Aleida Tweten (Hoofprint Ranch), and Dr. William Montelpare (UPEI Health Research Network), shared their collaborative work on establishing standards of practice for equine-assisted mental health and well-being services on PEI.
Attendees also heard from Sharon Jollimore, Director of Innovation and Engagement at the Alliance, and Marc Richard of OCII, who highlighted funding and partnership opportunities available to support future research.
“What’s next is more grants, more research opportunities, more building community, more getting the buy-in from community participants and partners so that we can develop a research culture in mental well-being and make sure that people recognize the potential of both the community as a community of practice and researchers to guide those individuals to resolve the questions that they have in their daily lives,” said Dr. William Montelpare, UPEI Health Research Network and Co-chair of the Alliance’s Research Advisory Table.
The Alliance will be launching new grant streams this fall to support community-led research and expand investment in mental well-being initiatives across PEI. More details will be shared in the coming months.
View the Community Investment Streams illustration, here.
Watch the Reverse Science Fair highlight video, below:
Stay informed on Alliance’s future initiatives by visiting www.allianceformentalwellbeing.com or by following the organization on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube.
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For more information, please contact:
Rose Dennis
Communications and Engagement Lead
rose@afmwb.com