CoPEH-Canada Course and Webinar Series
2024 Hybrid, multi-site Field course on ecosystem approaches to health
DATES To be announced in early 2024
New Site at Simon Fraser University!!
Discover innovative and dynamic approaches for better understanding the multiple factors which influence health – ecosystem approaches to health – with an experienced, pan-Canadian team in this blended learning experience. During this intensive course, you will learn methods for carrying out research and interventions on issues at the confluence of health, the environment and society.
This graduate-level, field course on ecosystem approaches to health will be held at multiple sites in 2024 from among: Montréal (UQAM), Guelph (University of Guelph), Cortes Island (SFU), and Prince George (UNBC). The course includes eight two-hour sessions that are conducted as simultaneous webinars across the sites and that can be taken alone, without registering for a graduate-level course*. The rest of the time for the university groups will be locally run sessions, including group work and activities designed to help participants integrate their learning into their own work. These activities will revolve around a theme, which, this year, is Climate and health justice.
We invite participants of the CoPEH-Canada course and webinar series on ecohealth to engage with the narrative form (see selected books from 2023 here), providing new perspectives. We offer a rigorous, hands-on pedagogical approach. This recent paper published in the Lancet Planetary Health describes our course and you can explore some of our teaching techniques on our teaching resources page.
This course is available to graduate students from all disciplines and also to professionals interested in these themes. It is possible to register for the full course for credit at one of the participating universities (most years) or to follow the eight webinars only, on-line (a certificate of completion is provided)**.
- For those interested in following the webinar series or for general information*, please contact us at copehcanada <at> gmail.com
- For those interested in the course in Montréal, contact Jena Webb at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- For those interested in the course at Guelph, contact Jane Parmley at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
- For those interested in the course at UNBC, contact Margot Parkes at margot.parkes <at> unbc.ca
- For those interested in the course at SFU, contact Jena Webb at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
In 2023, the schedule for the webinars was Tuesdays and Thursdays from May 11th to June 6th from 1:00 pm (EST), ending at 3:00 (EST). This will likely change in 2024 and is provided here for reference ONLY.
| Webinar | Topic | Lead |
| 1 | Orientation to Hybrid Course/Webinar Series: Introduction & History of Ecohealth Principles | Jane Parmley, UofGuelph; Jena Webb, UQAM; Margot Parkes, UNBC |
| 2 | Resilience & Sustainability | Margot Parkes, UNBC; Sandra Martin Harris, Wet’suwet’en |
| 3 | Gender & Social Equity | Johanne Saint-Charles, UQAM; Jena Webb, UQAM |
| 4 | Transdisciplinarity & Knowledges | Jane Parmley, UofGuelph |
| 5 | Complexity & Systems Thinking | Jane Parmley, UofGuelph |
| 6 | Knowledge Exchange | Margot Parkes, UNBC |
| 7 | Participation, Relationships & Power | Johanne Saint-Charles, UQAM; Jena Webb, UQAM |
| 8 | Synthesis: Reciprocity | Expert panel: TBD |
We would like to thank the Burroughs Wellcome Fund for their contribution to the 2024 course.
* At 16 hours in total, the webinar series does not constitute a full, graduate-level course in and of itself. However, if you are interested in using the webinars, readings and cross-site activities as part of an independent/directed reading course, please This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
** Fees apply for the webinar-only option. Click here for fees and This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if you have questions.
** Logo image: Painted glass and pressed wild flowers, @evieshaffer (evies.com)
Lancet planetary health paper
Penned by 19 co-authors, including 11 alumni of CoPEH-Canada's training, and published January 4th 2023 in the Lancet Planetary Health, Transformative learning for a sustainable and healthy future through ecosystem approaches to health: insights from 15 years of co-designed ecohealth teaching and learning experiences discusses CoPEH-Canada's pedagogical leanings. If you are interested in taking our hybrid course or webinar series, this is a great way to learn more! Also, you can listen to part of a webinar given on the paper and our teaching to learn more.
Course participant Blogs and short stories
Each year, the participants of CoPEH-Canada's hybrid course write a blog or a short story on a topic of their choice related to ecosystem approaches to health and share with the other participants. Then, everyone votes on their top three blogs and the three highest scoring blogs are published here. Along with the votes, participants have to provide a tweet for each blog they voted for, which we then use to publisize the blogs from our @copeh_canada twitter account. You can read past year's blogs here.