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International Society for Environmental Epidemiology
Hybrid conference 2021
Title: Bouncing forward: Knowledge Translation for policy making in response to the COVID-19
and climate change co-emergencies
Authors: Sierra-Heredia, C.1; Araiza-Viramontes, P.1; Parks, J. 1; Klein, K.2; Hancock, T.3;
Neufeld, V. 3; Ziolo, M.4; Gislason M.1; Buse, C.4 & Takaro, T. 1
Institutions:
1. Simon Fraser University.
2. Shift Collaborative
3. University of Victoria
4. University of British Columbia
Topic: Policy
Sub-Topic: Research translation to affect policy and practice
Presentation type: Oral session presentation
Keywords: Climate, Policy and Practice, COVID-19, Knowledge Translation.
UN Secretary General, Antonio Guterres claimed early on in the pandemic that, without
appropriate actions from multiple sectors, the social and economic devastation caused by
climate change will be greater than that of COVID-19 (Fearnow, 2020). Climate change
exacerbates existing health inequalities and has been described as “the greatest global health
opportunity of the 21st century” (Watts et al., 2016). These inequalities are being further
compounded by the pandemic. It is important that public health professionals are involved when
designing mitigation and adaptation strategies, in partnership with policy makers and other
stakeholders (Costello et al., 2009).
The webinar series “Learning and Relearning for Planetary Health: Lessons from a Pandemic”
offers a collection of session recordings and presentation documents. This webinar series is a
product of the SFU Planetary Health research group, along with scholars, industry
professionals, community advocates and practitioners. Between April 15, 2020 and June 24,
2020, the presenters covered a range of topics regarding the relationship between the COVID-
19 pandemic, planetary health, climate change and human health (in eleven sessions). The
webinars explored policy options to “bounce forward and not back” into a post-COVID future;
focusing on actions that transform the way we live and improve health for all, as we face the
overarching threat of climate change.
Knowledge Translation is the process of sharing research findings to multiple stakeholders in
order to inform policy decisions. In order to broaden the learning of non-academic audiences,
we have created a toolkit that presents key discussion points and recommendations from the
webinars in a variety of formats. The toolkit is also a platform to communicate climate action
opportunities and strategies emerging from the COVID-19 pandemic to policy makers. The
toolkit includes policy briefs, a webpage, infographics, and op-eds that expand the reach of the
knowledge presented in the webinar series.
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