News

The Healthy Populations Journal (HPJ), launched on October 15, 2020, is a multi-faculty, open access, peer review journal. Housed at the Healthy Populations Institute (HPI) at Dalhousie, its mission is to “identify and disseminate research which mobilizes evidence to improve population health and health equity globally.”

The co-editors in chief of the journal are PhD in Health candidates Christine Stilwell and Justine Dol. The editorial board consists of Dal Health students (and one graduate), and the journal is managed by HPI’s Sara Brushett.

Editorial Board:

• Christie Stilwell
• Justine Dol
• Gabriella Luongo
• Emma Stirling Cameron
• Aleksandra Budarick
• Delinda Trudel
• Laura J Kennedy
• Yanlin Wu
• Crystal Watson
• Dr. Phillip Joy

“We created this platform for sharing and promoting health research with the intention of expanding typical journal submissions to include artistic contributions related to diverse and intersectional approaches of knowledge expression, while also creating a space for students to gain experience with the publishing process,” Christie Stilwell says. “HPI continues to prioritize student-led initiatives by supporting innovative opportunities to develop relevant research skills that also align with student interests."

The first call for submissions asks for: academic-style articles, commentary, book reviews, visual artworks (photography, sculpture, beadwork, painting, illustration), stories and poetry that are related to population health and/or health equity.

Justine Dol says they were inspired to create the journal when the Crossroads Conference was cancelled in March of this year due to COVID-19.

“We feel that this is a perfect opportunity to highlight the strong and innovative student-led health related research going on at Dalhousie as well as other universities in a new format. For this inaugural issue, we wanted to highlight student research for this purpose.”

Gillian Ritcey, the Managing Director of HPI, says “The Healthy Populations Institute is thrilled to provide a home base for the Healthy Populations Journal. It is incredible to see a student- led effort to mobilize research in population health – a critical lens that is often overlooked! As an advocate for reducing health inequities to reach our population health goals, and as a champion of the UN Sustainable Development Goals, HPI couldn’t be more thrilled with the launch of this journal.”

To learn more about the journal and submitting entries, visit the website and check out their Twitter @DalHPJ. Submissions close on December 15, 2020.