Accessing timely and relevant data for research can be challenging for provincial researchers, but it’s about to get better.
Satellite locations of the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training are being launched at UNB Saint John and the Universite de Moncton.
UNB Saint John will host a new satellite location of the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training. It will be a shared facility with the StatsCan research data centre due to open next spring. pic.twitter.com/pzVXsNfwk3
— Tamara Steele (@tamarasteele1) December 11, 2018
It will allow researchers to access data, previously not shared, between those locations and the original site in Fredericton.
Ted McDonald, director of the NB-IRDT, tells CHSJ News they began with a focus on health research.
“We worked early on with Living SJ and as we develop our relationships with government further, we are getting data from social development and from education. We can look at helping to evaluate those programs that target alleviating poverty and breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty.” McDonald says.
Dr. Ted McDonald of the NB-IRDT says it was conceived as a resource for all of NB with data access only available through the Fredericton facility, opening satellite sites in Saint John and Moncton is tangible evidence of their commitment to that objective. pic.twitter.com/0t28EAloT9
— Tamara Steele (@tamarasteele1) December 11, 2018
McDonald describes this as a “big deal for research in New Brunswick”.
The NB-IRDT was established in Fredericton three years ago through a collaboration of several government departments including education, health and social development.