Project 459539

CHILD-BRIGHT is a pan-Canadian patient-oriented research network focused on children with developmental disabilities and their families. In the past 6 years, we have created a community of over 300 researchers, youth with disabilities, parent-partners, clinicians and health decision makers who collaborate to generate new research knowledge that was prioritized by our youth and family patient-partners. Thirteen highly innovative projects on brain and child development, child and family mental health, and health service delivery are nearing completion. In phase two of our network, we propose to accelerate the uptake and use of this new knowledge to enhance child health and family well-being. We assembled a national leadership team with expertise in childhood disability research as well as emerging fields of knowledge mobilization and implementation science to guide this next phase of work. Patient engagement remains integral to all our research and mobilization efforts, and to our governance. Importantly, we will ensure that our network community becomes even more inclusive, and has more diverse representation of patient-partners, participants in research, trainees, health professionals, and indigenous and other communities. Our champions for Sex and Gender as well as Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Decolonization and Indigenization will lead our efforts to embed these concepts into all aspects of CHILD-BRIGHT. There is limited expertise in these newer domains of childhood disability research (implementation science and knowledge mobilization, equity, diversity and inclusion, indigenous health), so we will invest in building capacity with trainees, to ensure that the next generation of researchers are more effective in implementing and mobilizing their research for impact. This bold undertaking will be fostered by the diverse voices of our inclusive community of patients and other relevant partners, who will help guide CHILD-BRIGHT's success as we move forward.