Narwhals, sharks, and polar bears can help medical professionals improve care for patients with mental health struggles—and patients with conditions such as depression and bipolar disorder can offer insights that will help the conservation of many wild animals.
That’s what a first-of-its-kind project by researchers from UBC, the University of Toronto, University of Windsor, and Dalhousie University is proposing.
The project, a collaboration between statisticians, ecologists, and mental health researchers, just received $210,000 in funding from the Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute (CANSSI).
The ingredient that unites these seemingly disparate fields is bio-logging instruments—think Fitbits, Apple Watches and Oura rings—that collect information about movement, location, and physiological conditions such as heartbeat and breathing rate. Ecologists use similar technology to tag and track wild animals.
Marie Auger-Méthé, Assistant Professor at Department of Statistics and Institute for the Oceans & Fisheries, participates in the project as one of the team’s lead researchers.
Read the original full story on the UBC’s Institute for the Oceans and Fisheries website.