2023-02-04

The Kickstarter for Science: Crowd Funding Stroke research with Tech Startup Collavidence



Stroke research is important, and there's not enough of it. Finding funding for small and medium sized projects is hard and getting wider awareness of them is even harder.

Collavidence seeks to change that. It's a Kickstarter-like platform for medical research, with a focus on stroke. Research teams Post research projects they are developing, and the public can choose to back them. They also participate in working groups with other experts to further refine the projects as the y pursue results.

Collavidence Chief Knowledge Office Dr. Aravind Ganesh joins us in this episode to talk about the platform and how democratizing the research funding process can help us all.

If you don't see the audio player below, visit the original post here, or look for the Strokecast in you podcast app.

 

Who is Dr. Aravind Ganesh?

Dr. Aravind Ganesh wears a blue jacket and red tie while he smiles at the cameraDr. Aravind Ganesh

Dr. Aravind Ganesh is a Vascular and Cognitive Neurologist. He completed his MD degree at the University of Calgary, followed by a DPhil in Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford’s Centre for Prevention of Stroke and Dementia as a Rhodes scholar. He earned an Associate Fellowship from the United Kingdom’s Higher Education Academy through his teaching contributions at St John’s College (Oxford). He completed his neurology residency in Calgary, followed by a combined fellowship in stroke and cognitive neurology, funded by Alberta Innovates and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Dr. Ganesh is a Fellow of the Canadian Stroke Consortium, and is actively involved in the development of best-practice guidelines for stroke and dementia care. His clinical research is focused on the natural history, prevention, and treatment of stroke and cognitive impairment. He is passionate about medical education, and serves on the editorial boards of Neurology, Neurology: Clinical Practiceand Stroke.

Should you back projects on Collavidence?

Maybe.

If you feel the project has value (or could have value), if it sounds like something you would like to support, if the team behind it seem credible, and if you can afford it, go for it! Contributions don't have to be large to be meaningful.

Be aware that it's always possible a project won't work out. There are lots of things that can go wrong, just like on other crowd funding platforms like Kickstarter and Go Fund Me. Exercise caution, like you do with other financial concerns.

If you want to have a concrete, direct impact on the research projects that can make life better for the stroke community, though, this might be a great way to do it.

Survey

Do you have thoughts about the Strokecast as a show? I want to hear about it. Please complete the listener survey at http://Strokecast.com/survey by March 31, 2023 to share your insight. I'd realy appreciate it.

Hack of the Week

This week's hack is more for researchers. That's to communicate with the community.

Often researchers may pursue projects to address what they see as problems in the stroke field, and that's great. It's also important, though, to listen to the people they want to help. Does a research project address a problem member of the survivor community actually care about solving?

A recurring theme from disability advocates is, "Nothing about us without us." That means before folks try to solve things for people with disabilities, they ought to actually communicate with people with disabilities. Don't try to solve a problem we don't have. And don't assume that solution created by just a group of abled folks will work or appeal to disabled folks.

Get the input of people with disabilities, and involve us in the process. Hire disabled consultants and architects on projects benefiting the disabled. And keep in mind that accessible design is good design.

Nothing about us without us.

Links

Where do we go from here?

More thoughts from Dr. Aravind Ganesh

A red square with a headshot of Dr. Aravind Ganesh. The text reads: The Kickstarter for Science: Crowd Funding Stroke research with Canadian Startup Collavidence New episode on your favorite podcast app http://Strokecast.com/CrowdFundingResearch How can we generate more funding for stroke research and open up research to the broader stroke community around the world? Collavidence may have the answer. We talk about it with Chief Knowledge Officer Dr. Aravind Ganesh in this episode.

A picture of a row of unused microscopes The text over the image read: Stroke research over the past several decades has been greatly underfunded. - Dr. Aravind Ganesh How can we generate more funding for stroke research and open up research to the broader stroke community around the world? Collavidence may have the answer. We talk about it with Chief Knowledge Officer Dr. Aravind Ganesh in this episode.

A picture of an open door leading to a lush garden. The text over the image read: First of all, rather than have a closed door process for evaluating research ideas, let's put it out in the open. - Dr. Aravind Ganesh How can we generate more funding for stroke research and open up research to the broader stroke community around the world? Collavidence may have the answer. We talk about it with Chief Knowledge Officer Dr. Aravind Ganesh in this episode.

A picture of a stack of research papers. The text over the image read: You know it's really on us as a scientific community – as a medical community -- to get the public not only excited, but also really well informed about the whole scientific journey. - Dr. Aravind Ganesh How can we generate more funding for stroke research and open up research to the broader stroke community around the world? Collavidence may have the answer. We talk about it with Chief Knowledge Officer Dr. Aravind Ganesh in this episode.

A picture of a chalk drawing of a person climbing a flight of steps madse of the word step. The text over the image read: But even the step-by-step kind of investigation has value, but sometimes that's not as appealing or sexy. - Dr. Aravind Ganesh How can we generate more funding for stroke research and open up research to the broader stroke community around the world? Collavidence may have the answer. We talk about it with Chief Knowledge Officer Dr. Aravind Ganesh in this episode.

A picture of a young woman smiling from behind her laptop display. The text over the image read: Of the projects that have been submitted to Collavidence about half of them are actually from early career researchers. - Dr. Aravind Ganesh How can we generate more funding for stroke research and open up research to the broader stroke community around the world? Collavidence may have the answer. We talk about it with Chief Knowledge Officer Dr. Aravind Ganesh in this episode.

A picture of a red potato. The text over the image read: Many patients describe feeling like they've been dropped like a hot potato once they've left the stroke hospitals. - Dr. Aravind Ganesh How can we generate more funding for stroke research and open up research to the broader stroke community around the world? Collavidence may have the answer. We talk about it with Chief Knowledge Officer Dr. Aravind Ganesh in this episode.

A picture of a multicolored hallway leading to a door. The text over the image read: Well Bill, I, always find myself in the most interesting of places. - Dr. Aravind Ganesh How can we generate more funding for stroke research and open up research to the broader stroke community around the world? Collavidence may have the answer. We talk about it with Chief Knowledge Officer Dr. Aravind Ganesh in this episode.

A picture of a drawing of a lightbulb on a post-it note The text over the image read: Because sometimes with research you can get so carried away with your own thoughts and ideas that your research priorities might no longer reflect the priorities of the people you're supposedly serving. - Dr. Aravind Ganesh How can we generate more funding for stroke research and open up research to the broader stroke community around the world? Collavidence may have the answer. We talk about it with Chief Knowledge Officer Dr. Aravind Ganesh in this episode.


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