People with SCI and researchers working in the SCI area seem to agree: communication and collaboration need to improve between the two groups. The Rick Hansen Institute is committed to creating connections between Canadians with SCI and researchers working in any aspect of SCI. Our goals are:

• to ensure that Canadian researchers clearly understand the needs, concerns and desired outcomes of people with SCI
• to make Canadians with SCI aware of the excellent work being done by researchers across our country, and stimulate greater participation in research projects.

We're accomplishing these goals by:

• providing an up-to-date, easily understood listing of current SCI research studies seeking participants
• providing financial assistance to offset the expenses of Canadians with SCI who want to participate in valid research studies
• explaining our work in translational research in each issue of our quarterly magazine, Solutions.

We urge all people with SCI who are considering participation in a research study to visit our "before you participate" section.

On the research listings page, you can learn about current Canadian SCI research studies that are seeking participants. Every effort is made to ensure the information is accurate and up-do-date. However, we rely on feedback from people visiting this website — people with SCI, SCI researchers, and anyone with knowledge of these types of projects. Your feedback is critical.

Inclusion of these research studies in this listing in no way implies an endorsement or recommendation by the Rick Hansen Foundation or the Rick Hansen Institute. The listings are provided as information only and we stress the importance of doing your own due diligence. We also stress you visit the "before you participate" section of this website and read the information presented there.

If you're a researcher hoping to gain maximum exposure to possible research participants, please use our contact us form to send us details about your current study — we will post your information as soon as possible (note that your project will be validated).

Please note that we make every attempt to present information on these research studies using common, everyday language. If you're a researcher who has a concern about the language we've chosen to represent your work with, please contact us. As well, space prevents us from listing every detail about specific studies — for example, we can't list every single inclusion or exclusion criteria. If you're a person with an SCI seeking more information about the study, we've attempted to include a link to a website with more detail. If you still have questions, we've also included contact information for the project's principal investigator(s) or spokespeople.