A Four-Pillar
Action Framework
Brain health is on the front line of climate change. Our mission is to raise awareness of how climate change affects the brain — and mitigate those impacts through evidence, education, advocacy, and innovation — so equitable brain health is possible for everyone.
An Interconnected Response to a Complex Crisis
Brain-CE’s four pillars are not parallel streams — they are deeply interdependent. Community-led research generates evidence that informs awareness campaigns. Awareness campaigns create the conditions for systemic policy change. Policy change enables the kind of innovation investment that shifts healthcare from reactive treatment to proactive prevention. And innovation outputs create the tools that make future research and awareness more powerful.
This integrated framework is what makes Brain-CE different from a research institute, an advocacy organization, or a communications body. We are deliberately all three — and more. Our 14 active projects span all four pillars simultaneously, with fellows, partners, and board members crossing pillar boundaries intentionally to create the kind of cross-disciplinary solutions this crisis demands.
Generate Evidence
We study how climate events — heat, wildfire smoke, cold snaps, flooding, pollution, and expanding vector habitats — affect neurological outcomes such as stroke, dementia, migraines, MS, Parkinson’s disease, and anxiety, with particular focus on equity-denied communities in Canada and globally.
Canada has no national research program dedicated to this intersection. Brain-CE is building it — from community-based participatory studies with Indigenous and newcomer communities to rigorous systematic reviews and high-impact scholarly publications targeting journals like at this intersection.
Systematic and scoping reviews on climate shocks and neurological outcomes across key conditions
Community-based participatory research to capture lived experience from Indigenous, rural, racialized, and newcomer communities
Data partnerships leveraging health system data throughout the country
Peer-reviewed publications targeting neurological and high-impact public health journals
Evidence Hub — a curated, publicly accessible library of the current evidence base at the climate-brain-equity intersection
Active Projects
“We are generating the first large-scale Canadian evidence base on who is harmed most by climate change — and why their brains are more vulnerable than those in higher-resourced communities.”
Raise Awareness
Evidence alone does not change behaviour or policy. Brain-CE is committed to translating research into formats that clinicians can use at the bedside, policymakers can act on, and the public can understand and share.
Our knowledge translation work spans public-facing articles, clinical toolkits, educational webinars, social media campaigns, and national events. We partner with organizations like Green Minds Canada and Earth to Action to extend our reach into healthcare settings and youth communities.
Public-facing articles in outlets including The Conversation Canada and Substack — with more than one article already generating national response
Clinical toolkits, handouts, and infographics for family physicians through the Earth to Action (E2A) partnership — integrating brain health into primary care climate counselling
Internal Lecture Series building interdisciplinary expertise across our 40+ fellow community
Conference presentations and lightning talks including at the PEACH Health Conference 2026 and Calgary Climate Week
Youth-facing resources — climate mental health toolkits, glossaries, and a children’s storybook series through our Green Minds Canada partnership
Active Projects
Earth to Action partnership: Developing brain health content for family medicine clinics — clinician infographics, patient handouts, and a full campaign package for the CCFP planetary health certificate program.
Drive Systemic Change
Awareness and evidence are not enough if systems do not change. Brain-CE actively advocates for brain health equity to be embedded in Canada’s climate and health policies — at the municipal, provincial, and federal levels — and on the international stage.
We work with partners like Evidence for Democracy to build the science-to-policy pipeline that connects our evidence to decision-makers. Our COP31 strategy positions Brain-CE to bring the neurological dimension of climate change to the UN’s highest climate policy forum.
Policy briefs and white papers for decision-makers at all levels of Canadian government
Evidence for Democracy partnership — co-developing a national advocacy campaign targeting Members of Parliament on climate, brain health, and equity
COP31 strategy — developing Brain-CE’s pathway to representation at the UN Climate Change Conference 2026 through the NGO green zone and the International NeuroClimate Working Group
Science-to-policy training for Brain-CE fellows, building advocacy capacity across the network
School air quality policy — Project M is developing a policy brief for Alberta Education and Alberta Health on school air quality standards during wildfire season
Active Projects
E4D Partnership: Co-developing a parliamentary advocacy campaign — letters to MPs, petitions, and a policy brief synthesizing the neuro-climate-equity evidence base for federal policymakers.
Foster Innovation
Led by Dr. Christine Gibson — family physician, trauma therapist, social innovator, and author of The Modern Trauma Toolkit — Brain-CE’s innovation pillar asks a fundamentally different question: what do we want to build from the embers of a broken system?
Social innovation at Brain-CE means co-creating practical, community-informed solutions that shift care from reactive treatment to proactive prevention. It means using design-thinking methodologies, community dialogue, and creative knowledge translation to build the tools that communities, clinicians, and policymakers can actually use.
Children’s climate-health storybook — age-appropriate resource for daycares and early childhood settings on climate emotions and resilience
Youth Climate Mental Health Toolkit — practical, accessible resource on climate anxiety, neuro-impacts, and coping strategies for adolescents and young adults
Clinician innovation modules — adapting E2A campaign content into interactive learning modules for the CCFP planetary health certificate
Community co-design events — working directly with equity-denied communities to co-create culturally grounded solutions, including multilingual resources
Active Projects
The Iceberg Model of Change
Dr. Gibson’s approach to social innovation moves below the surface of visible events — into the structural and assumptions layers where lasting change actually happens. Brain-CE’s innovation work is designed to operate at all levels: from TikTok campaigns to policy frameworks.
Brain-CE’s children’s storybook will be the first Canadian resource connecting climate change to emotional resilience for early childhood audiences — targeting daycares, preschools, and libraries.
How We Operate
Brain-CE operates as a flexible, partnership-driven network. We are youth-led and expert-supported — with fellows as the primary drivers of impact and senior experts as mentors and quality-control partners.
Youth-Led, Expert-Guided
Over 40 student and early-career fellows lead projects; a founding board of neurologists, physicians, and researchers provide scientific mentorship, quality oversight, and institutional credibility.
Partnership-Driven
We do not work in isolation. Our impact is multiplied through formal partnerships.
Equity as Infrastructure
Equity is not a lens we apply — it is embedded in how we design research, who we partner with, how we communicate, and which communities we prioritize in every project and initiative.
See Our Approach in Action
Explore the 14 active projects our fellows are leading across all four pillars — from community research in Calgary’s hailstorm alley to COP31 strategy and publications.
Explore Our Projects Join Brain-CE →