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the Answers

You can help guide health research and improve the lives of others living with similar health challenges.

What Is Citizen Science?

Citizen Science is a social movement that brings members of the public together to participate in research projects. As a Citizen Scientist for our project, for example, you will join forces with health scientists in British Columbia by providing information about your experience of living with pain. People experience pain in different ways. For example, some people may have a headache once in a while; others may have a headache every day. Pain can also have different effects on people’s work and life. Sometimes people have their own theories about what makes their pain better or worse. These personal theories can help researchers ask “the right questions” when they study pain. This means Citizen Scientists can play a part in advancing science.

Join Us

We’re Listening to You

Pain affects many people but it is complex and poorly understood. Often in health research, no one asks the people with first-hand experience of a disease, condition, or symptoms what they think or feel. We need you to share your experiences with pain, and we need to listen carefully to your answers, so that scientists can get a complete picture of how pain affects people.

Help Us Collect 1,000,000 Data Points

A data point is a piece of information you provide. The information helps health scientists to better understand how pain affects the lives of people like you. Each data point that you contribute helps health scientists ask better questions when they’re researching ways to improve the lives of people living with pain.

Asking the Right Questions

Have you ever wondered how health scientists come up with research questions? Typically, the questions are shaped by what scientists already know or have experienced, or even by simple curiosity. But when it comes to health topics such as pain, no one knows more about it than the people who live with it. By sharing your experiences, we can learn how pain affects different people, and together we can discover new ideas for research that will lessen the burden of pain.

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Contribute. Create. Uncover.

We invite you to contribute your expertise and help shape research to better understand and treat the burden of pain symptoms. Anyone can be a Citizen Scientist!

“I have had rheumatoid arthritis for 31 years now. Through the Citizen Science project, I have a chance to share my expertise for a ‘greater good’.”

- Cheryl

“When we share our experiences, we can find out whether there are others with similar problems that may need to be researched.”

- Delia

“This is a great initiative for people like me, & the people supporting us. It enables us to be more involved in research so that perhaps we can someday find a cure.”

- Sunny

Uncover the burden of pain

Curious to know how pain affect everyday life? See real life data from across Canada to better understand how others live with pain.

Explore Insights

Citizen Science Pain Research is funded through the BC SUPPORT Unit

Involved partners include:

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