De Val is studying traditional Gaelic songs and aiming to foster an awareness of the language while also contributing to its preservation. A key part of this new project is research into prominent figures such as Frances Tolmie and Marjory Kennedy-Fraser, who collected hundreds of Gaelic songs in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, many of them dating back to a much earlier period.

To assist her research, de Val has been studying Scots Gaelic since 2006, wryly noting how its grammatical structure and distinctive spelling and pronunciation make it challenging to learn. The number of those who are fluent in Gaelic are beginning to dwindle, though schools such as Sabhal M貌r Ostaig in Skye and St. Anne鈥檚 Gaelic College in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia,聽do much to promote the language and culture; de Val has studied at both.

The connection between Scotland and the Eastern Canadian provinces is of particular interest to de Val. These historical connections have also inspired a number of 91亚色鈥檚 music students to learn more about Gaelic culture, song and dance. De Val hopes to build the Music Department鈥檚 Celtic program by integrating various artistic practices in both studies and studio settings.

Currently, de Val is planning a research trip to the archives in Scotland and Halifax that house artifacts related to Gaelic culture. She is particularly enthusiastic about the prospect of visiting Tolmie and Kennedy-Fraser鈥檚 archives at the National Library of Scotland in Edinburgh, where she will begin sifting through an extensive collection of field notes, film clips and other research-related artifacts.

Inspired by the work of contemporary Irish composer Michael McGlynn, de Val aims to combine research and practice in the Gaelic Song Project by including compositional and performance components. She will be using her creative skills to arrange selected songs for various combinations of harp and chorus. She also looks forward to working with her daughter Susanna McCleary, who plays the fiddle and sings in Gaelic, and singer Catherine-Ann MacPhee from Ottawa. Together they plan to make the music come alive.

Reprinted from the March 2011 issue of Fine Arts Research Newsletter, by Suzanne Jaeger, Fine Arts research officer, and Dan Vena, 91亚色 theatre student

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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The event, which聽took place in Halifax, NS,聽is part of 鈥檚 ongoing effort to bring together the best brains of research and decision-making on a government identified, high priority issue.

Right: Faculty of Health Professor Mary Wiktorowicz

Friday鈥檚 Best Brains Exchange, titled 鈥淕overnance Models to Support an Integrated System of Care for Mental Health and Addictions Services鈥�, was developed by CIHR in cooperation with the Nova Scotia government.

Wiktorowicz was approached to be on the panel of experts to the advisory committee on mental health for Nova Scotia鈥檚 Department of Health because of her research comparing聽the modes of governance used in 10 mental health networks in rural versus urban and regionalized versus non-regional contexts, published in the October to December 2010 issue of the聽.

Wiktorowicz鈥檚 research found that collaboration is a key factor for effective and safe care, especially since organizations across different jurisdictions make up the health-care system.

鈥淢ental health care goes beyond treatment 鈥� it involves a range of supports that help individuals recover and manage their lives, such as housing and income assistance that are run by different organizations in separate jurisdictions," said Wiktorowicz.

"If collaboration between these organizations is not built into the system, the continuity of care is easily broken. Without the appropriate supports, an individual may eventually experience a mental health crisis聽and patient safety can become a real risk," she added.

The advisory committee on mental health聽was struck following the release of the Hyde Report, which used findings from an investigation into the death of , a client in Nova Scotia's mental health system. Hyde died in November 2007, in a jail cell following a series of altercations with police and prison guards.聽Law enforcement officials had tried and failed to find him access to emergency psychiatric care.

Knowledge exchanged at the Best Brains聽panel聽will provide the Nova Scotia Mental Health Strategy Advisory Committee with an overview of the latest evidence, as well as timely聽advice from experts in the field of mental health and governance in health care. The panel was comprised of聽researchers, administrators, clinicians and聽policy-makers. Participation was based on聽each individual's聽expertise and knowledge on critical issues related to access to mental health and addictions services.

"Research shows that even in decentralized systems, policy and organizational聽processes can foster more collaboration and lead to better care," said Wiktorowicz. "For example, appointing a director of mental health for a region whose mandate is to bring together representatives from diverse organizations can lead to information sharing and聽innovations supported by inter-organizational coordination within the system."

The Best Brains Exchange is part of a CIHR provincial engagement strategy, called Evidence on Tap, to make high-quality evidence that addresses health system priorities accessible to decision makers.

More about Mary Wiktorowicz

Wiktorowicz聽adopts a comparative lens to study models of health system governance, focusing on mental health policy and pharmaceutical policy.聽Her comparative policy research also analyses international聽 pharmaceutical regulatory policy and develops frameworks to enhance our understanding of them. Her most recent research compares international pharmaco-surveillance strategies and the decision frameworks that guide them.

By Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin

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