UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA
A Research Chair years in the making

For Dr. Shannon Freeman, the appointment as Canada Research Chair in Technology Adoption for Aging in the North is both a professional milestone and the realization of a long-held dream. 

"I've worked for this goal my whole career," she says. "From the day I went to grad school, I knew I wanted to be a Canada Research Chair." 

Nursing Professor Dr. Shannon Freeman will use her Canada Research Chair appointment to expand her work studying how technology can support healthy aging.

Freeman, a Professor in UNBC's School of Nursing, was named a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair this past fall, an honour awarded to exceptional emerging researchers with the potential to lead their field. The appointment comes with $600,000 in federal funding over five years and recognizes Freeman's leadership in advancing technology solutions that support healthy aging in rural and northern communities. 

Freeman's work is rooted in a reality faced by many Canadians outside urban centres. Aging in rural and northern communities brings distinct considerations, from geography to access to services. Technological innovations are helping expand the range of supports available, complementing existing care and enabling more people to age at home. 

As Canada Research Chair, Freeman's goal is to ensure those technologies are not only available, but usable, appropriate and empowering for older adults in rural and northern settings. 

"Technology is not the answer for everybody," she says. "But there is certainly a time and a place for it. The more tools we have, the better support we're able to provide to people who are aging and their caregivers." 

At the centre of that work is the Centre for Technology Adoption for Aging in the North (CTAAN), an AGE-WELL National Innovation Hub hosted at UNBC. As CTAAN's founding Academic Director, Freeman has helped build a collaborative model that brings together older adults and their care partners, health-care providers, researchers, health-system leaders, policymakers and industry partners. 

Together, they pilot, implement and evaluate new and existing AgeTech solutions in rural and northern communities. They test not only whether technologies work, but whether they fit into people's lives and local systems of care. 

CTAAN also plays a key role in supporting technology developers, providing the real-world evidence they need to bring products and services to northern regions. By breaking down barriers to adoption, the centre helps ensure innovations designed to support aging in place are grounded in lived experience. 

"We've finished building Phase 1," Freeman says. "Now is the time to focus on scaling it up." 

The Canada Research Chair will allow Freeman to expand CTAAN's reach, strengthening local and regional partnerships while connecting the work more deeply to national and global networks. 

Freeman credits much of her success to the support she received early in her career at UNBC, particularly from former School of Nursing chair Dr. Martha MacLeod and former Northern Health CEO Cathy Ullrich. 

"They saw the potential in the research," she says. "They opened doors, allowing me to build connections and create an identity for myself as a faculty member at UNBC." 

That emphasis on connection reflects the interdisciplinary nature of gerontology, a field that spans health sciences, social sciences, planning and beyond. While Freeman comes from a health sciences background, her work has had a meaningful impact across the School of Nursing and the wider University. 

Over the years, she has supervised and worked with students, both domestic and international, from health sciences, social work, planning, interdisciplinary studies and nursing, an experience she describes as one of the most rewarding aspects of her role. 

When working with students, Freeman keeps the focus on their aspirations. 

"I ask them, What is your dream?'" she says. "How can the work we do together bring you one step closer to achieving it?" 

It's an approach shaped by her own journey. 

"So many people helped me along the way," she says. "This is my chance to pay it forward." 

Ultimately, Freeman's research is driven by a simple but powerful goal: to help ensure people in rural and northern communities can age well, in the places they call home. 

"By integrating new technologies and breaking down barriers," she says, "we're improving the resources available to older adults and those who care for them."