Co-principal Investigator

Dr. Leia Minaker is Director of the Future Cities Institute founded by CAIVAN and an Associate Professor in the School of Planning at the University of Waterloo. Her work sits at the intersection of urban health, planning policy, and evidence-based decision-making, with a focus on translating research into practical tools that improve how cities are built and governed. CivicInquire reflects her longstanding commitment to connecting academic research with the governments, organisations, and communities working on Canada's most pressing urban challenges.

Project Lead / Co-principal Investigator

Dr. Helen Chen is a Professor of Practice and Director of the Professional Practice Centre in Health Systems at the University of Waterloo, with cross-appointments in Statistics and Actuarial Science and Computer Science. Her research focuses on artificial intelligence for public and population health, health data quality and analytics, and the evaluation of generative AI in applied health contexts. On CivicInquire, Dr. Chen leads the day-to-day research activities and oversees the development and implementation of the platform's machine learning tools.

Research Associate

Dr. Adrian Buttazzoni is a postdoctoral fellow at the Future Cities Institute at the University of Waterloo. He holds a PhD in Planning from the University of Waterloo and an MSc in Health and Rehabilitation Sciences from Western University, and his research uses mixed methods approaches to examine how urban environments and design affect population health, with a particular focus on youth. On CivicInquire, Adrian supports the research design and qualitative analysis components of the project, including the policy discourse analysis.

Platform Developer

Pedro Miranda is a doctoral student in the School of Public Health and Health Systems at the University of Waterloo. He holds a Master's degree in Computer Science from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro and brings over five years of experience applying software engineering to healthcare innovation, including work with multinational healthcare companies and one of Brazil's largest private hospital networks. Pedro is the lead developer of the CivicInquire platform and its underlying data infrastructure.

Research Assistant

Mikayla Neeb is a Master's candidate in the School of Public Health Sciences at the University of Waterloo, supervised by Dr. Helen Chen. She holds a BSc in Physics with a specialisation in Astrophysics and brings prior experience as a laboratory technician. Her graduate research investigates the use of large language models as assistive tools in qualitative coding, with a focus on responsible AI applications in social science research. On CivicInquire, Mikayla contributes to the platform's AI-assisted analysis work.

Research Collaborator

Dr. Troy Glover is a Professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies at the University of Waterloo and Director of the Healthy Communities Research Network. His research examines placemaking, social capital, and the conditions that shape quality of community life. He contributes to CivicInquire as a research collaborator, bringing expertise in community-level policy analysis and the social dimensions of urban environments.

Web Lead

Sky Hammond is Communications Officer at the Future Cities Institute at the University of Waterloo. In this role, Sky leads communications and content strategy across FCI's research initiatives, translating complex research for public, practitioner, and policy audiences. On CivicInquire, Sky oversees the platform's communications and ensures its tools and findings are accessible and clearly presented to the communities they are designed to serve.

Web Support

Frank Le is a co-op student in communications at the Future Cities Institute at the University of Waterloo, supporting the CivicInquire team with communications objectives.