Dedicated to improving the lives of all Albertans through patient-oriented research.
The Alberta SPOR SUPPORT Unit (AbSPORU) provides expertise, training and resources to increase Alberta’s capacity for patient-oriented research. Our aim is to bridge the gap between research evidence and health decisions – in other words, to make sure health research has an impact for patients and the health system.
AbSPORU collaborates closely and purposefully with patients from diverse communities and with its network of healthcare partners to improve health outcomes for all Albertans.
We are fostering partners to strengthen Alberta’s learning health system, focusing on continuous improvement of quality, patient and provider experience, and health system performance/cost through effective, evidence-based knowledge translation and implementation, and studying implementation to accelerate change.
Training and events
We offer training and events for researchers, patients, clinicians and health-system professionals, policy-makers, and students to increase their capacity in patient-oriented research and in Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI). Offerings include studentships, conferences, webinars, eLearning modules, and online courses and certificates.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Research services
Our teams offer a wide range of research services and expertise to support every step of your patient-oriented research journey. We can help with patient engagement, data (including data acquisition and management, analysis, interpretation and data visualization), knowledge translation, implementation science and Sex and Gender-Based Analysis (SGBA).
Patient engagement
We provide support to patient partners, researchers and community organizations to identify research priorities and to collaborate, in active and meaningful ways, on health research studies.
Become a patient partner
Do you have lived experience of a specific health issue – either your own, or as a caregiver, family member or friend? Discover opportunities to help shape the health research that impacts you.
LATEST OPPORTUNITIES FOR PATIENTS
Advisory groUp of adult patients and caRegivers Of childRen with type 1 diAbetes mellitus (AURORA)”
(Pediatric Choking) Prehospital experience with foreign body airway obstruction interventions among paramedics and bystanders: A realist qualitative investigation
Learning Health System
We facilitate Alberta’s learning health system by supporting effective, practical approaches to theory-based knowledge translation and implementation work. In collaboration with health system stakeholders, we coordinate an Implementation Science Collaborative, which will accelerate improvements in health care delivery, outcomes and cost.
Our community
Stay connected with AbSPORU and our research by signing up for our emails.
Let us know how you want to stay connected
News + Events
News + Events
Patient Partner Research OpportunitiesI agree to receive occasional emails from AbSPORU.
CALGARY
University of Calgary Foothills Campus
3330 Hospital Dr NW
Calgary, AB T2N 4N1
EDMONTON
University of Alberta North Campus
Edmonton Clinic Health Academy (ECHA)
11405 87 Ave NW
Edmonton, AB T6G 1C9
Land Acknowledgment
The Alberta SPOR SUPPORT Unit operates on and acknowledges the lands that are the traditional and ancestral territory of many peoples, presently subject to Treaties 6, 7, and 8. Namely: the Blackfoot Confederacy – Kainai, Piikani, and Siksika – the Cree, Dene, Saulteaux, Nakota Sioux, Stoney Nakoda, and the Tsuu T’ina Nation and the Métis People of Alberta. This includes the Métis Settlements and the Métis Nation of Alberta. We acknowledge the many First Nations, Métis and Inuit who have lived in and cared for these lands for generations. We make this acknowledgment as a reaffirmation of our shared commitment towards reconciliation, and as part of AbSPORU’s mandate towards fostering health system transformation.
© 2025 AbSPORU