The Centre for Neurology Studies, Surrey Neuroplasticity Clinic, and Pacific Parkinson's Resarch Institute is seeking individuals with Parkinson's disease for a study. This study will investigate the impact of multimodal non-invasive neuromodulation and intensive physical therapy on balance. It will compare the effectiveness of a 2-week intervention of physical therapy alone to physical therapy + neurostimulation on balance in individuals with Parkinson's disease. 

Neurostimulation includes two different non-invasive devices: 

• The first is the Portable Neuromodulation Stimulator (PoNS™). The use of the PoNS™ device in this study is investigational. Brain stimulation via the PoNS™ device stimulates two cranial nerves connected to the tongue, and is thought to aid in neuroplasticity.
  
  
• Galvanic Vestibular Stimulation (GVS) delivers a mild electrical current to the vestibular nerves located directly underneath the skin behind your ears. Similar to PoNS™ stimulation, GVS is thought to aid in neuroplasticity.

The use of the PoNS™ and GVS devices in this study is investigational. Participants will have continued access to their unique PoNS™ device after study completion. 

Eligibility

You may qualify as a study participant if you have a diagnosis of idopathic Parkinson's disease

Participation

Approximately 4-weeks including screeing and baseline visit.

Intervention:

• Two 90 min sessions per day
• 5 days per week for 2 weeks

Location

The study requires you to participate in-person at the Surrey Neuroplasticity Clinic (located at City Centre 1, 13737 96th Avenue, Unit 204, Surrey, BC)

Investigators

Dr. Ryan D'Arcy, PhD, PIEng
Dr. Martin McKeown, MD

Contact

CNSNeuroStudies@gmail.com or 778-584-0064

Download promotional PDF for this study.

The BC Brain Wellness Program is launching a research study this fall by a collaborative team of researchers from the BCBWP, UBC's School of Music, UBC's Faculty of Education and others. This study is in support of the SingWell Project, an SSHRC Partnership Grant-funded initiative which explores group singing as a meaningful social activity for people living with communication challenges. 

Would you like to make music as part of a research study with others in our community, hearing each other sing synchronously while together online? If yes, then we would love to hear from you! Cynthia Friesen will be the study's music facilitator and Professor Rena Sharon, School of Music will be the study's principal investigator. 

Inclusion Criteria:

• You have a chronic neurological condition OR 
• You are a carepartner for a person with a chronic neurological condition OR 
• You are a 50+ resident in Metro Vancouver who enjoys singing 

If you are interested in participating in this music research study, please email brain.wellness.research@ubc.ca or leave a voicemail at 604-827-4368. 

This study aims to understand the lived experience of people with Parkinson's Disease (PwP) with swallowing difficulty and swallowing therapy. The primary goal is to gain an understanding of the perspectives of PwP on using digital technology that helps in receiving swallowing therapy and explore their needs and considerations as users. The information from the study will help in the treatment of future patients with dysphagia (swallowing difficulty) and Parkinson's Disease. 

Inclusion criteria:

• Have a confirmed diagnosis of Parkinson's disease
• Have access to an electronic device and connection to the internet 

Participants of this study will be asked to take part in an online interview through Zoom. The interview will be audio recorded and the topics of the interview will be shared with the participant before. It is expected to take approximately an hour.

If you are interested in participating in this online research study, please contact Waad Alolayan by email.

The Pacific Parkinson's Research Centre at the University of British Columbia is developing an artificial intelligence (AI) and video monitoring tool to detect and quantify the severity of various symptoms of Parkinsonism. Regular monitoring of body movement, mood, and other disease symptoms is important to assess disease progression and inform treatment decisions. However, assessments of symptoms are typically only performed every several months with their clinician. The study aims to ultimately develop a smart camera system that can still measure body movement and mood (without the need for wearable sensors) in a remote setting. This information may provide researchers with a more comprehensive insight into disease progression and treatment options.

Inclusion criteria:

• Have a confirmed diagnosis of idiopathic Parkinson's disease
• Are capable of providing informed consent
• Are 18 years or older

Participants of this study will be asked to answer a few questions regarding disease status and record several videos using their own webcam and microphone. The study will require participants to record simple tasks like finger tapping, hand movements, changing facial expressions, and eye movements. You can access the consent form for more details of the study.

If you are interested in participating in this fully online research study, please contact Ravneet Mahal at 604-822-7763 or by email.

A team of students and clinicians from medicine, computer science, and occupational therapy at the University of British Columbia (UBC) are working on a study to evaluate how the design of human-computer-environment interactions can be optimized for compassionate care. 

The method used for this study includes observing participants with mild cognitive impairments complete a 10 minute, AI-powered cognitive assessment from their home. After the remote cognitive assessment, participants will need to complete two brief surveys. You will be compensated $20 for your time. Participants who are willing to share more about their experiences can also participate in a focus group and interview session.

Inclusion Criteria:

• People experiencing cognitive decline
• Caretakers of those with cognitive decline
• Healthcare professionals who perform cognitive assessments 

If you are interested in participating in this study, please contact the study coordinator, Miinie Teng.

Students at the Simon Fraser University are working to create a new therapeutic device designed to ease the pain associated with dystonia. To ensure that the device meets the needs of those living with Parkinson's disease (PD) and dystonia, they hope to receive feedback from people experiencing these obstacles. The outcome of this research will help shed light on the challenges individuals face when experiencing dystonia as well as the types of relief they find most effective. This information will be used to make recommendations for the device accordingly. 

Inclusion criteria: 

• Diagnosed with PD
• Experience dystonia
• Interested in and able to take an online survey (approximately 6-10 minutes) 

Your participation in this survey will be invaluable to the efforts in creating a device that can make a positive impact on the lives of those living with PD and dystonia.

If you are interested in participating in this study, please complete this survey.

If you have any feedback or questions about the research, please contact Harmeet Kaur. 

Trinity College Dublin is seeking people living with Parkinson’s disease and swallowing difficulties, their caregivers, and family members to take part in their study.

Why is this research being done?
Research studies on swallowing treatments need to be able to measure how well the treatment works. Researchers do this by measuring ‘outcomes’. Examples of outcomes include ‘quality of life’ and ‘severity of swallowing difficulty’.

However, so far researchers have been using different outcomes when conducting these studies. Some for example measure quality of life and others do not. Furthermore, people like you (living with Parkinson’s disease and swallowing difficulties, carers and family members) have not been involved in deciding what to measure in these research studies. Thus, the results of the research might have little importance to you.

Trinity College Dublin is doing this study to find out what outcomes are important to you when deciding if a swallowing treatment works. If you like, you can watch this short video here, where they explain the purpose of this research project and what it involves.

What does this study involve?
This anonymous online survey will take less than 10 minutes to complete. No identifying information is required in this survey. Participation is completely voluntary and even if you agree to participate, you can withdraw from the survey at any time until the point of submission.

The survey will remain open until 26 February 2023. The results of the survey will inform further stages of the COS-DIP project and will be published and presented fully anonymous at scientific conferences in the future.

Who can take part?
People living with Parkinson’s disease and experiencing swallowing difficulties, their carers and family members ≥ 18 years of age.

Who can NOT take part?
People with other conditions than Parkinson's potentially causing swallowing difficulties (for example Progressive Supranuclear Palsy (PSP), Multiple System Atrophy (MSA), stroke, head and neck cancer, muscular diseases, etc.).

What are the benefits of partaking in this study?
While taking part in this study may not directly benefit you now, the information you share will provide valuable data for Parkinson’s disease researchers and potentially improve the quality of studies testing swallowing treatments for people with Parkinson’s disease in the future. The results of this project will also better inform clinicians on the most appropriate information they should be gathering in treatments with people with Parkinson’s disease and swallowing difficulties. This in turn will benefit future people living with Parkinson’s disease and swallowing difficulties.

If you have any queries about the study, more information may be obtained from Julia Hirschwald (cosdip.tcd@gmail.com) or Prof. Margaret Walshe (walshema@tcd.ie).

Follow up focus groups will be carried out to explore this topic in more detail. If you would like to take part in this, please email Julia Hirschwald (cosdip.tcd@gmail.com).

Thank you very much for contributing to this research study.

Ms. Julia Hirschwald
Dr. Sallyanne Duncan
Prof. Tobias Warnecke
Mr. Gary Boyle
Prof. Julie Regan
Prof. Margaret Walshe

You are being invited to take part in this research study to help build a future communication solution. Part of this development requires collecting voice samples from people with Parkinson's Disease. The voice samples are to be used to train an algorithm

Study Procedures:

To collect as many samples as possible and follow any Covid restrictions still in place. A Web Application seemed the best solution, this would allow people to remotely record their voice samples in their settings.

The website will first prompt you to read the consent document. After giving consent you would read a short few sentences while recording this voice sample, then submit. You can record more than one sample.

No personnel information will be collected, asked for, or used. All voice samples will be anonymous.

The process of recording a single sample takes less than 90 seconds. Multiple samples will assist with the quality of the research and 4 samples would be recommended to support the study.

Study Results:

No final report, public, or internal report documentation is being produced from the direct collection of samples. There will be a report on the success of the project using the voice samples as test data. If parties are interested in knowing more about how these samples are being used in research and development. Contact the Study team list on the first page.

Potential Risks of the Study:

There have been no risks identified with participating and submitting voice samples. No personnel-identifying data will be collected or stored during this study.

Potential Benefits of the Study:

As the population ages, the number of people with Parkinson’s is going to double by 2030. Unless a cure is discovered very soon, a drug for the masses takes typically over a decade to pass FDA approval. Supporting people with speech issues with a technological solution will benefit many people, not only friends and family but also healthcare workers. Preventing Social Isolation is the main key benefit to this problem.

Confidentiality:

Each participant will record their voice reading from a preset script. These recordings will be stored in a database that is encrypted and password protected. Each voice sample will have no personal identifiers, making each sample completely anonymous. research findings will not be stored publicly or accessible publicly.

The only people with access to the data are all those listed in the study team on page one of this document.

The Website interface used to record the voice samples is stored on servers in the US and follows US privacy laws.

Data will be stored securely for five years after the publication of any research results stemming from these voice samples. The data will be stored securely on the Canadian server, which is located on Canadian soil, and the Principal investigator will remain responsible for its security throughout this five-year period.

Payment or Compensation:

There will be no cost to participate in this study, and therefore no reimbursement for participants.

Contact for Information about the Study:

If you have any questions or concerns about what we are asking of you, please contact the study leader or one of the study team. The names, emails, and phone numbers are listed at the top of the first page.

Contact for Complaints:

About your rights as a research participant, If you have any concerns or complaints about your rights as a research participant and/or your experiences while participating in this study, contact the Research Participant Complaint Line in the UBC Office of Research Ethics at 604-822-8598 or if long distance e-mail RSIL@ors.ubc.ca or call toll free 1-877-822-8598.

Participant Consent:

Taking part in this study is voluntary. As all voice samples are submitted anonymously and no personnel identifying marks are stored, therefore withdrawing after submitting voice samples is not possible.

After reading this consent form, and you wish to give consent, tick the box below to indicate and participate in the study.

This study is being conducted by Dr. Vesna Sossi and her team at UBC and is aimed at investigating brains of people with Parkinson’s at varying levels of exercise and comparing them against each other over a six-month period.

What is involved:

You will be asked to complete three baseline study visits and two follow up study visits after six months. Each set of visits includes a PET/MRI scan to learn more about brain behaviour and a VO2 max bike test of aerobic fitness. You will be reimbursed for travel or provided with transportation.

Who can participate:

• Have a diagnosis of Parkinson’s Disease
• Ages 40-80
• Currently participating in less than 120 minutes of high-intensity exercise per week.
•  Able to maintain and report activity levels for 24 weeks
• Able to tolerate laying down on their back for about 90 minutes for PETMR scanning and not have claustrophobia or a fear of needles

Exclusion criteria:

• Hypertension
• Diabetes
• Depression treated with antidepressants
• Serious head injury with loss of consciousness for ≥ 5 minutes

For more information contact:

Nurse Coordinator: Jess McKenzie at 604-822-7764 or stoessl.research@ubc.ca. 

Researchers at the Queensland University of Technology Institute of Heath and Biomedical Innovation are looking to increase knowledge and understanding of how people with Parkinson’s disease (PD) experience the heat, as well as to develop a scale for the assessment of heat sensitivity in people with PD. The outcomes of the research will help to shed light on the experience of heat sensitivity in people with Parkinson’s disease and provide a tool for clinicians and researchers to assess heat sensitivity in people with PD.

Inclusion criteria:

• Diagnosed with Parkinson's disease
• Interested in and able to take an online survey, taking approximately 20 minutes of time

If you are interested in participating in this study, please follow this link to the study site: https://survey.qut.edu.au/f/193936/87f4/ 

For details, please contact:

• Dr Andrew Hunt, ap.hunt@qut.edu.au
• Prof Ian Stewart, i.stewart@qut.edu.au, +61 7 3138 6118         
• Prof Graham Kerr, g.kerr@qut.edu.au, +61 7 3138 6303 

You will be provided with further information to ensure that your decision and consent to participate is fully informed.

QUT Ethics Approval Number: 2000000718

A double-duty caregiver is a healthcare provider who also provides care outside of work to a family member, chosen family, or friend who is ill, disabled, or frail. Juggling care at work and at home can be very stressful. Dr. Jasneet Parmar, Professor in the Department of Family Medicine at the University of Alberta, wants to understand how the COVID-19 pandemic and double-duty caregiving has impacted Canadian healthcare providers’ caregiving and work experiences.

The researchers think that double-duty caregiving during COVID-19 may have had a significant impact on double-duty caregivers’ health and wellbeing. A small mixed-methods study involving a survey for employers (n=29), and interviews with double-duty caregivers (n=16), found that healthcare providers who work in healthcare and care for an ill, frail, or disabled family member, chosen family, or friend at home without pay:

1. are experiencing an increased care load, working greater hours, and have increased fears of safety, resulting in physical and emotional strain;
2. and are unable to access support networks and services that supported their care tasks due to COVID-19. Reduced support contributes to double-duty caregivers’ high care load, stress, and burnout (link to Research Brief).

Dr. Parmar and her team are inviting all Canadian healthcare providers who are also family caregivers to complete a survey on the secure REDCap survey platform. It will take about 20 minutes to complete. The link to the survey is www.redcap.link/doubleduty.

Dr. Parmar and her team are using validated scales, such as the Double-Duty Caregiving Scale, DeJong-Gierveld Loneliness Scale, and The Six-Item State Anxiety Scale (a validated short-form of the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory), which will allow them to compare results of this study after two years of the COVID-19 pandemic and pre-pandemic results on the same scales. The study has been approved by the University of Alberta Health Research Ethics Board (Study Number: Pro00117700).

For more information, or if you have questions, please contact Dr. Sharon Anderson at sdanders@ualberta.ca or text 780-953-5541.

Researchers at York University are recruiting participants to answer an online questionnaire to evaluate the effects of COVID-19 face masks and facial emotion perception in older adults with and without Parkinson's disease.

Participant requirements:

• Access to a personal computer Over the age of 65
• Never been diagnosed with a neurodegenerative disease (other than Parkinson's Disease)
• Never been diagnosed with dementia
• Perfect (or lens corrected) vision

Interested in participating? Please fill out an additional screeing survey here.

For questions, contact Geneva Mariotti genevam@my.yorku.ca or (647) 878-7961

The Non-Invasive Neurostimulation Therapies (NINET) Laboratory at the University of British Columbia (UBC) has designed a study to evaluate the feasibility of using Magnetic Seizure Therapy (MST) to treat depression in Parkinson's disease. It will study the impact of MST on mood, cognition, suicidal ideation, motor function, quality of life measures, and electroencephalography. 

Inclusion criteria:

• Between 50-100 years old
• Confirmed diagnosis of Parkinson’s disease 
• Moderate-severe depression
• Stable doses of psychotropic medications
• Able to receive convulsive therapy as assessed by a psychiatrist and anesthesiologist
• If on antidepressants, agree to keep them constant during the entire study
• Can adhere to the treatment schedule
• Meet the MST safety criteria

To learn more about this study, view the infographic provided by the coordinators. 

Questions about this study can be directed to the NINET Lab: Ninet.Lab@ubc.ca

Do you have Parkinson's disease and experience anxiety? University of British Columbia (UBC) researchers are now recruiting for a clinical trial examining the effects of a multi-strain probiotic on anxiety in Parkinson's disease.

What and who is involved in the study?

• Randomized & blinded clinical trial led by UBC neurologist Dr. Silke Appel-Cresswell
• Two study visits, conducted remotely and in-person at UBC* (~ 6-8 hours/each)
• Visits include clinical assessments, questionnaires, blood samples, and collection of fecal samples at home
• 3 months of taking the probiotic or placebo twice a day

Who can participate in the study?

You may be able to participate if all of the following apply:

• You are between the ages of 40-80
• You have mild to moderate Parkinson's disease
• You experience mild to moderate anxiety
• You do not have other neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease
• You have not had Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) and are not on Duodopa
• You are not currently receiving psychotherapy

Click here to read the full study record. If you are interested in learning more or participating, please email Petra.Uzelman@ubc.ca or call (604) 827-0576.

* If you reside in Interior British Columbia, you may participate in this clinical trial and attend the two study visits in-person (highway conditions permitting), but otherwise do the study remotely. Remuneration between $30-75, depending on where you are travelling from, will be provided to help cover expenses like gas and/or parking.

Researchers from the University of Auckland are looking for volunteers to participate in their Game-based Exercise Project study, which will explore games as potential systems of rehabilitation. The project aims to develop suitable game-based exercise experiences to help people with Parkinson's and other chronic diseases, while also considering the similarities to age-related symptoms and conditions. Their approach relies on the existing literature on physical activity and exercise rehabilitation while also leveraging the motivational aspects and cognitive contributions of gameplay.

The project has a survey element that aims to collect demographics data to inform the development process. A link to the questionnaire is here: https://forms.gle/M63brY9bgT8EKxwNA

The purpose of this survey is to collect demographics data without any personal information linked to the given answers. You will not be asked to provide your name or any contact details. However, if you would like to be involved in the further stages of the project and/or participate in future user studies, please feel free to get in touch with the researchers.

For more information, please contact Asli Tece Bayrak, atec298@aucklanduni.ac.nz or call 021 134 4654.

Have you ever played videogames for health-related reasons? Researchers from the University of British Columbia are investigating how to better involve older adults in creating games for rehabilitation that suit their needs. This study will examine adults 50 years or older who have experience using videogames for health, such as for physical, occupational, or cognitive therapy. Participants will take part in online interviews over two hour-long sessions to share their views about using and creating videogames for therapy. Access to a computer, with webcam and internet, is required to participate in this study. An honorarium will be provided for participants’ time.

If you have any further questions, please contact researchers Gordon Tao and Dr. William Miller at garden.rehabresearch@ubc.ca or 604-734-1313 ext. 6292

Are you looking for new ways of managing Parkinson's disease (PD)? PDCareBox is a collaborative, community-based platform with a collection of techniques to help you live well with PD. PDCareBox helps you find self-care techniques to deal with Parkinson’s in your daily life. The techniques have been contributed by PD patients and their caretakers all over the world.

Inside PDCareBox user can find techniques by using four criteria: sociality, affordability, effectiveness, and community familiarity. You can also see what other participants think the technique is good for. After people test PDCareBox, we will ask you for your opinion of the tool and the techniques via an online questionnaire.

This project is an international research collaboration between University of Oulu, Aalborg University, Fraunhofer University, ULisboa, the University of Melbourne, the University of Pittsburgh, and University of Glasgow.

Visit https://pdcarebox.com/ to learn more and discover over 30,000 unique perspectives.

Are you a person with Parkinson's disease who experiences hypomimia, otherwise known as masked facies or loss of facial expression? If so, a research study is being conducted exploring the effects of daily exercises on hypomimia. The project is entirely virtual, and consists of an initial assessment of your facial expressions, followed by 6 weeks of daily facial expression exercises to be completed. After 6 weeks, you will repeat the inital assessment tasks to evaluate any improvement. 

All personal information will be kept confidential, including names and contact telephone numbers. Once interview data has been transcribed and inputted, it will be destroyed. The only people to view the raw information will be the researcher, their project supervisor, and the examiner. You can withdraw from the study at any time. 

For more information, contact Paniz Ghalehvand at P.Ghalehvand8766@student.leedsbeckett.ac.uk.

A collaboration of international researchers is seeking individuals to participate in an online study collecting information about Parkinson's disease self-management strategies. The study is conducted fully online, the participants are asked to fill in a questionnaire, submit their best practices of self-care, and assess the ones submitted by others via pre-set criteria. We do not collect any sensitive personal information. The participants can sign to an email list (hosted on different server), for receiving further information about the proceeding of the project and for joining a raffle of an Amazon gift card. 

Take the survey at ab3000.net/campaigns/pd/.

Parkinson’s disease is known to affect parts of the brain that are thought to be involved in perceiving the passage of time, but the nature and degree of any actual time perception problems that result is not well understood. The aim of this research is to determine whether time perception is altered in Parkinson’s disease (PD) and whether this can be accurately quantified. If so, measures of changes in time perception could be potentially used in future as a test that could help diagnose PD and address symptoms.

The research is conducted completely online. There is a very brief questionnaire collecting information including participant age, gender, whether you have PD and what other conditions/medications you may have. 

You will then complete a task that consists of two parts. Firstly, you will be shown two images in sequence, one of which appears on screen for slightly longer than the other and asked to say which was there the longest. This is repeated multiple times. Then the same thing is done again, but instead of images, using two audio tones of slightly different duration played in sequence. This whole task should take 20-30 minutes. 

The study is being conducted by the NeuroMetrology group in the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at the University of Oxford. If you have any questions, contact zi.su@ndcn.ox.ac.uk. 

Take the survey here.

The UBC Health Mentors Program is a 9-month volunteer program in which adult mentors and/or caregivers meet 6 times with a small team of UBC students. Health Mentors are experts in their health, and want to share their experiences living with a chronic condition. Students are new healthcare professionals who learn about patient-centred care and how providers can better support people with chronic conditions.

By being a Health Mentor, you will be part of a pioneering program that is contributing to the education of the health professionals of tomorrow. Health Mentors should live in the Metro Vancouver area, and be comfortable talking about their health condition.

For more information, and to apply to be a health mentor, please visit: bit.ly/ubchealthmentors, or refer to this document. Questions can be directed to Program Coordinator, Jen MacDonald, at jen.macdonald@ubc.ca.

Despite the continual growth of people diagnosed with young onset Parkinson’s disease (YOPD), research examining the burdensome non-motor features remains scarce. We hope to identify potential relationships between apathy and other variables that might lead to new and innovative treatments.

To be eligible to participate in this study, participants need to have a clinical diagnosis of YOPD (prior to the age of 50) and be at least 18 years old. Participation in this study will require about 25-minutes of time and will not include any compensation.

Thank you in advance for your consideration. Should you have any questions or concerns, contact Bradley McDaniels, PhD, CRC, Assistant Professor, Department of Rehabilitation and Health Services, University of North Texas, at 469-551-3785 or Bradley.mcdaniels@unt.edu. 

Click here for the survey.

Volunteers needed for a questionnaire study on service dogs for Parkinson's disease. Individuals may be diagnosed with Parkinson's, Lewy body dementia, or be caregivers of individuals with these diagnoses. Participation is confidential and individual responses will remain anonymous.

Participants do not need to have a service dog to complete the survey. 

Study Information

Service dogs may be of great assistance to those with Parkinson's disease or Lewy body dementia. Thus far, research on this topic has been extremely scarce. However, these highly trained animals may assist in areas including retrieving hard to reach items, finding help for owners in distress, providing balance support, encouraging exercise, and reducing loneliness. 

Researcher Information

Lisa Skandali, M.Sc. | liz.skandali@gmail.com

University of Groningen

To take the survey, click here

The Motor Behavior Lab of Rutgers University is inviting people to participate in a research study evaluating the role of yoga in the lives of individuals with Parkinson's disease or symptoms of anxiety. 

Who is eligible for this study? 

• Individuals with Parkinson's disease 
• Individuals with symptoms of anxiety - such as feelings of nervousness, racing heart, & muscle tension
• Individuals between 18-80 years old (male or female)
• Proficient English speakers

You must not: 

• Have an injury or condition that affects your ability to particpate in physical activity
• Have cognitive impairments that could prevent you from communicating or understanding directions
• Be pregnant

What is involved? 
You will be asked to participate in four 1.5-hour videoconferencing sessions to answer questionnaires, followed by a 6-week waiting period (no action required). You will then participate in 12 or more yoga sessions in your home via a live video chat with a yoga teacher. The total time commitment is 12 weeks.   

To learn more, contact the principal investigator: 
Dr. Jean-Francois Daneault, PhD | 973.972.8482 | Email: jf.daneault@rutgers.edu