About Avicenna Research

Built from research, for research.

Avicenna began as an academic research project exploring how everyday mobile technology could help scientists observe human behavior in the real world. That idea has grown into a research platform used by teams across disciplines and geographies.

Our purpose

Using everyday technology to help researchers understand people in everyday life.

Smartphones and wearables make it possible to observe behavior and experiences beyond the laboratory. Avicenna was created around the idea that these everyday devices could become practical research tools.

By enabling people to contribute data through the devices they already use, researchers can study human health and behavior in real-world contexts and at a scale that would otherwise be difficult to achieve.

Our story

From an H1N1 research project to Avicenna Research

The company’s story starts with iEpi, a University of Saskatchewan research project created to explore sensor-based epidemiological data collection.

  1. 2009

    iEpi begins at the University of Saskatchewan

    The original project was designed to use mobile sensors to help track the spread of H1N1 in central Canada during the winter flu season.

  2. 2010–12

    The research expands

    The work led to research on automated contact tracking, epidemiologically relevant mobile data, micro-contact networks, location data, and infection-transmission modeling.

  3. Next

    New research questions emerge

    Collaborators began exploring the same approach in other areas, including social health, computational social science, game design, and automated tracking of infection spread.

  4. Today

    Avicenna becomes a platform for broader research

    The lessons from iEpi evolved into Avicenna Research: a platform designed to make smartphone- and device-based research accessible to research teams across disciplines and locations.

Research roots

The platform grew from a real research problem.

Avicenna did not begin as a generic software product. Its foundations came from researchers trying to collect meaningful epidemiological and behavioral data outside traditional research settings.

That origin continues to shape how the company thinks about mobile data collection, real-world research, participant experience, and the practical realities of running scientific studies.

What guides us

A research-first point of view

Research should extend beyond the lab

Everyday devices can help scientists understand experiences, behaviors, and health in the contexts where they actually happen.

Technology should serve the study

Research questions and protocols should lead the process; technology exists to help researchers collect the data those questions require.

Participation should be more accessible

Remote and mobile research can reduce geographical barriers and allow more people to take part without requiring every interaction to happen in person.

Read More on Why Avicenna

Research behind Avicenna

Selected work from the platform’s early research foundations

Avicenna today

Research with roots in academia and a global reach.

Avicenna has been deployed in research projects across North America, Europe, and Australia, supporting teams studying health and human behavior in real-world settings.

The company is based in Toronto, Canada, while the platform and the research community around it extend well beyond a single institution or geography.

Avicenna Research

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

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