University of Guelph researchers have received more than $9.6 million in new federal funding in support of projects that will explore topics ranging from emotional labour to Indigenous language learning to the impact of technology on society.
The funds are part of $502.3 million in funding announced today for researchers, students and institutions across the country.
Five researchers in the College of Arts and the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences will receive nearly $1 million in Insight Grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) in addition to $555,872 in Insight Development Grants.
U of G researchers will also receive more than $1.4 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to fund several projects through its John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF). LEARN MORE
“Congratulations to our U of G researchers who are receiving this strategic and essential funding,” says Dr. Shayan Sharif, acting vice-president (research and innovation). “These federal investments will support our researchers as they work to improve life for all by addressing critical challenges.”
College of Arts
Dr. Catherine Carstairs, Department of History
Dr. Carstairs’ project, titled To Your Health: Drinking in Canada, 1970-Present, builds upon findings from the Canadian Centre on Substance Abuse and Addiction that recommended Canadians have no more than two alcohol drinks per week. Carstairs’ research will explore the changing role of alcohol in the lives of Canadians over five decades. She will consider cultural norms, the pleasures and risks of drinking, the gender, race, age and ability of Canadians who drink as well as the reasons why and whether advertising or public health campaigns impact use.
Dr. John Russon, Department of Philosophy
Dr. Russon’s project, titled To Live in These Times, seeks to understand the values that have come to shape our contemporary perspective through distinctive forms of technology that define these times. Russon plans to publish this work in his fourth book, studying the rich legacy of the Industrial Revolution for a contemporary world, arguing changes such as central banking, the digital computer and the territorial nation-state are technological developments that have decisively shaped how we interpret ourselves in contemporary life.
College of Social and Applied Human Sciences
Dr. Kim Anderson, Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition
Dr. Anderson’s four-year project, titled Strength in Relations: Generating Possibilities for Indigenous Language Journeys, will investigate Indigenous relationality in the context of language learning at U of G. The goal of the Indigenous-led research, conducted by an all-Indigenous team of Anishinaabemowin learners and speakers, is to generate Indigenous language learning spaces on campus, investigate and document relationality in these spaces, provide opportunities to build knowledge on the social components of language learning and expand and investigate linkages among Indigenous language learners in southwestern Ontario.
Dr. Carla Rice, Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition
Dr. Rice’s project, titled The Work of Stories in the World, aims to evaluate the change-making impacts of digital storytelling on learning, policy and practice. This research will be housed at the Re-Vision Centre for Art and Social Justice, advancing scholarship from an intersectional perspective. The goal is to create a publicly engaged, open access storytelling infrastructure, making research and results available in conventional forms such as conferences and journals as well as newer, emergent media such as podcasts, lookbooks and videos.
Dr. Olga Smoliak, Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition
Dr. Smoliak’s project, titled Capturing Care Work, focuses on gender inequities specific to women’s emotional work in families, applying a postfeminist lens. Through participatory video, 40 diversely positioned women will gather to counter racial, capitalist and patriarchal structures and discourses that produce gradations of subordination among women, exploiting their labour in uneven ways.
Earlier this year, SSHRC also awarded U of G researchers a total of $595,249 in Connection, Partnership Development and Partnership Engagement grants.
Nearly $265 million worth of funding will also support tri-agency scholarships and fellowships across Canada, including more than $6.1 million for 98 U of G graduate students.