Banting Fellowship recipient joins UOIT via New Zealand

Oshawa, ON - Programs to engage youth to keep them in school and improve graduation and employment rates will be the research focus of Dr. Janelle Joseph, a Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship recipient who recently joined the University of Ontario Institute of Technology (UOIT). Dr. Joseph completed her PhD in Exercise Science at the University of Toronto, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the University of Otago in North Dunedin, New Zealand prior to returning to Canada and joining UOIT.

“We are very pleased to have Dr. Joseph join UOIT,” said Dr. Michael Owen, vice-president, Research, Innovation and International. “The collaboration between Dr. Joseph and Dr. Crichlow, her supervisor, and schools in the Durham and Toronto regions is exciting because it involves high-calibre multidisciplinary research that has the potential to improve the social well-being of Canadians while strengthening our reputation for attracting talented researchers from across the globe.”

Each year 70 two-year Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships are awarded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. These awards, each valued at $70,000 per year, are given to elite postdoctoral researchers from across Canada and around the world, providing them with the support they need to conduct world-class research.

Dr. Joseph will work under the supervision of Dr. Wesley Crichlow, associate professor, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities, with support from the Faculty of Education. Drs. Joseph and Crichlow will critically investigate Afrocentric Physical Activity (APA) to engage marginalized youth in schools and criminal rehabilitation youth justice programs. Through a series of APA workshops, Dr. Joseph will introduce youth to the socio-history and musical-embodied practices of Afro-Brazilian martial arts and dances. Afrocentric education aims at preserving African cultures by emphasizing ancestral connections and values.

“I am greatly honoured to be selected for this prestigious award. I chose to hold this award at UOIT due to the university’s commitment to community engagement and the opportunities for collaborations among the Faculties of Health Sciences, Social Sciences and Humanities, and Education. Youth violence is a serious and complex problem that requires interdisciplinary attention,” said Dr. Joseph. “By engaging youth academically I hope to improve graduation and employment rates, reduce anti-social behaviour and criminal activity, and create safer and healthier communities. I look forward to working with Dr. Crichlow and other UOIT researchers on a project that has the potential to greatly benefit today’s youth.”

This research represents the first national interdisciplinary study to merge theories of youth studies, Afrocentricity, criminology, education, and physical cultural studies. 

Dr. Joseph’s previous work includes documenting the centrality of culturally significant sport for older adults. Her research and teaching also include studies of transnationalism and sport, with a focus on issues of equity, race, and gender. Dr. Joseph has completed innovative and international research and teaching in Brazil, Canada, the Caribbean, the United States, England, and New Zealand/Aotearoa.

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