Six UOIT researchers receive new federal funding for innovative research

Themes of diversity, policies of inclusion, crime mediation, validating witness testimony and the social impact of fracking technologies highlight new funding for innovative research at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology.

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) has awarded grants to six researchers and their project co-applicants at the university. The national SSHRC announcement was made September 9 at York University in Toronto, Ontario by the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science.

SSHRC’s Insight Grants, Insight Development Grants and Partnership Development Grants will provide more than $660,000 to the following university researchers (principal investigators):

Insight Grants

• Mediating crime and race: how Canadian ethnic minority newspapers construct crime.
  • Aziz Douai, PhD, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Science and Humanities (FSSH)
    • UOIT co-applicant:
    • Barbara Perry, PhD, Professor, FSSH

• Increasing literacies through supported education and policies of inclusion.
  • Shanti Fernando, PhD, Professor, FSSH
    • UOIT co-applicants:
    • Allyson Eamer, PhD, Associate Professor, Faculty of Education (FEd)
    • Tyler Frederick, PhD, Assistant Professor, FSSH
    • Alyson King, PhD, Assistant Professor, FSSH
    • Laura Pinto, PhD, Assistant Professor, FEd

• Examining and addressing constraints to sport participation among ethnically-diverse female adolescents.
  • Caroline Barakat-Haddad, PhD, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Health Sciences (FHS), via the SSHRC Sport Participation Research Initiative
    • UOIT co-applicants:
    • Shilpa Dogra, PhD, Assistant Professor, FHS
    • Nicholas Wattie, PhD, Assistant Professor, FHS

Insight Development Grants

• The risks and opportunities of ‘fracking’ in Canada: an examination of social impacts.
  • Christopher O’Connor, PhD, Assistant Professor, FSSH

• Development and validation of the coercion assessment instrument for witness and suspect interviews.
  • Brian Cutler, PhD, Interim Dean and Professor, FSSH
    • UOIT co-applicants:
    • Amy Leach, PhD, Associate Professor, FSSH
    • Stephanie Marion, SSHRC Postdoctoral Research Fellow, UOIT

Partnership Development Grant

• Diversities of resilience: understanding the strategies for success used by underrepresented students in Canadian universities.
  • Alyson King, PhD, Assistant Professor, FSSH
    • UOIT co-applicants:
    • Allyson Eamer, PhD, Associate Professor, FEd
    • Nawal Ammar, PhD, former Dean and Professor, FSSH (now Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences, Rowan University, Glassboro, New Jersey, USA)
• Industry partners:
  • Delmore “Buddy” Daye Learning Institute, Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • Intercultural Dialogue Institute GTA, Toronto, Ontario

Quick fact:

• SSHRC is the federal research funding agency that promotes and supports postsecondary-based research and training in the humanities and social sciences. It supports about 8,300 research projects annually.

Quotes

Researchers in the Social Sciences and Humanities, Health Sciences and Education are advancing the research portfolio at the University of Ontario Institute of Technology to address important social, environmental, health and economic challenges. This funding announcement by the Social Sciences and Health Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) promotes our university’s culture of innovation and supports a wide range of exciting cross-disciplinary research that will drive new insights into social, cultural and economic relationships in Canadian society and inform public policy across diverse social sectors including education, justice, media, sports and community development.” 
—Michael Owen, PhD, Vice-President, Research, Innovation and International

“Social sciences and humanities researchers help us to understand issues affecting our daily lives and provide evidence for sound policy-making. The Government of Canada believes that only this broad and holistic approach can lead to true discoveries, innovation and solutions that will help all Canadians, including those who now call Canada home.”
—The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science

"SSHRC’s support of these projects helps ensure the continued and unique contribution of humanities and social sciences research to guide informed decision-making at all levels within Canadian society. This research informs our thinking about critical social, cultural, economic, technological and environmental issues and contributes to building a better future for Canada and the world."
—Ted Hewitt, President, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

Related links:

• University’s research website
• SSHRC news release

Media contact

Bryan Oliver
Communications and Marketing
University of Ontario Institute of Technology
905.721.8668 ext.6709
289.928.3653 (cell)
bryan.oliver@uoit.ca