2012-2013

News Release

REF NO.: 30

SUBJECT: $2.4 million in federal support for social sciences research

DATE: October 18, 2012

Researchers at Memorial University of Newfoundland have earned more than $2.4 million to advance their research thanks to investments from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).
The federal funding awarded to faculty members, graduate students and post-doctoral fellows was announced on Oct. 1 by Gary Goodyear, minister of state (science and technology), Government of Canada.
Researchers in the Faculties of Arts, Business and Education received funding under the Insight Grant and Insight Development Grant programs. For example, Dr. Joshua Lepawsky, Department of Geography, Faculty of Arts, received $469,480 for his study titled Geographies of Rubbish Electronics: Community Assets, Worker Skills and the Possibilities of Ethical Trade.
“The question of the “right” thing to do with the “developed” world's e-waste, including Canada’s, is a deliberately broad and deceptively simple question. It raises intertwined, complex and urgent questions about sustainability, innovation, poverty and prosperity that transcend the political and legal boundaries of any one nation,” explained Dr. Lepawsky. “This SSHRC funding enables international fieldwork by the research team, including graduate students, faculty and collaborators in Mexico, Bangladesh, China, Peru, the U.S. and Canada over the next five years. Without this funding, the research would not happen.”
The funding announcement also included $965,000 for graduate student scholarships. Stephanie Sodero, PhD candidate in the Department of Sociology, Faculty of Arts, was awarded $105,000 over three years for her thesis research titled Sea Level Rising: Harbours as Sites of Climate Governance.
“Receiving a SSHRC Doctoral Award boosts my confidence as a researcher, and allows me to pursue practical research that benefits local communities,” said Ms. Sodero. “My thanks to everyone in the Department of Sociology and the School of Graduate Studies for their support in the application process.”
Dr. Noreen Golfman, dean, School of Graduate Studies (SGS), credits students and administrators with this competition success.
“The success of our graduate student SSHRC award winners depends on both their obvious talent and record of achievement and the attention SGS and graduate programs are paying to the success of the applications,” she said. “It takes many eyes to make a strong application and our success rates demonstrate how well-focused we have become on coaching and crafting –
essential parts of the process.”
Kathleen Galloway, School of Music, received a prestigious SSHRC Post-doctoral Fellowship, an award given to the most promising new scholars in the social sciences and humanities. The award is meant to help them establish a research base early in their careers. This award, valued at $81,000, will support Dr. Galloway’s work, titled Sounding Environmental Change: Representing Environment and Environmentalism in Contemporary Canadian Music Practices.
Dr. Christopher Loomis, vice-president (research), said the investments will have far-reaching impact. 
“There is a renewed appreciation of the importance of the social sciences and the humanities in our efforts to build a just, prosperous and sustainable world. This funding will enable our scholars to undertake outstanding research inspired by the values we share as Canadians. It will also help train and develop the next generation of researchers on whom the future of our province and country depend.”
 
Insight Grants
Insight Grants support research excellence in the social sciences and humanities. Funding is available to both emerging and established scholars for long-term research initiatives.
 
Priscilla Renouf
The Dorset Palaeoeskimo site of Phillip's Garden, northwestern Newfoundland: late phase occupation and site abandonment
$301,200
Joshua Lepawsky
Geographies of rubbish electronics: community assets, worker skills, and the possibilities of ethical trade
$469,480
Kathryne Dypré
Personal and family consequences of injuries at work
$190,573
Charles Mather
Natural resources, regional development and global value chains: insights from Canada's northern shrimp industry
$102,096
Elizabeth Yeoman
Nin Tshaukuesh: the diaries of Elizabeth Penashue
$106,474
 
Insight Development Grants
Insight Development Grants support research in its initial stages. The grants enable the development of new research questions, as well as experimentation with new methods, theoretical approaches and/or ideas. 
 
Lisa Kaida
Growing up working poor: short- and long-term consequences for immigrant children in Canada and the United States
$27,205
Lianne Leddy
Indigenous women and nation-building in Ontario: the post-war experience
$15,407
Justin Piché
A culture of penality: meanings of incarceration and punishment in Canada's penal tourism museums
$74,915
Jennifer Selby
Religion in the everyday: negotiating Islam in St. John's, Newfoundland and Labrador
$64,919
Xuemei Li
Mediating the gaps in language, identity, and career with newcomers: the case of Newfoundland
$28,590
                                                    
Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships (CGS): Master’s Scholarships
The Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Master's Scholarships seek to develop research skills and assist in the training of highly qualified personnel by supporting students in the social sciences and humanities who demonstrate a high standard of achievement in undergraduate and early graduate studies.
 
Caitlin Bethune
Rain city chronicles: building community through storytelling in Vancouver, BC
$17,500
Joy Brander
Listen to us: politics and the use of space in an underground hiphop group
$17,500
Tara Cater
Exploring mining encounters: adaptation and cultural identity in the Kivalliq Region, Nunavut
$17,500
Julia Halfyard
The relationship between maternal and child anxious feelings and thoughts in a school population
1$7,500
Martina Krskova
The search for the Christian community in Aquileia and its influence on the Central Europe
$17,500
Angelina Leggo
Identity and place: meaningful stories in François, Newfoundland
$17,500
Kristina Lord
Peer mentoring: a classic tool for the changing university classroom
$17,500
Katharine O’Neill
The acquisition of grammatical gender in a polysynthetic language: a case study of a Northern East Cree child learner
$17,500
Kelly-Anne Pike
Bearing identity: a biocultural analysis of human remains from Old Mission Point, New Brunswick
$17,500
Janelle Skeard
The construction of identities in a mining town: implications for community development and resilience
$17,500
Celina Waight
All-terrain values: understanding the values, attitudes and behaviours of all-terrain vehicle users and non-users on the island of Newfoundland
$17,500
Courtney Youden
Note-taking: the effect of style, access and summary on the percentage of information recalled
$17,500
 
 
Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships: Doctoral Scholarships
The SSHRC Doctoral Fellowships and Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarships aim to develop research skills and assist in the training of highly qualified personnel by supporting students who demonstrate a high standard of scholarly achievement in undergraduate and graduate studies in the social sciences and humanities.
 
  
Samantha Breslin
Gendering citizens and subjects: the making of computer scientists in Singapore
 
$105,000
Joshua Green
From village dancing to viking pop: music, tradition, continuity, and change in Faroese society
$105,000
Eric Guiry
Dogs as analogs in human archaeological bone chemistry: advancing the canine surrogacy approach
$105,000
Mathias Kom
Back and forth from Berlin to New York: network and place in anti-folk music
$105,000
Michelle Porter
Rural resilience and development: re-creating communities in times of transition
$105,000
Suzanne Power
Upon Placentia sound: American dialect contact, local identity practices and sociolinguistic variation in Newfoundland English
$105,000
Stephanie Sodero
Sea level rising: harbours as sites of climate governance
$105,000
 
SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship program
 
Laura Sanchini
Crafting Cape Breton: narratives of art and aging in Cheticamp
$20,000
 
SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship Program
SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowships support the most promising Canadian new scholars in the social sciences and humanities and assist them in establishing a research base at an important time in their research careers.
 
Kathleen Galloway
Sounding environmental change: representing the environment and environmentalism in contemporary Canadian music practices
$76,000 (basic amount awarded),
$5,000 (research allowance)
 

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