StFX faculty continue to make an impact with research that produces tangible, meaningful results. In the latest round of federal SSHRC 2024 Insight Grants and Insight Development Grants, StFX has had seven projects, involving 11 faculty, receive funding.
The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of National Revenue, made the announcement Sept. 13th at the Université de Sherbrooke on behalf of the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry and the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health.
Successful StFX recipients include:
SSHRC Insight Grants
• Dr. Adam Perry (Adult Education) is leading a project with StFX faculty Dr. Norine Verberg (Sociology), Dr. Lynda Harling-Stalker (Sociology/Brian Mulroney Institute of Government), and two external team members that has received $140,368, over five years for “Towards Developing Rural Learning Communities: Community-based Adult Education and the Nurturing of Rural Citizenship.” The objective of this research project is to investigate how collective participation and inclusive rural development can be nurtured through the application of principles, practices, and programs derived from the field of community-based adult education. A case-study focused on Antigonish County, will engage with three distinct yet overlapping groups, each of which are facing unique challenges in relation to their participation in rural life: young adults, older adults, and recent immigrants.
SSHRC Insight Development Grants
StFX received six Insight Development Grants totaling $363,826. All grants are for two years. Successful recipients include:
• Dr. Adam Perry (Adult Education), Dr. Norine Verberg (Sociology), and a colleague from Mount St. Vincent, have received $70,875 for a comparative case study approach: “Exploring how Language Learning for Adults Affects Newcomer Integration in Nova Scotia.” This project will investigate the outcomes of English as an Additional Language (EAL) instruction among recent immigrants and refugees to Nova Scotia, with a focus on how language training influences newcomers’ transitions to work and socio-cultural integration. The study addresses three main research questions related to: the geographic distribution of EAL provision, the alignment of funding priorities with the experiences of providers and learners, and the support provided by EAL provision for economic and socio-cultural integration in Nova Scotia.
• Dr. Carolyn Clarke and Dr. Allison Tucker (Education), with colleagues in Norway and Australia received $62,672 for “Exploring Homework Policies, Practices, and How they Shape Family Life: An Institutional Ethnography in Three Countries.” Their research involves a comparative study in three countries to understand current homework policies in jurisdictions within Canada, Australia, and Norway. The purpose of this project is to identify how homework policies are enacted within schools and homes. They’ll look to gain a fuller understanding of the impacts of homework policies. Through the study, they will explore the role local contexts play in how teachers, students, and families experience and engage with homework. The aim is to provide substantiated evidence that will contribute to ongoing national and global debates and equity-focused conversations about the impacts and outcomes of homework.
• Dr. Michael Follert (Sociology) is the recipient of $41,071 for the project, “Making terra silentium: Canadian Radio Drama, Nation-building, and the Sounding of the North, 1945-1967.” The project explores a largely forgotten but extensive archive of CBC radio broadcasts from the post-war era to help us understand how Canadians thought about 'the north' at this period in time. With a view to a region that most Canadians had never visited and could only imagine, and to a time of increased geopolitical and economic expansion northward, the project looks to the public broadcaster as an important force in shaping the nation's relationship with the north. Focusing on the medium of sound, the theme threaded through this project is in effect silence, both in the colonialist construction of the north as empty or silent, and in the silencing or displacing of Indigenous soundscapes and narratives of place.
• Dr. Laura Lambe and Dr. Ralph Redden (Psychology) have received $71,980 for “Using Virtual Reality to Study the Social-Cognitive Processes Associated with Peer Defending Behaviors”. Using an innovative, virtual-reality paradigm, this research will examine the predictors of bystander intervention in bullying scenarios. Findings from this research will be among the first to demonstrate how bystander intervention unfolds in real-time. This information will significantly contribute to the literatures on bystander intervention and bullying and will have the potential to inform future bullying prevention and intervention efforts. Dr. Lambe and Dr. Redden will specifically examine attentional predictors of bystander intervention using eye-tracking.
• Dr. Margo Watt and Dr. Chris Lively (Psychology), with team members Ryanne Chisholm (Applied Forensic Psychology) and a University of Edinburgh colleague, received $60,000 and will focus on “A Map of the Past: An Analysis of Casebooks of Mount Hope Asylum, 1860¬-1901.” The World Health Organization has issued a dire warning of the need to transform mental health care. Mental illness is the leading cause of disability worldwide and, in Canada, affects over 6.7 million individuals. While better able to treat the symptoms of some disorders today, the complicated causes of mental illness remain elusive, and the considerable costs to individuals, families, and society remain high. The Nova Scotia Hospital is the province's largest and oldest mental health facility. This project is impelled by the notion that “history is not the past but a map of the past, (intended) to be useful to the modern traveler.” It is hoped that by examining our history of mental health care we - “the modern traveler” - can better serve the needs of the many who require mental health care. This project will examine patient data held at the Nova Scotia Archives. A virtual museum will be created to provide ongoing dissemination of findings and will include “imagined portraits” of patients whose experience seems representative of 19th century asylum patients.
• Dr. Melanie McCaig (Marketing and Enterprise Systems), working with a colleague from Guelph, has received $57,228 for “IoT Technologies in the Horticulture Sector and Associated Discourses.” The sustainability of agriculture and food production depends on embracing technology and innovation, such as labor-saving practices and automation. The adoption of information technology (IT), particularly the Internet of Things (IoT), in horticulture farming is crucial for improving efficiency and productivity. However, understanding the debates and issues surrounding IoT adoption and how they shape farmers' behaviors in relation to labour is essential for devising effective policies related to automation in the horticulture sector. This study will contribute to understanding factors governing IT introduction in farming and its impact on labour and will aid in devising policies that facilitate technology adoption in agriculture. This research aims to address challenges and opportunities of adopting IT in farming, impacting farmers, farming associations, policymakers, and society at large.
Of particular note, adult education professor Dr. Adam Perry had successful applications in both SSHRC competitions this year, and this is the second successful team application of education faculty Dr. Carolyn Clarke and Dr. Allison Tucker. The duo had a successful application last year in the SSHRC Partnership Engage Grants program.
