This project introduces a new way of understanding wellbeing that goes beyond traditional health measures. Researchers explore how social, cultural, and community contexts shape what it means to live well, emphasizing that wellbeing is not just about the absence of illness but about thriving in everyday life.

By integrating insights from aging, health, and social sciences, the project highlights the importance of relationships, environments, and social supports in fostering resilience. Its findings aim to inspire more holistic approaches to wellbeing in policy, practice, and research.

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This project critically examines how English-language Canadian sociology has engaged – or failed to engage – with Indigenous presence and perspectives. Researchers analyze disciplinary texts, practices, and histories to highlight gaps, silences, and misrepresentations in the field.

The study underscores how sociology’s treatment of Indigeneity reflects broader colonial legacies, raising questions about knowledge production and academic responsibility. Its findings call for rethinking sociological approaches to ensure Indigenous voices and experiences are meaningfully included.

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This project from McMaster’s Ancient DNA Centre uncovers surprising evidence that woolly mammoths roamed the Yukon thousands of years later than previously believed. By analyzing permafrost sediment samples with cutting-edge genomic techniques, researchers reconstructed ecosystems and tracked the persistence of mammoths, horses, and other Ice Age megafauna.

The findings challenge traditional fossil records, suggesting these iconic animals survived well into the Holocene, overlapping with early human history. This research reshapes our understanding of extinction timelines and highlights the power of environmental DNA to unlock hidden chapters of the past.

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This project investigates how the COVID-19 pandemic reshaped the lives of Ontario workers, workplaces, and families. Researchers examine the economic, social, and health consequences of the crisis, highlighting inequalities in job security, caregiving responsibilities, and workplace safety.

By documenting workers’ experiences across sectors, the study reveals how the pandemic intensified existing vulnerabilities while also sparking new forms of resilience. Its findings aim to inform policies that better protect workers and support families in times of crisis.

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The Austerity Research Group is a multidisciplinary collaboration examining how austerity policies reshape society. Researchers investigate the social consequences of cost-cutting measures, from diminished public services to weakened democratic participation, and analyze how communities resist or adapt.

The project highlights how austerity affects social cohesion, political engagement, and everyday life, while also exploring the strategies elites use to manage its acceptance. Its findings underscore the need for critical, multidimensional analysis of austerity’s long-term effects on equity and collective wellbeing.

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Azhe-mino-gahbewewin is a SSHRC-funded, community-led project exploring what reconciliation means in the Kenora region and how local priorities can guide meaningful change. Co-designed by Reconciliation Kenora and Dr. Jeffrey Denis, the research is grounded in longstanding relationships, guided by an Elders Circle, and informed by youth sharing circles, interviews, participant observation, and a 2023 public gathering.

Findings show that reconciliation is understood in diverse ways – as healing, education, restoring balance, or, for some, as a call for decolonization and self-determination. The project highlights both ongoing challenges and local strengths, emphasizing Indigenous-led solutions, settler accountability, and structural transformation across areas such as housing, healthcare, education, justice, treaty relations, cultural revitalization, and land stewardship.

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This project investigates the popular belief that “make-up sex” strengthens relationships after conflict. Researchers analyze psychological data on intimacy, reconciliation, and emotional regulation to test whether the practice actually improves satisfaction or masks deeper issues.

The study highlights how cultural narratives about romance and conflict can shape expectations, often without scientific support. Its findings challenge myths about love and argue for healthier, evidence-based approaches to managing relationship tensions.

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This project documents and analyzes Holocaust Torahs that found their way into Canadian synagogues and institutions. These sacred scrolls, rescued from destruction during the Holocaust, carry profound historical, cultural, and spiritual significance.

Researchers explore how communities have cared for, displayed, and interpreted these Torahs, highlighting their role as living memorials that connect past trauma with present resilience. The study contributes to broader conversations about memory, heritage, and the transmission of Jewish identity across generations.

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This project presents the first nationally representative study of vibrator use among Canadian women. Led by Professor Tina Fetner, the research draws on an anonymous online survey of 1,170 participants to examine both how common vibrator use is and which demographic factors are associated with it. The findings show that just over half of Canadian women have used a vibrator in their lifetime, and nearly one third have done so in the past year. Patterns of use varied across groups, with younger women, women with higher education levels, and bisexual women reporting higher rates of recent use.

The study also reveals that vibrator use is not strongly linked to most other sexual behaviours, aside from expected associations with masturbation and the use of other sex toys. While this is the first study of its kind in Canada, the results closely mirror findings from other countries, suggesting broader cross-cultural consistency in women’s sexual practices. By filling a major gap in national data, the project supports more informed public health approaches, reduces stigma surrounding sexual wellbeing, and contributes to a more inclusive understanding of women’s sexuality.

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This project investigates the challenges faced by workers in Canada’s growing gig economy. Researchers examine how dependency on short-term, precarious work creates financial insecurity, limited access to benefits, and heightened vulnerability during crises.

The study highlights the social and economic hardships experienced by gig workers, while also exploring resilience strategies and policy implications. Its findings contribute to debates about labor rights, equity, and the future of work in a rapidly changing economy.

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This project, “Distory: Then and Now – Stories from the Inside,” explores the lived experiences of incarceration across time. By gathering narratives from people who have been imprisoned, researchers highlight how punishment, resilience, and social change intersect in Canadian contexts.

The study examines both historical and contemporary accounts, showing how personal stories challenge stereotypes and reveal systemic issues in justice and rehabilitation. Its findings emphasize the importance of storytelling in shaping public understanding of incarceration and driving change.

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This project explores the link between personality traits and patterns of social media use. Researchers investigate whether characteristics like extraversion, openness, or conscientiousness predict how people engage online – through posting, commenting, or lurking.

The study highlights how individual differences influence digital interaction, shedding light on both healthy and problematic uses of social platforms. Its findings contribute to understanding the psychology of online behavior and the role personality plays in shaping digital communities.

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This project investigates the economic and health resilience of adolescent miners working in Ghana and Uganda. Researchers explore how young miners navigate hazardous working conditions, limited healthcare access, and economic precarity, while also examining the coping strategies and community supports that sustain them.

By highlighting the intersection of labor, health, and youth development, the study sheds light on the vulnerabilities and strengths of adolescents in resource-based economies. Its findings aim to inform policies that protect young workers and promote safer, more equitable futures.

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This project investigates exegetical literature – texts that interpret and explain sacred writings – across diverse religious traditions. Researchers analyze how exegetical works shape theological meaning, guide spiritual practice, and influence cultural identity.

By comparing approaches to scripture in different contexts, the study highlights both the diversity and commonality of interpretive traditions. Its findings contribute to broader conversations about authority, interpretation, and the role of sacred texts in shaping communities.

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This project explores how feminist identity shapes sexual behavior, highlighting the intersections of personal intimacy and political commitment. Researchers analyze how individuals negotiate sexual practices, relationships, and self-expression in ways that reflect feminist values and social change.

The study underscores the idea that sexuality is not only private but also deeply political, tied to questions of autonomy, equality, and resistance. Its findings contribute to broader debates about gender, identity, and the politics of intimacy in contemporary society.

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The Globalization and Autonomy Project, led by McMaster’s Institute on Globalization and the Human Condition, brought together scholars from 13 Canadian universities and 16 international organizations. Over five years, researchers examined how globalization reshapes political authority, cultural identity, and community autonomy across diverse regions.

Through interdisciplinary collaboration and landmark publications, the project highlighted both the opportunities and tensions globalization creates for societies worldwide. Its findings continue to inform debates on governance, legitimacy, and the balance between global integration and local autonomy.

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This project explores the emerging field of “graphic medicine,” where comics and illustrated narratives are used to convey experiences of illness, healing, and healthcare. Researchers examine how graphic novels can make medical stories more accessible, empathetic, and engaging for diverse audiences.

By blending art and scholarship, the project highlights the power of visual storytelling to challenge stigma, foster understanding, and humanize medical practice. Its findings contribute to broader conversations about narrative, health communication, and the role of creativity in medicine.

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This project investigates how ancient Jewish texts portray women as healers, magicians, and diviners in times of epidemic. Researchers use an intersectional lens to analyze ritual practices, exploring how gender, power, and social roles shaped responses to communal crises.

The study highlights women’s agency in navigating illness and uncertainty, showing how ritual knowledge offered both spiritual and practical resilience. By situating these practices within broader cultural and historical contexts, the project deepens understanding of women’s roles in ancient religious life.

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This project examines how the COVID-19 pandemic exposed critical challenges in health services priority-setting. Researchers analyze how governments and health systems balanced urgent needs, scarce resources, and ethical considerations during the crisis.

By drawing lessons from pandemic responses, the project highlights strategies for more transparent, equitable, and resilient decision-making in future health emergencies. Its findings contribute to ongoing debates about fairness, preparedness, and the role of public trust in health policy.

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This research by Dr. Tina Moffat examines how a broken food system contributes to both childhood obesity and undernutrition. Drawing on studies in Canada and Nepal, the project highlights how food insecurity, misleading marketing, and ineffective interventions leave children vulnerable.

By advocating for systemic solutions like national school feeding programs and early nutrition education, the research calls for government and societal action to put children’s health at the center of food policy.

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This McMaster-led research explores how online voting could transform democratic participation for Indigenous communities. By reducing barriers such as distance, accessibility, and administrative challenges, digital voting offers a pathway to greater inclusion and self-determination.

The study highlights both the opportunities and risks of adopting online systems, emphasizing the need for culturally sensitive, secure, and community-driven approaches. Its findings contribute to broader conversations about equity, technology, and strengthening democratic engagement in Canada.

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This project tells the story of New York’s Indigenous ironworkers through a powerful animated film created at McMaster. Known for building iconic skyscrapers and bridges, these workers risked their lives while shaping the city’s skyline.

The film highlights their courage, skill, and cultural identity, bringing visibility to a community often overlooked in mainstream narratives. By blending art, history, and storytelling, the project preserves an important legacy and sparks dialogue about labor, heritage, and resilience.

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This project explores how Jewish communities engaged with divinatory practices in the Greco-Roman era. Researchers analyze texts, rituals, and cultural exchanges to understand how Jews navigated the tension between religious prohibitions and widespread fascination with divination.

The study highlights the ways Jewish practices intersected with broader Mediterranean traditions, revealing both adaptation and resistance. By situating Jewish divinatory techniques within their historical context, the project sheds light on questions of identity, authority, and cultural interaction in antiquity.

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The Labour-OHCOW Academic Research Collaboration (LOARC) brings together McMaster researchers and the Occupational Health Clinics for Ontario Workers to address pressing workplace health and safety issues. By combining academic expertise with frontline worker experiences, the project investigates hazards, prevention strategies, and the broader social impacts of work.

This partnership fosters evidence-based solutions that empower workers, inform policy, and strengthen protections across industries. Its findings aim to create healthier, safer, and more equitable workplaces in Ontario and beyond.

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This project examines a rare Vinaya manuscript discovered in Merv, an ancient Silk Road city in present-day Turkmenistan. The text offers unique insights into Buddhist monastic codes and their transmission across Central Asia.

Researchers analyze its historical context, linguistic features, and significance for understanding how Buddhist discipline was practiced and adapted in diverse cultural settings. By situating the manuscript within broader traditions of Buddhist law, the study enriches knowledge of religious exchange and textual preservation along the Silk Road.

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This project strengthens collaboration between Moroccan and Canadian researchers to improve maternal and infant health outcomes. By creating a transnational network, the initiative fosters knowledge exchange, capacity building, and culturally sensitive approaches to care.

Researchers focus on reducing health disparities, supporting mothers and infants, and integrating community perspectives into policy and practice. The project highlights how international partnerships can advance equity and resilience in maternal and child health systems.

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This project examines how emerging drugs generate public concern and reshape social responses in Canada. Researchers analyze media coverage, policy debates, and community perspectives to understand how fear and stigma develop around new substances.

The study highlights the tension between public health approaches and moral panic, showing how narratives about drugs influence law, policing, and treatment. By situating these fears within broader social contexts, the project sheds light on the cultural dynamics of drug use and regulation.

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The PAWSing Student Stress project explores how therapy dogs provide university students with love and support during stressful times, especially exams. Through a pilot study across three Canadian universities, researchers found that interacting with therapy dogs helped students de-stress, feel calm, and reduce anxiety, with lasting benefits months later.

The study also revealed gender differences in participation and highlighted the role of dog handlers as additional sources of support. These findings suggest that therapy dog programs can be a valuable addition to campus mental health services, fostering a caring and supportive environment for students.

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The Prison Education Project, led by McMaster’s Indigenous Research Institute, brings for-credit university courses into correctional facilities through the Walls to Bridges program. Incarcerated students and university learners study together as peers, earning equal credit and building community across prison walls.

The initiative also provides post-incarceration support, mentorship, and pathways to higher education, aiming to reverse cycles of poverty, homelessness, and ill health. By centering Indigenous perspectives and addressing systemic barriers, the project envisions education as a powerful tool for justice, healing, and empowerment.

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The Public Banking Project explores how publicly owned banks can serve as powerful tools for economic justice and community resilience. By examining case studies from around the world, researchers investigate how public banking models promote accountability, democratize access to credit, and support sustainable development.

The project highlights both the challenges and opportunities of shifting financial systems away from profit-driven institutions toward structures that prioritize social well-being. Its findings contribute to ongoing debates about reforming finance to better serve citizens and communities.

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This project examines the “Scripture of the Heroic March,” a text central to the Bábí religious movement in 19th-century Iran. Researchers analyze its literary form, theological meaning, and historical context, highlighting how it blends scripture with revolutionary fervor.

The study explores how the text shaped collective identity, inspired resistance, and conveyed spiritual authority during a time of upheaval. By situating the scripture within broader traditions of religious writing, the project sheds light on the intersections of faith, politics, and cultural transformation.

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This project surveys Hamilton’s Two-Spirit and LGBTQIA+ community to understand perspectives on moving forward with the city’s police service. Researchers examine experiences of safety, trust, and representation, highlighting both challenges and opportunities for building more equitable relationships.

The study emphasizes the importance of centering marginalized voices in discussions of policing and community wellbeing. Its findings contribute to ongoing debates about accountability, inclusion, and the future of public safety in Hamilton.

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This project investigates how people in Canada, the United States, and China understand, imagine, and respond to artificial intelligence. Led by Assistant Professor Zhifan Luo, the study examines public perceptions of AI – including active skepticism and resistance – alongside the industry narratives that promote innovation, inevitability, and technological optimism. Through surveys and interviews, the research analyzes how cultural, political, and technological contexts shape the stories societies tell about AI and the futures they envision.

By comparing these perspectives across national settings, the project highlights how trust, fear, and resistance toward AI are culturally patterned rather than universal. Its findings contribute to critical AI studies by challenging Western-centric assumptions and advancing more global, decolonial approaches to understanding emerging technologies. The insights generated can inform policy, guide ethical development, and support more equitable and culturally responsive innovation.

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This working group brings together scholars focused on Asia to examine globalization’s diverse impacts across the region. Researchers collaborate on themes such as migration, labor, health, and cultural exchange, highlighting how global processes intersect with local realities.

The initiative fosters dialogue between Canadian and Asian academics, building bridges for comparative and transnational research. Its findings contribute to a deeper understanding of Asia’s role in shaping and responding to global transformations.

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This project investigates the impact of “childcare deserts” – areas with little or no licensed childcare – on Canadian families. Researchers analyze how limited access affects parents’ employment, children’s development, and broader social equity.

The study highlights disparities across regions, showing how childcare shortages deepen inequalities and strain household resilience. Its findings contribute to policy debates about childcare provision, affordability, and the need for equitable support systems nationwide.

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This project investigates how inter-regional migration to Canada’s resource peripheries is transforming the future of work. Researchers examine the movement of workers into industries like mining, oil, and forestry, exploring how these shifts affect communities, labor markets, and economic resilience.

The study highlights tensions between opportunity and precarity, showing how migration patterns intersect with globalization, regional development, and workers’ rights. Its findings contribute to debates about sustainable resource economies and the evolving nature of labor in Canada.

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This project explores how migrants engage politically across borders and within host societies. Researchers investigate the diverse ways migrants participate in civic life, from voting and activism to community organizing, while also examining the barriers they face.

By highlighting migrants’ agency and contributions, the study challenges stereotypes that portray them as politically passive. Its findings shed light on how migration reshapes democracy, belonging, and the meaning of citizenship in the 21st century.

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This project examines Tibetan Buddhist legal texts preserved among the Dunhuang manuscripts, a vast cache of documents discovered in northwestern China. Researchers analyze how these manuscripts illuminate the development of Buddhist monastic law, its adaptation to Tibetan contexts, and its interaction with local legal traditions.

The study highlights the role of Dunhuang as a crossroads of cultural and religious exchange, where Buddhist discipline was interpreted and practiced in diverse ways. By situating these texts within broader histories of law and religion, the project enriches understanding of Tibetan Buddhism’s legal and institutional foundations.

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The Time and Globalization Working Project investigates how globalization transforms human and non-human temporalities. While much scholarship emphasizes “time-space compression,” this research asks deeper questions about how shifting rhythms of daily life, generational change, and global governance alter our sense of time.

By exploring issues like risk, resilience, and temporal acceleration, the project reveals how globalization influences inequality, imagination, and autonomy. Drawing on interdisciplinary perspectives, it highlights the profound ways time structures both human conduct and environmental change.

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This project uses theatre as a tool to amplify marginalized voices and spark dialogue about social issues. By collaborating with community members, researchers and artists co-create performances that reflect lived experiences of inequality, resilience, and hope.

The study explores how storytelling and performance can challenge dominant narratives, foster empathy, and inspire collective action. Its findings highlight the power of creative methods in advancing social justice and community transformation.

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The Transnationalism and HIV Risk Project investigates how migration and cross-border movement shape vulnerability to HIV. By studying the experiences of migrants and mobile populations, researchers highlight how social, economic, and political factors intersect with health risks.

The project emphasizes the importance of understanding transnational contexts in designing effective prevention strategies and health policies. Its findings contribute to global debates on public health, human rights, and the challenges of managing HIV in an interconnected world.

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This project investigates the nature of social work leadership in Canada, examining how professionals guide practice, policy, and organizational change. Researchers explore the qualities, challenges, and strategies that define effective leadership in diverse social work contexts.

The study highlights how leadership impacts service delivery, advocacy, and the promotion of equity within communities. Its findings contribute to strengthening the profession by identifying pathways for cultivating resilient and inclusive leadership models.

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This project examines how unions are adapting to the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century. Researchers investigate shifts in union strategies, political engagement, and organizational structures in response to globalization, technological change, and new forms of work.

The study highlights how unions continue to play a vital role in advocating for workers’ rights, while also grappling with declining membership and changing political landscapes. Its findings contribute to debates about the future of collective action and labor movements worldwide.

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This project compares two cohorts of Toronto high school students to understand how priorities and pathways into post-secondary education have changed over time. Researchers examine factors such as academic achievement, socioeconomic background, and shifting cultural expectations to see what matters more – or less – in shaping students’ decisions.

The study highlights evolving challenges and opportunities, from access and affordability to motivation and support systems. Its findings contribute to broader debates about equity, education policy, and the future of student transitions in Canada.

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