Social Sciences researchers awarded nearly $4.9 million in SSHRC funding

Faculty of Social Sciences researchers have been awarded nearly $4.9 million in grant funding.

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) announced July 21, that it had awarded funding to18 sciences research projects totaling $4,873,347. Projects across seven departments and schools received funding through the Partnership Grant, Partnership Development Grant, Insight Grant and Insight Development Grant competitions.

“These awards demonstrate the incredible breadth and impact of research taking place across the Faculty of Social Sciences,” says Jim Dunn, Associate Dean Research in the Faculty of Social Sciences. “They will support our researchers who are addressing some of today’s most pressing social, economic and political challenges that affect communities locally and globally. The knowledge generated will inform public policy, strengthen institutions and improve people’s lives. We are incredibly proud of this year’s recipients and the meaningful impact their work will have.”

The projects explore topics ranging from digital democracy, school food equity and misinformation to housing affordability, reproductive health, migration, education, religion and economic policy.

SSHRC funding supports research that advances knowledge in the social sciences and humanities while creating partnerships that help address real-world issues. This year’s recipients reflect the faculty’s continued commitment to interdisciplinary research and collaboration with governments, community organizations and industry partners.

Partnership Grants

• Clifton van der Linden, Political Science: Digital Tools for Democracy ($2,498,266)

Partnership Development Grants

• Christina Moffat, Anthropology: Building Equity and Inclusion into Canada’s Emerging National School Food Program ($195,662)

Insight Grants

• Megan Brickley, Anthropology: 19th-Century Life Histories from Guelph, Canada: A Bioarchaeological Study of Migration and Health ($340,426)
• James Benn, Religious Studies: Locating Chinese Religions in the Verse of the Tang Dynasty (618–907 CE) ($195,902)
• Katherine Boothe, Political Science: Moral Economies of Evidence: The Dynamics of Evidence Construction in Contentious Policy Making ($180,194)
• Michelle Dion, Political Science: The Political Economy of Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Social Citizenship Rights ($93,867)
• Meridith Griffin, Health, Aging & Society: Entangled Transitions: Menopause, Embodiment, and the Wellness Industrial Complex ($308,010)
• Alok Johri, Economics: Foreign Exchange, Imports and Infrastructure in Sovereign Default Models ($66,808)
• John McAndrews, Political Science: Understanding How the Public Judges Online Misinformation: Harms, Responses, and Processes ($88,898)
• Gajendran Raveendranathan, Economics: Navigating Post-Secondary Education Financing Constraints and Optimal Financial Aid ($57,224)
• Youngki Shin, Economics: Online Inference for Structural Economic Models ($105,430)
• Netina Tan, Political Science: Regulating Online Harms and Effects on Women’s Political Participation ($240,836)
• Angela Zheng, Economics: The Unintended Effects of School Integration Policies ($96,713)

Insight Development Grants

• Nathan Andrews, Political Science: Diasporic Environmental Activism in Resource Extraction and Green Transitions: Exploring the Contours of Norm Entrepreneurship and ‘Antipreneurship’ ($85,804)
• Akalya Kandiah, Political Science: Pathways to Home: A Study of University Student Housing Experiences in Canada ($71,428)
• Tara La Rose, Social Work: In Defence of Military Social Work: Profiling Social Work Practice in the Canadian Armed Forces ($78,691)
• Karen Robson, Sociology: Classed Out: An Exploration of the Role of Social Class in the School-to-Work Transitions of Black Youth ($96,478)
• Marisa Young, Sociology: Navigating the Silent Struggle: A Digital Ethnography of Infertility Journeys and Work-Fertility Conflict ($72,710)

Read the McMaster SSHRC funding announcement.