SSHRC Connection Grants worth $50k awarded to Social Sciences researchers

Two researchers in the Faculty of Social Sciences have been awarded SSHRC Connection Grants worth a total of $49,581.

Nathan Andrews, associate professor in Political Science, and Ameil Joseph, associate professor in Social Work were awarded the one-year research grants.

Andrews’ work examines African Studies programs in higher education. African Studies is seen by some scholars as a postcolonial field of study that privileges whiteness, so requires decolonizing.

The project aims to organise a two-day workshop that brings together national and international directors of African Studies Centres and programs, senior administrators, early career researchers, and students to explore the potential African Studies centres and institutes as sites for decolonization. The workshop will be held on April 24 and 25 at McMaster University.

Joseph applied for the grant with Allison Van from Spark and Shahad Al-Saqqar from the Office of Community Engagement.

Their project explores the spectrum of community-engaged research (CER), inviting researchers and community leaders to build capacity to address power imbalances, logistical hurdles, ethical dilemmas, difficult conversations and time constraints in order to build transformative partnerships.

The aim of the project is to host a two-day event titled “Building Capacity for Ethical and Effective Community-Engaged Research” on March 27 and 28, which will include a community-engaged research showcase and four workshops on core capacities for building and maintaining engaged research partnerships.