Social Science professor Caroline Shena Hossein has received funds through the Ontario government’s Early Researcher Awards (ERA) program. The Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science’s Early Researcher Awards program provides funding to new researchers working at publicly funded Ontario research institutions to build a research team.

The $140,000 represents the contribution from the Ontario Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science for the ERA award – $100k for the researcher and $40,000 in overhead to the institution. The ERA award is matched by a $50,000 contribution from the institution. Hence the researcher has a total of $150,000 available.

In total, seven awards were granted to professors at the institution. “York is delighted to see these individuals receive an Early Researcher Award: Rebecca Bassett-Gunter, Amy Muise and Christopher Perry from the Faculty of Health; Ryan Hili and Jean-Paul Paluzzi from the Faculty of Science; Hany Farag from the Lassonde School of Engineering; and Caroline Shenaz Hossein from the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies,” said Vice-President Research & Innovation Robert Haché.

“The funding provided by Ontario’s Ministry of Research, Innovation and Science will help to assist early career researchers in realizing their full potential,” he added.

Caroline Shenaz Hossein

Caroline Shenaz Hossein’s research project, in the Department of Social Science, examines the role of the social economy – comprised of community organizations as well as socially-conscious small businesses that support societal well-being – among African Canadians in the GTA, London and Oshawa. The project documents how racialized people, especially women, are excluded from economic development programs and how people cope with and resist business exclusion by relying on local social economies such as social enterprises, self-help groups, coops and nonprofits. Empirical evidence derived through community-based research will be mobilized to influence policy discussions about how the province can more equitably support social innovation that benefits racialized minorities, and to also develop new narratives that demonstrate the economic ingenuity of racialized Canadians.