The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) has awarded Connection Grants to York University Professors Susan McGrath and Richard Saunders.
The grants, which are valued up to $25,000 each, support events and outreach activities geared toward short-term, targeted knowledge mobilization initiatives related to the professors’ research.
“York University is delighted with the success of our researchers,” said Robert Haché, vice-president research and innovation at York University. “I want to congratulate the Connection Grant recipients and wish them every success as they move forward with their research projects.
The following details upcoming Connection Grant events.
Susan McGrath, professor, Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies – Connecting Emerging Scholars and Practitioners to Foster Critical Reflections and Innovation on Migration Research, ongoing to March 31, 2019
Susan McGrath
McGrath, a professor of social work and the resident scholar in the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University, is using her Connection Grant to support a series of outreach activities in refugee and migration studies. Her project involves the development of knowledge clusters, formed through in-person conference round tables and online working groups, to bring together a global network of emerging and established scholars and practitioners on forced migration. The clusters will produce new opportunities for emerging scholars and practitioners to interrogate current research methodologies, dissemination practices and policy, and will facilitate new connections.
The intent is to develop international communities of practice for researchers and practitioners to share literature and ideas, learn about migration issues in different contexts, cultivate connections for collaborations and support new and innovative ideas in migration research.
Leveraging two large migration conferences, the cluster leads will hold in-person round tables in Ottawa and Thessaloniki, Greece. (The Ottawa round tables took place in May at the Canadian Association for Refugee and Forced Migration Studies Conference. The round tables in Greece will take place in July.) Knowledge gained will be mobilized through round-table summaries and briefs, an online discussion article series and a mini podcast series. Papers on the cluster thematics will be submitted to the Refugee Review, an open access online e-journal for emerging scholars and other journals.
Richard Saunders, professor, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies – Resource Nationalism in Southern Africa: Emerging Challenges and New Opportunities, September 22 to 26
Richard Saunders
In recent years, demands for greater national control over and benefit from foreign-owned mining operations have escalated in mineral rich countries in Southern Africa. A resurgent “resource nationalism” has been at the heart of social and economic debates aimed at re-imagining development efforts by local governments. There has been little comparative assessment of objectives, mechanisms and outcomes. Most research has remained focused at the national level and the development consequences of different approaches have not received comprehensive analysis. Saunders, who is a professor of politics, received a Connection Grant to support two linked events that will begin to address this gap in knowledge.
The events will take place in Harare, Zimbabwe this September. The first is a research workshop running from Sept. 22 to 24 that will bring together leading mineral policy researchers from Canada and three Southern African countries (Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe) at the forefront of resource nationalist debates. The second is a policy forum taking place Sept. 25 and 26 at which evidence-based research on the current state of mining policy reform will be presented and serve as the basis for engagement with mining sector stakeholders. The resulting knowledge will be disseminated through the publication of workshop papers, policy briefs and summaries of findings aimed at mining stakeholders, policy makers and the public.