Research Funding
$8.3M to advance Queen's research exploring social, economic, and societal challenges
July 24, 2026
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A total of 38 projects at Queen's are being supported through this latest round of federal funding.
»ÆÉ«ÊÓÆµ researchers have secured more than $8.3 million through four Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) funding programs, supporting research that explores complex social, economic, and societal challenges and generates knowledge to help build a more resilient and equitable future.
This funding is part of a supporting 1,788 social sciences and humanities research projects and partnerships across the country. The national investment, announced July 21, includes funding through SSHRC's Insight Grants, Insight Development Grants, Stage 2 Partnership Grants, and Partnership Development Grants.
Projects at Queen’s have been awarded 21 Insight Grants, 15 Insight Development Grants, one Partnership Development Grant, and one Stage 2 Partnership Grant. Together, these awards represent a total investment of $8,386,327 in research at »ÆÉ«ÊÓÆµ.
"This federal investment reflects the important role of social sciences and humanities research in generating evidence and insights that can inform policy, drive innovation, and improve quality of life," says Nancy Ross, Vice-Principal Research. "It will support »ÆÉ«ÊÓÆµ researchers as they pursue new research questions, develop innovative approaches, build partnerships, and generate knowledge that can help address complex challenges in Canada and globally."
The funded projects span a diverse range of topics, from understanding the experiences of 2SLGBTQ+ voters and exploring youth identity in Nunavut, to examining the social and economic impacts of artificial intelligence, developing approaches to wildfire management, and investigating the role of community-led agroecological innovations.
See the full list of »ÆÉ«ÊÓÆµ-funded SSHRC projects below:
Stage 2 Partnership Grants
support large-scale, formal partnerships that advance research, training, and knowledge mobilization in the social sciences and humanities with up to $2.5 million over four to seven years. Learn more about the Queen’s researchers advancing aging in community.
Catherine Donnelly (Rehabilitation Therapy) and Vincent DePaul (Rehabilitation Therapy): Aging in Community – $2,500,000
Partnership Development Grants
support the development of new and existing partnerships and the design and testing of collaborative approaches to research, knowledge mobilization, and training, providing up to $250,000 over one to three years.
Elijah Bisung (Kinesiology and Health Studies): TRANSFORM-WASH Africa: Designing water and sanitation systems to promote women's empowerment in sub-Saharan Africa – $200,000
Insight Grants
support large-scale research initiatives that advance knowledge and understanding in the social sciences and humanities. »ÆÉ«ÊÓÆµ researchers received a total of $4,520,851 through 21 Insight Grants, awarded over five years.
Michael Wheeler (DAN School of Drama and Music): Meta Physical Theatre – $494,700
Mark Stoller (Geography and Planning): Hivumuuniaqtugut: research, resistance, and the geographies of youth identity in the Nattilik Region, Nunavut – $481,015
Thashika Pillay (Education): Anti-colonial land-based climate justice pedagogies for Canadian secondary classrooms: Education for repair, healing, joy, and "relational renewal" – $379,736
Jean Côté (Kinesiology and Health Studies): Harnessing Interest to Sustain Youth Engagement in Sport: A Multi-Perspective Approach – $354,911
Norma Möllers (Sociology): Necro-extractivism: Algorithmic warfare, "kill clouds," and the racial political economy of security imperialism – $348,787
Vedat Verter (Smith School of Business): Designing Personalized and Adaptive Incentive Structures for Employee Well-being Program Engagement – $313,500
Tamara de Szegheo Lang (Film and Media): Dreamers of the Day: Uncovering the Lost Lesbian Decade in Canadian Filmmaking History, 1987-2003 – $302,180
Kristen Lowitt (Environmental Studies): Blue justice meets food justice in Great Lakes fisheries – $290,685
Anita Tusche (Psychology): Talking to Machines, Changing Ourselves: How AI Chatbots Are Reshaping Social Skills, Behaviors and Human Connection – $267,915
Benjamin Kutsyuruba (Education): Fostering Hope Through Educational Leadership – $212,650
Tandy Thomas (Smith School of Business): The Role of the Marketplace in Facilitating Gender Equity in Canadian Sports – $122,363
Elizabeth Kelley (Psychology): Development and Testing of a Measure of Quality of Life for Autistic Emerging Adults: A Participatory Action Study – $121,492
Abhimanyu Gupta (Economics): Flexible Dimension Inference with Dependent Data – $120,964
Kelsey Jacobson (DAN School of Drama and Music): Affecting Audiences: Theatre in an Era of Eroded Trust – $118,202
Fabio Colivicchi (Classics and Archaeology): In Search of the Etruscan Forum: Bringing Etruria into the Conversation on the Origins of Public Open Spaces – $114,933
Nahim Bin Zahur (Economics): Do Strategic Alliances Enhance Efficiency or Hurt Competition? Evidence from Container Shipping – $111,952
Thorsten Koeppl (Economics): Payments in Interconnected Economies: Competition, Fragmentation and Tokenization – $86,454
Wei Wang (Smith School of Business): Entrepreneurial Failures and the Redeployment of Human Capital – $79,699
Tara MacDonald (Psychology): Invalidated and Polarized: Does invalidation lead people to share biased digital media? – $76,819
Lisa Kerr (Law): Appeals from Inside: How Prisoners Access Justice at the Ontario Court of Appeal – $74,784
Sitian Liu (Economics): Agglomeration Effects among Academic Researchers – $47,110
Insight Development Grants
support research in its initial stages, enabling researchers to develop new research questions and explore new methods, theoretical approaches, or ideas. »ÆÉ«ÊÓÆµ researchers received a total of $1,165,476 through 15 grants, awarded over two years.
Kristy Timmons (Education): The Sound Start Pilot Project: Building ECE Expertise in Early Phonological Awareness – $95,410
Antonia Behan (Art History and Art Conservation): Past, Present, and Future of Craft in Sri Lanka: Crafting a Digital Critical Edition of A.K. Coomaraswamy's Mediaeval Sinhalese Art (1908) – $93,467
Vedat Verter (Smith School of Business): From Prevention to Recovery: An Integrated Two Stage Policy Framework for Wildfire Management – $92,642
Michelle Searle (Education): Learning in partnership: A multi-site, cross-institutional examination of community-engaged pedagogy in a Canadian context – $91,757
Diana Cordoba Blandon (Global Development Studies): Developing a Territorial Learning Framework for Community-Led Agroecological Innovations – $89,682
Benjamin Bolden (Education): The Choir Motivation Questionnaire: Investigating Motivational Diversity to Enhance Inclusion – $85,628
Vera Vine (Psychology): Natural emotion language and affective experience across adolescence – $84,997
Alison Taylor (Smith School of Business): Outside Stakeholder Governance: How Private Citizens Influence Firms From the Outside – $81,346
Tim Salomons (Psychology): Examining the social, emotional, academic and economic benefits of a curriculum integrated post-secondary wellness course – $72,420
Quinn Albaugh (Political Studies): The Overlooked Rainbow Vote: Analyzing When, How, and Why 2SLGBTQ+ Voters Support 2SLGBTQ+ Candidates – $70,675
Shamel Addas (Smith School of Business): Beyond Human-in-the-Loop: Governing Dynamic Delegation to Agentic Technologies in High-Reliability Organizations – $70,189
Katherine Elizabeth Baisley (Political Studies): Reversing Declining Support for Trans Rights: Developing and Testing Cognitive Interventions Using Information and Frames – $68,029
Paula Lopez-Pena (Smith School of Business): Dismissive Managerial Practices, Worker Engagement, and Firm Performance – $66,459
Steven Lehrer (Economics): From DNA to Retirement: Genetic Risk, Epigenetic Aging, Retirement Timing and Economic Outcomes Later in Life – $65,39
Evan Jo (Smith School of Business): Two Trees and a Gardener: Asset Pricing with Real Capital Flows – $37,384
For more information about the SSHRC Insight and Partnership grants, visit the .