Brock Prof. Elizatheth Sauer sponsored one of two prestigious Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship researchers who will study at Brock for two years.

The federal government has awarded prestigious Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships to two postdoctoral fellows to study at Brock University. The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships program supports cutting-edge research by top postdoctoral fellows from Canada and internationally.

Danila Sokolov and Robyn Lee begin their terms with fellowships under the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) category.

Sokolov’s research program, titled “Anglo-Russian Literary and Cultural Encounters in the Early Modern Period: A Study in the Poetics of Mutual Representation, 1553-1690,” involves tracing the complex “textual history” between the two countries starting with Richard Chancellor’s mission to the court of Ivan IV in 1553 up to the Glorious Revolution.

Sokolov completes his two-year term as a Killam Memorial Postdoctoral Fellow in the Department of English and Film Studies at the University of Alberta at the end of this month. A native Russian speaker, he obtained his PhD from the University of Waterloo and has published a number of books and articles.

“Dr. Sokolov is an incredible candidate,” says Elizabeth Sauer, professor in the Department of English Language and Literature who sponsored Sokolov’s application. “He is truly deserving. I’m honoured that he approached me to supervise his work.”

“I am absolutely thrilled to have been awarded a Banting Fellowship, and I am equally excited about coming to Brock to work with Professor Elizabeth Sauer,” Sokolov said. “I will be researching various textual records of Anglo-Russian encounters in the early modern period, from literary texts to travel narratives to diplomatic correspondence, and the project is likely to take me to England and Russia to work in the archives.”

Robyn Lee’s research program is titled “Human Milk Exchange, Care Work, and Consumption.” She will examine how breast milk exchange affects practices of care work and consumption in Canadian families.

“Breast milk exchange” involves parents donating or receiving breast milk from informal online exchanges, hospital-affiliated milk banks and community-run milk banks in cases where mothers are unable to nurse.

Lee plans to submit to the University of Toronto Press a monograph on breast milk exchange and changing conceptions of care work in Canadian families. She will also prepare journal articles for publication and share research findings at national and international conferences.

Lee is working with Andrea Doucet, Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Gender, Work and Care.

“It is a major accomplishment for Brock University to have two Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships awarded to bring such outstanding emerging scholars to our institution,” Vice-President Research Gary Libben said.

“Brock celebrates the critical role postdoctoral researchers play in a university’s research output. We have been working hard to attract such high-quality candidates here as part of our continuing efforts to build Brock’s culture of research leadership.

“This award by the federal government shows that we are on track to achieving this goal,” Libben adds. “We are committed to providing an excellent research environment for these two world-class researchers and all who work and study at Brock University.”

Lee and Sokolov are among 70 recipients nationwide of Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships, a federal government program to foster postdoctoral talent. Under the program created in 2010, recipients receive $70,000 a year for two years of research.

“Our government is investing in developing, attracting and retaining the world’s most promising young research talent to ensure Canada remains a leader in discovery and applied research,” Minister of State (Science and Technology) Ed Holder said when announcing the results Aug. 14.

The federal government’s three granting agencies – Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) – fund the program.