The research of a Brock University political science professor has been recognized for its contribution to understanding urban politics.

Zachary Spicer, Assistant Professor in the Department of Political Science, recently received the Susan Clarke Young Scholars’ Award from the American Political Science Association (APSA). Every year, the APSA selects two young scholars, who’ve completed their PhDs within the previous three years, as recipients of this prestigious award.

“Receiving the Susan Clarke Young Scholars’ Award means quite a bit to me. It certainly helps to know that the type of research I am doing is having an impact, not just in Canada but also in the United States and elsewhere. To be recognized internationally at this stage in my career is very encouraging,” says Spicer.

Spicer has been an Assistant Professor at Brock for just over a year and recently published his first book, The Boundary Bargain (McGill-Queens’ University Press), which was released in May 2016. It examines the growth and development tensions between separated cities and counties in Ontario.

“I’m also working on a strain of research that examines smart cities and the digitization of public services at the local level,” adds Spicer.

As announced on Sept. 9,, the federal granting agency Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) recently awarded Spicer with an Insight Development Grant to expand on his research project, “Building a Research Community: Connecting Theory and Practice in the Study of Inter-Municipal cooperation in Canada.” This is one of the 18 research projects at Brock that received $3.7 million in funding from SSHRC.

Spicer received his PhD from the University of Western Ontario and then moved on to complete a post-doctoral fellowship at the Institute on Municipal Finance and Governance at the University of Toronto’s Munk School of Global Affairs and a SSHRC post-doctoral fellowship at the Laurier Institute for the Study of Public Opinion and Policy at Wilfrid Laurier University.