Brock University researchers have been awarded more than $655,000 in funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada’s (SSHRC) Insight Development Grant program.

“We are happy but in no way surprised by this level of success,” says Brock University Vice-President, Research Tim Kenyon. “SSHRC’s investment in our researchers and scholars continues to enable Brock University to develop and contribute expertise on topics and problems of importance to society.”

The 11 researchers and their projects receiving funding are spread out over the Faculties of Applied Health Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities and the Goodman School of Business.

Kemi Anazodo, Assistant Professor of Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management in the Goodman School of Business, is one of the researchers awarded an Insight Development Grant.

Anazodo is heading up a team of Canadian and American researchers in partnership with the Centre of Research and Policy at John Howard Society of Ontario to investigate employers’ attitudes towards hiring people with a criminal history.

She says recent research has shown many employers say they are willing to hire justice-involved persons, but that it doesn’t happen so often in practice.

“We know from past research the best way to integrate people with a criminal history into society is with gainful, sustainable employment, however, they experience so many barriers and hardships in being able to attain that,” says Anazodo.

The team will conduct literature reviews, interviews and surveys to understand the social and psychological factors that shape willingness to hire; if and how incentives motivate employers to hire; perceptions of risks and benefits of hiring; and power relations between subordinates with a criminal history and their managers at work.

“I’m incredibly honoured to receive the Insight Development Grant,” says Anazodo. “I’m really excited for our team. Getting this award is an important step towards better understanding and support for second chance employment.”

This year’s recipients of SSHRC’s Insight Development Grants are:

• Antony Chum, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, “Understanding disparities in substance-use related crisis across sexual orientations in Canada”
• Keri Cronin, Faculty of Humanities, “Navigating Niagara’s human-animal history”
• William Hall, Faculty of Social Sciences, “Climates of inclusion: Creating positive interpersonal dynamics in STEM”
• Valerie Michaelson, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, “How do Indigenous undergraduate students experience the decolonization and reconciliation initiatives that are taking place in their university? A participatory action research study
• Sylvia Grewatsch, Goodman School of Business, “Reimagining the role of government in catalyzing solutions to grand challenges: Lessons from a 20-year experiment”
• Amna Mirza, Faculty of Social Sciences, “Do oral language skills predict reading acquisition? Profiles of EL1 and ELL second and third grade children and their response to vocabulary intervention”
• Elizabeth Greene, Faculty of Humanities, “Entangled mobilities across the Mediterranean: Archaeologies of migrant displacement
• Jason Hawreliak, Faculty of Humanities, “Accessible scholarship: Examining the role and impact of middle-state publishing in game studies”
• Kemi Anazodo, Goodman School of Business, “A second chance in sight: Employer perspectives of employment for individuals with a criminal history”
• Colin Rose, Faculty of Humanities, “Mapping the crimescape of renaissance Florence”
• Shawna Chen, Goodman School of Business, “From thinking to doing to being: Women entrepreneurs and experiential programs”

Insight Development Grants support research in its initial stages. The grants enable the development of new research questions, as well as experimentation with new methods, theoretical approaches and ideas. Funding is provided for short-term research development projects of up to two years that are proposed by individuals or teams.