Madi Maguire (BA \u201923) is still a few weeks away from starting her PhD in Psychology at Brock, but she already has a head start on her research.<\/p>\n
The Psychology master\u2019s graduand will continue her work on childhood procrastination, a topic she says has followed her throughout her life, from an eighth-grade speech to her graduate thesis project.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve always been curious about what contributes to procrastination, especially in kids,\u201d she says. \u201cThe ultimate goal of the work we\u2019re doing is to help families and educators recognize when procrastination is becoming a more persistent problem and to respond with compassion and effective, accessible strategies rather than just discipline.\u201d<\/p>\n
Supporting her research is a prestigious $150,000 Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, which was announced July 9 by the Government of Canada. In total, 36 Brock student researchers received more than $2.4 million in Canadian Graduate Scholarships (CGS) and Doctoral and Postdoctoral Fellowships for their innovative and impactful work.<\/p>\n
The funding was awarded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), the federal agencies that support and invest in world-class Canadian research.<\/p>\n
As part of the recent Tri-Agency announcement<\/a>, Brock faculty members also received $1.9 million in NSERC funding<\/a> and $7 million in SSHRC Insight Grants, Insight Development Grants and a Partnership Grant.<\/a><\/p>\n For Maguire, receiving the Vanier Scholarship has been both an honour and a motivator.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was a total surprise, but it gave me confidence that this work matters. Not just to me, but to many others as well,\u201d she says. \u201cThere\u2019s still so much research to be done before we can put particular strategies for combating procrastination into actual practice with kids. But someone has to do the groundwork, which is what I\u2019m aiming to do with my PhD research.\u201d<\/p>\n Working under the supervision of Psychology Professor Caitlin Mahy, Maguire is building on research<\/a> showing procrastination may begin far earlier than previously thought, potentially as young as the age of three.<\/p>\n