{"id":110492,"date":"2026-06-18T09:47:45","date_gmt":"2026-06-18T13:47:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=110492"},"modified":"2026-06-19T08:56:33","modified_gmt":"2026-06-19T12:56:33","slug":"equity-decolonization-at-heart-of-brock-funded-research-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2026\/06\/equity-decolonization-at-heart-of-brock-funded-research-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Equity, decolonization at heart of Brock-funded research projects"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>From reimagining photosynthesis through an Indigenous-informed approach to investigating the artificial intelligence (AI) readiness of Black communities in Canada, projects funded by Brock University\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/research\/offices\/office-of-research-services\/internal-funding\/#irg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Indigenous Research Grant (IRG)<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/research\/offices\/office-of-research-services\/internal-funding\/#bsrg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Black Scholar Research Grant (BSRG)<\/a> are advancing equity, diversity, inclusion and decolonization (EDID) in research.<\/p>\n<p>Four projects have received 2026 IRG and BSRG grants, which are funded by the Office of the Vice-President, Research.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe grants are investments for increasing diversity in research and paying attention to the differentiated impacts of our research on the full range of groups at Brock and in the community\u201d says EDID Advisor, Research Jean-Jacques Rousseau. \u201cWe have an evolving perspective about who we are. The stories, investigations and interventions arising from these internal grants matter, as they meet many needs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The 2026 IRG recipients are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Assistant Professor of Chemistry Divya Matta\u00a0Kaur and Assistant Professor of Women\u2019s and Gender Studies\u00a0Lyn Trudeau for the project \u201cRelational Light: Co-Creating an Indigenous-Informed Photosynthesis Lesson through\u00a0Etuaptmumk\/ Two-Eyed Seeing.\u201d The team aims to bring high school educators and curriculum partners together to co-create a senior high school lesson that connects the science of how plants turn light into life with Anishinaabe teachings, storytelling and visual learning.<\/li>\n<li>Associate Professor of Educational Studies Sandra Della Porta and Indigenous and Educational Studies Instructor Brooke Lavallee for their project \u201cEarly Immersion, Enduring Voices: Nwewnan Sasaang\u2019s Pathway to Language Revitalization.\u201d The team is working with Nwewnan Sasaang (Sounds from the Nest) within the Walpole Island First Nation to support language revitalization initiatives where children from birth to five years old learn Anishinaabemowin through engagement with Elders, language speakers, family and their community.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The 2026 BSRG recipients are:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Assistant Professor of Kinesiology Amanda Black and Associate Professor of Health Sciences and Sport Management Janelle Joseph \u2014 who is also Canada Research Chair in in Racial Justice, Health and Sport \u2014 for the project \u201cBeyond the Biomedical Model: Social Determinants of Concussion Recovery in Black Youth.\u201d\u00a0The team is addressing the ways race, socioeconomic status, geography and other social determinants of health shape how youth access health care when experiencing a concussion and the guidance they receive on when to return to the sport.<\/li>\n<li>Professor of Information Systems Anteneh Ayanso and Associate Professor of Information Systems Shuai Yuan for their project \u201cBridging the AI Readiness Gap in Black Communities in Canada.\u201d The team is researching how inequities in income, education, employment and institutional access disproportionately exclude Black Canadians from accessing the benefits of advance technologies such as AI.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>\u201cThese projects help advance scholarship while reflecting Brock University\u2019s commitment to fostering a research community that values the contribution of all its members in spirits of inclusion and reconciliation,\u201d says Brock Vice-President, Research Tim Kenyon.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2021\/01\/brock-launches-its-first-indigenous-research-grant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Launched in 2021<\/a>, the IRG supports research exploring topics related to Indigenous Peoples that is led by or conducted in partnership with First Nations, Inuit or M\u00e9tis communities.<\/p>\n<p>The BSRG, <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2025\/01\/brock-launches-new-black-scholar-research-grant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">created last year<\/a> as part of the Flourishing Black Researcher Action Plan, provides funding to scholars in any discipline or topic who identify as Black.<\/p>\n<p>Both grants are valued at a maximum of $7,500 per project over a two-year period. They encourage diversity in research at Brock and allow the development of ideas for stronger submissions for external grant funding, as appropriate.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the BSRG and IRG, Rousseau says Brock researchers have recently attracted external EDID-focused funding.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this year <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2026\/05\/project-advancing-edi-in-research-gets-federal-funding-boost\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Associate Professor of Computer Science Naser Ezzati-Jivan and his team received a grant<\/a> from the Government of Canada\u2019s Dimensions Program supporting projects that address EDI gaps in Canada\u2019s research ecosystem.<\/p>\n<p>Other initiatives strengthening Brock\u2019s commitments EDID include the work related to the\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.utsc.utoronto.ca\/principal\/sites\/utsc.utoronto.ca.principal\/files\/docs\/Scarborough_Charter_EN_Nov2022.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Scarborough Charter<\/a> and the <a href=\"https:\/\/nserc-crsng.canada.ca\/en\/equity-diversity-and-inclusion-9\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Dimensions Charter<\/a>. A comprehensive list of EDID initiatives in research can be found on Brock\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/research\/edi-in-research\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">EDI in research<\/a> web page.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>From reimagining photosynthesis through an Indigenous-informed approach to investigating \u00a0the artificial intelligence (AI) readiness of Black communities in Canada, projects funded by Brock University\u2019s Indigenous Research Grant (IRG) and Black Scholar Research Grant (BSRG) are advancing equity, diversity, inclusion and decolonization (EDID) in research. \u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":109348,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[36,40,3319,6833,41,1,5,38],"tags":[14554,4166,14147,15187,423,7437,1528,1696,996,7200,15186,15188,7488,98,348,522,594,10420,14270,15189,7547,14337,12908,11601,10040],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110492"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110492"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110492\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":110507,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110492\/revisions\/110507"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/109348"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110492"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110492"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110492"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}