{"id":70535,"date":"2021-02-11T10:25:14","date_gmt":"2021-02-11T15:25:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=70535"},"modified":"2021-02-11T15:28:12","modified_gmt":"2021-02-11T20:28:12","slug":"researchers-share-fruits-of-faculty-funded-covid-19-projects","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2021\/02\/researchers-share-fruits-of-faculty-funded-covid-19-projects\/","title":{"rendered":"Researchers share fruits of Faculty-funded COVID-19 projects"},"content":{"rendered":"

Back in the spring of 2020, as researchers and graduate students had to shutter labs, cancel in-person data collection and reimagine and realign their activities to comply with\u202fnew public health requirements, the Dean\u2019s Office in the Faculty of Social Sciences put out a funding call for special projects related to the COVID-19 context, supported by the Dean\u2019s Discretionary Fund.<\/p>\n

Dean Ingrid Makus describes the special call as an \u201can open\u00a0invitation to faculty members for project proposals\u00a0\u2014 new and reconfigured\u00a0initiatives\u00a0in research, pedagogy, student recruitment and retention, online course development and\u00a0co-op and practicum options.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last Thursday, Feb. 4, some of the funding recipients from across the Faculty logged on to a virtual symposium to share the details of the projects and highlight the impact of\u202fthe Special COVID-19-Related Dean’s Discretionary Fund.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was\u00a0inspiring\u00a0to see the creativity at work in the Faculty \u2014 particularly in ways that provided\u00a0supports for students,\u201d says Makus. \u201cWe ended up funding almost 30 projects, a few of which were presented at this initial symposium.\u201d<\/p>\n

The event featured both faculty members and graduate students presenting on a wide array of topics.<\/p>\n

Laura Mullins, Assistant Professor in the Department of Applied Disability Studies, was one of the presenting researchers who had to abruptly switch gears when other projects were disrupted by the pandemic. Her focus shifted to helping organizations maintain a positive culture.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur research is within the developmental disability sector, which is fraught with so many challenges \u2014 the pandemic exacerbated conditions for this already vulnerable population,\u201d says Mullins. \u201cThrough ongoing discussions, we realized that we could help agencies and people with disabilities be resilient by pivoting our research projects through online delivery during the pandemic. How could we say no?\u201d<\/p>\n

Ryan Plummer, Professor and Director of the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, presented with Research Assistant Erica Harper on the ways in which work with community partners could be continued virtually in meaningful ways.<\/p>\n

\u201cAdapting to the sudden new challenges of the pandemic posed substantial difficulties,\u201d says Plummer. \u201cThis project allowed us to focus additional resources towards refining our communications and online engagement strategy, tailoring our efforts to the needs of our community partners.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tim Dun, Associate Professor in the Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film, presented with Associate Professor Jackie Botterill about Badgers Building Bridges, an initiative undertaken to help incoming students connect in meaningful ways in the COVID-19 context.<\/p>\n

\u201cAs they spend time together in their degree programs, each cohort of students typically becomes a cohesive group with its own personality, so we were particularly interested in helping this year\u2019s students get to know each other and develop that sense of belonging,\u201d says Dun. \u201cThrough two student-run initiatives, we engaged students through a social media campaign and ran a mentorship program for first-year students who were matched with successful peers in their particular degree program.\u201d<\/p>\n

Both Dun and Mullins say that hearing about the research conducted by their peers during the symposium was fascinating.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was amazed at the breadth of interesting work that FOSS is doing \u2014 from self-guided tourism to research into how parents communicate with children about COVID to guidance to help localities cope with the challenges of combatting climate change during the pandemic,\u201d says Dun.<\/p>\n

Mullins agrees, calling it \u201camazing to hear how the Brock community has contributed to improving lives through so many unique initiatives.\u201d<\/p>\n

Dawn Zinga, Associate Dean for Graduate Studies and Research, called the symposium \u201ca great testament\u201d to the ways in which faculty members and graduate students have not only risen to the challenges presented by the pandemic, but also produced \u201cwonderful and insightful research and projects.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI am always impressed by the innovation and the diversity in the work within our faculty,\u201d says Zinga. \u201cEach of our presenters demonstrated the creativity and diversity that characterizes our Faculty\u2019s research.\u201d<\/p>\n

For Plummer, along with the pandemic\u2019s challenges, there have been opportunities for growth.<\/p>\n

\u201cNavigating abrupt change is really difficult, but complex system dynamics teaches us that opportunities and learning come from paying attention to times of rapid change,\u201d he says. \u201cFor example, we re-configured the entire environmental stewardship speaker series in record time to an online format. While there were some challenges \u2014 intermittent internet, my dog barking at coyotes \u2014 they were overshadowed by the realizing an expanded international audience. Openness to change, trying new approaches and undertaking activities as experiments to engender learning are key takeaways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Last week\u2019s symposium included presentations by:<\/p>\n