A trio of researchers in Brock\u2019s Faculty of Social Sciences is being recognized for their work to advance their respective fields.<\/p>\n
Assistant Professors of Child and Youth Studies Naomi Andrews and Chelsea Jones are joint recipients of the 2021 Faculty of Social Sciences Early Career Researcher Award, while Professor Robert Dimand in the Department of Economics has been named the Faculty\u2019s 2021 Distinguished Researcher.<\/p>\n
Jones, who describes her work as deeply engaged in disabled, deaf, mad and crip-informed arts-based research methods, recently worked with Re\u00b7Vision: The Centre for Art and Social Justice at the University of Guelph and the British Council Canada to publish \u201cRelaxed Performance: Exploring University-based Training Across Fashion, Theatre, and Choir<\/a>,\u201d soon to be turned into an online training module.<\/p>\n \u201cWe came out of this research with new ideas for how to make university pedagogy more accessible \u2014 or, to borrow the community term, to \u2018relax\u2019 pedagogy by changing classroom norms to reflect the anticipation of and desire for difference,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s a way of challenging pedagogical best practices to engage with embodied difference and to respond to audiences historically excluded by universities \u2014 that is, disabled, deaf, Black, brown and Indigenous folks, among others.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones says she was surprised and delighted to receive the award.<\/p>\n \u201cAll of my research is community-based, and we work really hard to make sure that it is accessible and that we never settle for just inclusion. The focus has to be on vibrant and critical ways of learning from and alongside difference,\u201d she says. \u201cAn award like this signals that the University understands the importance of collaborative access as a research ethic, and as something that\u2019s only possible with and by disabled people.\u201d<\/p>\n Jones and Andrews both emphasize that it is a privilege to work with wonderful colleagues and students.<\/p>\n \u201cResearch is always a collaborative process for me, and I\u2019m so fortunate to work with wonderful teams of people,\u201d says Andrews, who recently formed an interdisciplinary research group with Tony Volk and Ann Farrell in Child and Youth Studies and Psychology\u2019s Drew Dane called BRAVE: Brock Research on Aggression and Victimization Experiences.<\/p>\n In her current research, Andrews explores how young people experience and conceptualize teasing and the impact it can have on social, academic and psychological functioning. Also, in partnership with Toronto not-for-profit Mothercraft, she\u2019s examining programs serving vulnerable families and a new intervention for women experiencing partner violence.<\/p>\n Andrews, whose goal is for her research to have meaningful implications for decreasing children and youth\u2019s involvement in problem behaviours and promoting healthy relationships, says she was honoured to receive the award.<\/p>\n