The research excellence across the Faculty of Social Sciences is reflected in the awards, funding, and measurable impact of the work done here.
Canada Research Chairs
Julia Baird
Paula Duarte-Guterman
Karen Campbell
Matthew Kwan
Andrea Doucet
Danielle Sirianni Molnar
The Faculty of Social Sciences is now home to six of Brock’s active Canada Research Chairs (CRCs).
- Julia Baird (Environmental Sustainability Research Centre and Department of Geography and Tourism Studies), Tier 2 CRC in Human Dimensions of Water Resources and Water Resilience
- Karen Campbell (Department of Psychology), Tier 2 CRC in Cognitive Neuroscience of Aging
- Andrea Doucet (Department of Sociology and Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies), Tier 1 CRC in Gender, Work, Care and Community
- Paula Duarte-Guterman (Department of Psychology), Tier 2 CRC in Behavioural Neuroscience
- Matthew Kwan (Department of Child and Youth Studies), Tier 2 CRC in Youth Mental Health and Performance
- Danielle Sirianni Molnar (Department of Child and Youth Studies), Tier 2 CRC in Adjustment and Well-Being in Children and Youth
Brock University’s Niagara Community Observatory released a policy brief this spring showing that Niagara is experiencing an “alarming increase” in the number of people, particularly children, who are relying on food banks to meet their basic food security needs, and that the trend shows no signs of slowing down because the main drivers of food insecurity aren’t being addressed. Joanne Heritz (BA ’91, MA ‘04) in the Department of Political Science is the lead author on “Sustaining Food Security in Niagara“. Read more. Heritz presented her findings at a free webinar this fall. Read more or watch the webinar.
Distinguished Professors
In 2024, Brock University created a Distinguished Professor designation, a lifetime appointment recognizing outstanding achievement in each recipient’s academic discipline. Three faculty members from the Faculty of Social Sciences were included in the inaugural announcement.
Diane Dupont
Department of Economics
Gordon Hodson
Department of Psychology
Teena Willoughby
Department of Psychology
Distinguished Research Awards in the Social Sciences
Each year, the Faculty of Social Sciences awards top honours for research, the Distinguished Researcher and Early Career Researcher of the Year.
Danielle Sirianni Molnar in the Department of Child and Youth Studies received the 2023 Faculty of Social Sciences Distinguished Researcher Award for her work in the area of perfectionism and mental health, which crosses disciplinary fields, engages with colleagues internationally, and has significant impact on developing original qualitative and quantitative methods of analyzing data to study behaviour.
Ann Farrell in the Department of Child and Youth Studies received the 2023 Faculty of Social Sciences Early Career Researcher Award for her consistent record of outstanding research achievements in the field of bullying and mental health in young people
Hanna Puffer (BSc ’22), a Master of Arts in Psychology student, and Melissa Blackburn (MSc ’22), a PhD in Child and Youth Studies student, received Jack M. Miller Excellence in Research Awards at the Mapping the New Knowledges conference at Brock this spring. Read more.
FOSS Canada Research Chairs Julia Baird and Danielle Sirianni Molnar travelled to Parliament Hill this spring for Science Meets Parliament, an opportunity for scholars to share their research findings with policymakers. Read more.
Child and Youth Studies student Michelle Rizzi completed an undergraduate honours thesis examining the motivations of university students who attend sessions with therapy dogs and found that students were motivated to attend by a number of factors, ranging from stress relief to needing a break to an affinity for dogs. Read more.
Julie Ham in the Department of Sociology wanted to amplify the voices of migrant domestic workers in Hong Kong expressing their lived experiences through a new collection of creative writing, poetry, photography and visual art. Read more.
A unique collaboration between Brock researchers, The Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) and Hamilton-Wentworth District School Board (HWDSB) has laid the groundwork to improve the abilities of young children with reading difficulties. Results of the project are detailed in a paper that appeared in the Journal of Learning Disabilities. The study’s lead author was Assistant Professor of Child and Youth Studies Erin Panda. Read more.
MA in Geography student Quinn MacDonald, researching how people explore and engage with heritage sites using mobile devices has developed The Brock Art and Sculpture Scavenger Hunt to help visitors find fine art on Brock’s main campus. Read more.
Two Master of Sustainability students in Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) received The Rotary Club of St. Catharines Environmental Sustainability Graduate Scholarship this spring. Read more about Sydney McIntyre (BSc ’22) and Kassie Burns (BSc ’22).
Associate Professor Dan Cui in the Department of Child and Youth Studies published Identity and Belonging Among Chinese Canadian Youth, research on discrimination experiences of Chinese-Canadian youth, and shared findings in advance of International Day for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination on March 21. Read more.
Melissa Blackburn, now a PhD student in Child and Youth Studies, has made the national Top 20 Finalists for the SSHRC Storytellers Challenge sharing her MA research. Read more and watch her video.
Postdoctoral fellow Sujane Kandasmy in the INfant, Child and youth Health (INCH) lab and the Department of Child and Youth Studies received a Research Excellence, Diversity and Independence (REDI) Early Career Transition Award for her work on improving access to screening for Type 2 diabetes for newcomers to Canada. Read more.
Canadian Graduate Scholarships
Several graduate students in the Faculty of Social Sciences will be supported by Canadian Graduate Scholarships to complete their exciting research. Read more.
Doctoral
Rebecca Anderson, Psychology: “Understanding the effect of institutional signals of inclusion on decision-making behaviour in STEM”
Francine Burke, Psychology: “Steroidogenesis in Adolescence: Effects on HPA Stress Responding and Ongoing Development”
Sarah Davis, Child and Youth Studies: “Evaluating the Application of Behavioural Coaching Strategies in Dance Education”
Shannon Fernandes, Sustainability: “A roadmap to effective municipal climate change adaptation: bridging the implementation gap”
Shealin Murray, Psychology: “The Development of Social Reward Motivation and Consequences of Stress Across Adolescence in Female and Male Long-Evans Rats”
Hamnah Shahid, Psychology: “Lay Perspectives on Drug (De)Criminalization as a (De)Stigmatizing Process”
Rosa Torres Hernandez, Psychology: “Neural Underpinnings of Age-Related Differences in Visual Working Memory Distractor Filtering”
Anita Twele, Psychology: “First Impressions of Older Adult Faces and Their Influence on Behaviour”
Master’s
Tabeer Afzal, Psychology: “Religious Identity and Altruistic Behaviour: The Effects of Expanding the Boundaries of Religious Identity”
Amy Csordas, Psychology: “Psychopathic Traits, Fear Enjoyment and Invincibility”
Benjamin Johnson, Child and Youth Studies: “How do executive functions impact treatment response in children’s reading remediation programs?”
Lauren Stepien, Child and Youth Studies: “Predicting poor attentional control in highly sensitive children with high executive function as a potential protective factor”
Samantha Wallbank, Applied Disability Studies: “Assessing Barriers and Facilitators in Evidence-Based Parent Training”
Federal research funding for 2024
Read more about recipients of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Development Grants:
- Hunter Knight (Child and Youth Studies) “Carcerality, Colonialism, and Cognition: Analyzing the Cultural Cognitive Structures that Uphold the Logics of Seclusion in Schools”
- Gary Libben (Applied Linguistics) “New Techniques to Take the Pulse of Written Language Production in Canada”
- Caitlin Mahy (Psychology) “Developing and Validating Behavioural Measures of Young Children’s Procrastination”
- Liam Midzain-Gobin (Political Science) “Building Inter-National Sovereignty: The Case of the Big Salmon River”
- Teegawende Zeida (Economics) “Aging and Welfare: Analyzing Intergenerational Political Support for Health Financing Policies in Canada”
- Dawn Zinga (Child and Youth Studies) “Mapping Competitive Dancer Development: A Multidisciplinary Examination of Training Trajectories, Injury, Social Comparison, and Well-being”
Under the supervision of Ebru Ustundag in the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies, Daria Do completed her undergraduate thesis research on the experiences of women who own small businesses in downtown St. Catharines. Do and Ustundag then shared her findings — and related recommendations — with community organizations including the St. Catharines Downtown Association, the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce, and Innovate Niagara. Read more.
Nicole Goodman in Brock’s Department of Political Science recently chaired the committee struck by the Digital Governance Standards Institute (DGSI) to draft a proposed standard for Online Electoral Voting – Part 1: Online Voting in Canadian Municipal Elections. The standard has been in development since 2020, when Goodman and Aleksander Essex of Western University received Mitacs funding to prepare a proposal to create online voting standards for municipalities in Canada. Read more.
Congratulations to the recipients of the Horizon Graduate Student Scholarships, especially those in the Faculty of Social Sciences, including Rabia Choudhary (Social Justice and Equity Studies), Belinda Dentu (Political Science), Lamis El-Sabaa (Psychology), Melody Minhorst (Child and Youth Studies), Adwoa Owusu (Critical Sociology), Adwoa Yeboah Owusu (Geography), and Oya Pakkal (Psychology). Read more about the award.
Several researchers in the Faculty of Social Sciences were included on Stanford University’s list of the world’s top two per cent of scientists with the most citations. Recognized for a career total were
- Michael Ashton, Psychology
- Stefan Brudzynski, Psychology
- Thomas Farrell, Applied Linguistics
- Maurice Feldman, Applied Disabilities Studies
- David Fennell, Geography and Tourism Studies
- Gordon Hodson, Psychology
- Cheryl McCormick, Psychology
- Donald McCreary, Psychology
- Catherine Mondloch, Psychology
- Gary Pickering, Biological Sciences and Psychology
- Ryan Plummer, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre
- Teena Willoughby, Psychology
In 2022, the following FOSS researchers had the most citations:
- Michael Ashton, Psychology
- Stefan Brudzynski, Psychology
- Michael Busseri, Psychology
- Andrea Doucet, Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies
- Thomas Farrell, Applied Linguistics
- David Fennell, Geography and Tourism Studies
- Gordon Hodson, Psychology
- Cheryl McCormick, Psychology
- Donald McCreary, Psychology
- Ryan Plummer, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre
- Ron Thomson, Applied Linguistics
- Teena Willoughby, Psychology
In October, Simon Black in the Department of Labour Studies travelled to Kingston, Jamaica to launch a report developed in collaboration with Lauren Marsh at the University of the West Indies on decent work for domestic workers. The launch was attended by the media, government representatives, members of the Jamaica Household Workers Union and others. Read more.
Julia Baird in the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre and the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies is part of the Global Center for Understanding Climate Change Impacts, a new international research centre working for climate change adaptation in the Great Lakes region based at the University of Michigan. Read more.
This fall, Kendra Thomson in the Department of Applied Disability Studies, with colleague Louis Busch of Shkaabe Makwa at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, released a new report on creating and strengthening supports and services for Indigenous Peoples with neurodevelopmental differences. Read more.
2023-2024 Council For Research in the Social Sciences
In the 2023-24 school year, several FOSS researchers were awarded CRISS Research and Event funds.
- Julia Baird, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre and Department of Geography and Tourism Studies
- Angela Book, Psychology
- Michelle Chen, Communication, Popular Culture and Film
- Rosemary Condillac, Applied Disability Studies
- Lauren Corman, Sociology
- Dan Cui, Child and Youth Studies
- Thomas Farrell, Applied Linguistics
- Kaitlin Fredericks, Child and Youth Studies
- Paul Gray, Labour Studies
- Jordan House, Labour Studies
- Caitlin Mahy, Psychology
- Danielle Sirianni Molnar, Child and Youth Studies
- Laura Mullins, Applied Disability Studies
- Larry Savage, Labour Studies
- Ayda Tekok-Kilic, Child and Youth Studies
- Kendra Thomson, Applied Disability Studies
- Lyn Trudeau, Women’s and Gender Studies and Sociology
2023 Faculty of Social Sciences Research Colloquium
Each year, award-winning researchers from across the Faculty of Social Sciences gather to share their research with the Brock community at the FOSS Research Colloquium. The December 2023 virtual event featured six presentations:
- “The Shifting Constitution of Gender & Mobility in a Context of Religious and Infrastructural Change: A Case Study of the Swat Valley, Pakistan” — Idris Khan, MA Geography (supervised by David Butz)
- “Drawing on Lived Experience of Peer Support Workers in the provision of Substance and Addiction Services in St. Catharines; a case study of ABC HEALTH CENTRE” — Patrick Segawa, Child and Youth Studies (supervised by Rebecca Raby)
- “Indigenous Representation and Anti-Indigenous Racism in Canadian Anti-Stigma Campaigns: A Reflexive Thematic Analysis” — Megan Vlahiotis, Psychology (supervised by Scott Neufeld)
- “#Resistencia: Indigenous Movements, Social Media, and the 2019 Uprisings in Latin America” — Associate Professor Pascal Lupien, Political Science
- “The Origins of Evil” — Professor Tony Volk, Child and Youth Studies
2023 Faculty of Social Sciences Graduate Student Writing Awards
Best PhD Thesis:
Victoria Dykstra, Psychology
“Lie-telling during adolescence: A multi-method approach”
Best MA Thesis:
Alyssa Thibeault
“Investigating the effects of perceptual complexity versus conceptual meaning
on the neural correlates of visual working memory”
Best MRP:
Rebecca Van Massenhoven
“MULTI-LEVEL GOVERNANCE IN THE NIAGARA REGION:
A Case Study of Lyons Creek East, Welland, Ontario”
Research Events
November 2023
In the fall, Digital Regulation in the Public Sphere became the fourth event in the interdisciplinary symposium series hosted by the Faculty of Social Sciences. Co-hosted with Blayne Haggart in the Department of Political Science, the daylong event featured research and discussion on a wide array of related topics. Learn more and watch the recording.
Distinguished Research Awards in the Social Sciences
Each year, the Faculty of Social Sciences awards top honours for research, the Distinguished Researcher and Early Career Researcher of the Year.
Anthony Volk in the Department of Child and Youth Studies received the 2022 Faculty of Social Sciences Distinguished Researcher Award for his strong contributions to academia in the past five years, his substantial mentorship of students at various levels, and his ability to “bridge and integrate distinct” areas of research.
Pascal Lupien in the Department of Political Science received the 2022 Faculty of Social Sciences Early Career Researcher Award. His research focuses on participatory development, social justice, and minority rights in Latin America and he is known for his sensitive engagement with Indigenous communities and Indigenous research assistants.
Federal research funding for 2023
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Discovery Grant:
- Caitlin Mahy, Psychology: “The development of prospective memory in children: The role of reminders and metacognitive abilities”
- Michael Pisaric, Geography and Tourism Studies: “Paleoecological investigations of wildfire and vegetation change in Yukon Territory in response to changing climatic conditions” *
- Kevin Turner, Geography and Tourism Studies: “Investigating spatial and temporal patterns and downstream implications of climate-driven disturbance in northern Yukon, Canada” *
* as well as the NSERC Northern Research Supplement
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) Insight Grant:
- Alison Braley-Rattai, Labour Studies: “Union Responses to Workplace Vaccine Mandates in the Wake of COVID-19”
- Hannah Dyer, Child and Youth Studies: “Drawing Queer and Trans Kinship: Learning about Family through Children’s Art”
Norievill España, a PhD student in the first cohort of the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre’s (ESRC) Sustainability Science program examining effective and equitable conservation of coral reefs, was recently awarded a St. Catharines Rotary Club International Global Grant Scholarship to support her field work. Read more.
Charlis Raineki in the Department of Psychology became the first Brock researcher to receive funding from the U.S. government’s National Institutes of Health (NIH)’s National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism for research on fetal alcohol spectrum disorders and gut health, which he is conducting with a colleague from the University of Calgary. Read more.
In July, Liam Midzain-Gobin in the Department of Political Science co-authored a report outlining how relations between First Nations and provinces in Canada are impacted by conceptions of sovereignty and diplomacy. Read more.
At an event in Scarborough this June, researchers from the Department of Sociology and TAIBU Community Health Centre launched a report on their collaborative project studying how young Black mothers navigate the challenges of motherhood in the context of intersecting experiences of anti-Black racism and gendered oppression. Sadie Goddard-Durant and Andrea Doucet of the Department of Sociology (shown here at the event) have been working with community partners on the project since 2019. Read more.
In June, Rebecca Van Massenhoven (BA ’22), a student in the MA in Political Science, was recognized as a National Thought Leader in Public Administration by the Canadian Association of Programs in Public Administration (CAPPA) and the Institute of Public Administration in Canada (IPAC). Read more.
The 2023 Gathering on Indigeneity, Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and Mental Health in Ontario brought Indigenous community members, including those with lived experience of neurodevelopmental disabilities and mental health concerns, together with researchers and clinicians to share knowledge and form connections. The two-day event this spring was funded by a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Planning and Dissemination Grant awarded to Kendra Thomson in the Department of Applied Disability Studies and principle knowledge user Louis Busch of Shkaabe Makwa at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health. Read more.
With the support of a Brock Indigenous Research Grant for a project entitled “Indigenous Affordable Housing in Niagara,” Joanne Heritz and Liam Midzain-Gobin in the Department of Political Science have been working with community leaders Mary Ellen Simon (Housing Programs Director) and Dawn Moughtin (Executive Director) of the Niagara Regional Native Centre and Wendy Sturgeon, Executive Director of the Niagara Chapter Native Women. Read more.
In May, Jordan House in the Department of Labour Studies, together with co-author Asaf Rashid, received the Leo Panitch Book Prize from the Canadian Association for Work and Labour Studies for their recent book, Solidarity Behind Bars: Unionizing Prison Labour. Read more.
This spring, Laurel Donison, a PhD student in Child and Youth Studies, was officially presented with a Dr. Joy Calkin Award at “A World Fit for Children,” the annual conference of the Child Rights Academic Network. The award was announced last November by the Landon Pearson Resource Centre for the Study of Childhood and Children’s Rights at Carleton University, and Donison was invited to attend the conference for the award presentation and to share her research on young children’s right to play. Read more.
FOSS researchers are working with colleagues across the University on projects supported by the New Frontiers in Research Fund. Heather Ramey in the Department of Child and Youth Studies is part of a Brock research team led by Renata Dividino in Computer Science looking at how social media algorithmic bias is shaping young people’s engagements with political and social issues. Margot Francis in the Department of Sociology and the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies is working on a project led by colleagues in Health Sciences and Nursing looking at discrimination in health-care systems and how to motivate health-care workers to examine how biases and assumptions shape discriminatory decisions and actions. Read more.
At the annual Mapping the New Knowledges conference in April, graduate students Kaitlyn Carr of Sustainability Science and Society (shown with co-supervisors Amy Lemay and Julia Baird) and Victoria Dykstra of Psychology (not shown) received Jack M. Miller Excellence in Research awards.
Caitlin Mahy in the Department of Psychology has been awarded the Chancellor’s Chair for Research Excellence, which recognizes the excellent scholarship of Brock’s faculty members. Chair holders are active scholars nominated by their peers who have demonstrated excellence and who will continue to make significant contributions to the advancement of their field. Read more.
In February, disability researchers, practitioners, and self-advocates gathered online and in Pond Inlet to explore accessible and inclusive research. Attendees celebrated the “Photovoice: Voices Lost In Crisis” project, which captured the lived experience of 13 adults with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities (IDD) during the COVID-19 pandemic, and launched a new Participatory Action Research Network (PARN) that could help researchers and people with lived experience collaborate on research to understand and address issues that affect quality of life for adults living with intellectual disabilities. Read more.
The Faculty of Social Sciences congratulates the student researchers across our Faculty who received Horizon Scholarships in 2022. Read more.
- Sara Adloo, Applied Linguistics master’s student
- Asude Ayvaci, Applied Disability Studies master’s student
- Shannon Fernandes, Sustainability PhD student
- Erin Isaac, Sustainability Science and Society master’s student
- Ben Johnson, Child and Youth Studies master’s student
- Muhammad Idris Khan, Geography master’s student
The link between ancient trees and 21st-century technology was recently explored in an international lecture by Professor and Chair Michael Pisaric of Brock’s Department of Geography and Tourism Studies. He delivered his Fellow Lecture, “Old trees meet 21st technology — Tracking climate and environmental change in Subarctic Canada using emerging technologies in tree-ring research,” at Alfried Krupp Wissenschaftskolleg Greifswald (the Alfried Krupp Institute for Advanced Study) in Germany, where he was a Senior Fellow while on sabbatical from Brock. Learn more.
Thomas O’Neill in the Department of Child and Youth Studies was joined by research collaborators from Nepal for the first Canadian screenings of their documentary film, Chalphal (The Discussion) in October. Read more.
Andrea Doucet of the Department of Sociology and Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies was recognized at Fall Convocation with Brock University’s 2022 Award for Distinguished Research and Creative Activity. Read more.
Ann Farrell in the Department of Child and Youth Studies has been elected as a New Council Member for the International Society for Research on Aggression (ISRA). Her term will run from 2022-2026. Farrell, with co-applicant Tracy Vaillancourt and collaborator Irene Vitoroulis, both of the University of Ottawa, has also received a SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis Grant on Emerging Asocial Society for a project entitled, “Lessons from the COVID-19 global pandemic: Implications for social relationships, loneliness, and the well-being of Canadian children and youth.”
Pascal Lupien in the Department of Political Science recently received a Canadian Internet Registration Authority (CIRA) Community Investment Program Grant of $99,122 to support research by and for Indigenous women aimed at using digital technologies to engage in the political sphere.
Sujane Kandasamy, a post-doctoral fellow with the INfant, Child and youth Health (INCH) Lab and Department of Child and Youth Studies at Brock University, is co-leading a research team aiming to create a “connecting to nature intervention” for new immigrant families. The project, ‘Strengthening Community Roots: Anchoring Newcomers in Wellness and Sustainability (SCORE!), has been awarded $870,000 from the Public Health Agency of Canada. Read more.
Assistant Professor Heather Ramey in the Department of Child and Youth Studies led the Canadian study at the heart of a new report from UNICEF, “It’s Difficult to Grow Up in an Apocalypse: Children’s and Adolescents’ Experiences, Perceptions and Opinions on the COVID-19 Pandemic in Canada,” released Wednesday, July 6. The work connects with a larger project, spearheaded by UNICEF’s Office of Research in Italy, comparing the pandemic’s impact in various countries around the world. Read more or watch Dr. Ramey outline key findings.
Tom Farrell in the Department of Applied Linguistics recently had a book published in his honour. Teacher Reflection: Policies, Practices and Impacts by Zia Tajeddin and Atsuko Watanabe was “compiled in honor of Thomas S.C. Farrell, one of the most distinguished scholars in theorizing and researching language teacher reflection.” Learn more.
2022 Faculty of Social Sciences Research Colloquium
Each year, award-winning researchers from across the Faculty of Social Sciences gather to share their research with the Brock community at the FOSS Research Colloquium. The December 2022 virtual event featured six presentations:
- “Addressing Mining Sector Conflicts in Ghana” — Sulemana Saka, MA Political Science (International Relations)
- “Urban Green Space Typology and the Main Indicators for Maximizing their Performance; Case Studies of Isfahan, Milan, and Toronto” — Tannaz Sattar, Sustainability Science and Society
- “The Development of Episodic Thinking in Children: The Contribution of Self-Projection, Scene-Construction, and Episodic Simulation” — Ege Kamber, Psychology
- “Improving Relationships to Support Substance-Exposed Infants and Young Children” — Assistant Professor Naomi Andrews, Child and Youth Studies
- “Critical Access Research: Relaxing Performances and Pedagogies” — Assistant Professor Chelsea Jones, Child and Youth Studies
- “Learning from How Economics Has Changed” — Professor Robert Dimand, Economics
Council for Research in the Social Sciences (CRISS)
In the 2022-23 school year, several FOSS researchers were awarded CRISS Research and Event funds.
- Karen Campbell, Psychology
- Miguel Cardoso, Economics
- Rosemary Condillac, Applied Disability Studies
- Alison Cox, Applied Disability Studies
- Angela Evans, Psychology
- Margot Francis, Women’s and Gender Studies
- Paul Gray, Labour Studies
- Blayne Haggart, Political Science
- William Hall, Psychology
- Joanne Heritz, Political Science
- Gordon Hodson, Psychology
- Chelsea Jones, Child and Youth Studies
- Tamari Kitossa, Sociology
- Hunter Knight, Child and Youth Studies
- Katerina Koka, Economics
- Julie Koudys, Applied Disability Studies
- Matthew Kwan, Child and Youth Studies
- Cathy Mondloch, Psychology
- Tom O’Neill, Child and Youth Studies
- Marcel Oestreich, Economics
- Gary Pickering, Psychology
- Rebecca Raby, Child and Youth Studies
- Taylor Wright, Economics
Research Events
October 2022
In the fall, Movement and Mobility became the third event in the interdisciplinary symposium series hosted by the Faculty of Social Sciences. Co-hosted with Social Justice Research Institute (SJRI), presenters from our Faculty and others presented on the theme of movement and mobility. Learn more and watch the recording.
Distinguished Research Awards in the Social Sciences
The Faculty of Social Sciences announced its top honours for research, the Distinguished Researcher and Early Career Researcher of the Year.
Professor Robert Dimand of the Department of Economics as named the Faculty of Social Sciences Distinguished Researcher for 2021. Dimand’s most recent books include The Routledge Handbook of the History of Women’s Economic Thought, co-edited with Kirsten Madden, The Elgar Companion to John Maynard Keynes, co-edited with Harald Hagemann and Irving Fisher for Palgrave Macmillan’s Great Thinkers in Economics series.
The adjudication committee chose to name two Early Career Researchers of the Year for 2021, both from the Department of Child and Youth Studies. Assistant Professor Naomi Andrews is currently working in partnership with Toronto not-for-profit Mothercraft, to examine programs serving vulnerable families and a new intervention for women experiencing partner violence. Assistant Professor Chelsea Jones recently worked with Re·Vision: The Centre for Art and Social Justice at the University of Guelph and the British Council Canada to publish “Relaxed Performance: Exploring University-based Training Across Fashion, Theatre, and Choir,” soon to be turned into an online training module.
Robert Dimand
Naomi Andrews
Chelsea Jones
Maurice Feldman in the Department of Applied Disability Studies has recently seen an increase in demand for his Step-by-Step Parenting Programme, which supports parents with intellectual disabilities. Read more.
Kevin Turner in the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies (shown), Liam Midzain-Gobin in the Department of Political Science, and Maureen Connolly of the Departments of Kinesiology, Child and Youth Studies and Applied Disability Studies are among the most recent recipients of Brock University Indigenous Research Grants. Read more.
Charlis Raineki in the Department of Psychology was recently awarded a three-year research grant from the Azrieli Foundation to investigate how changes in the neuroimmune function and gut microbiome can mediate the neurobehavioural changes observed in children with Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.
A new research collaboration between Brock and Pathstone Mental Health has yielded promising insight into using dance with behaviour therapy to foster the development of social skills and self-esteem in children with exceptionalities and behavioural challenges. Under the supervision of Associate Professor Tricia Vause in the University’s Departments of Child and Youth Studies and Applied Disability Studies, Master of Arts in Disability Studies student Dana Kalil implemented the Dance with a B-E-A-T! (Behaviour Analysis and Therapy) program with a group of children who experience behavioural challenges in Pathstone’s structured, day-treatment setting. Read more.
Brock’s Archives and Special Collections is now home to the papers of Andrew Jackson, former Chief Economist and Director of Social and Economic Policy at the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), thanks to joint efforts from the Department of Labour Studies and the Brock Library. Read more.
This winter, Caitlyn Gallant (MA ’17, PhD ’22) of the Department of Psychology took top honours in the Faculty of Graduate Studies’ inaugural GRADflix video research competition. Gallant now works as a Post-doctoral Fellow in the Developmental Disabilities and Mental Health Lab at York University. Watch her video on Understanding the Complex Mental Health Needs of Children or read more about the competition.
The Reimagining Care/Work Policies website launched in December 2021 as part of the knowledge mobilization strategy of a seven-year Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership grant led by Andrea Doucet, Canada Research Chair in Gender, Work and Care and Professor of Sociology and Women’s and Gender Studies at Brock. Scholars, journalists and policymakers now have a new resource for discovering Canada’s latest research into the crucial issue of care and work policies and how they impact diverse families. Read more.
Allison Clark, Master of Sustainability student in the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, received the 2021-2022 Gunther Abrahamson Research and Management Award of $2,000 from the Association of Canadian Universities for Northern Studies (ACUNS) in late fall.
Ann Farrell, Assistant Professor in the Department of Child and Youth Studies, was awarded the 2021 Early Career Award by the University at Buffalo’s Alberti Center for Bullying Abuse Prevention. The award recognizes an individual who has made exemplary scholarly contributions to the field of bullying abuse prevention and conducted research that has the potential to influence practice and policy. Read more.
At the 2021 Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysis (ONTABA) conference, Assistant Professor Valdeep Saini and graduate student Niruba Rasuratnam (shown here) were recognized for their contributions to scholarship in their field. Saini received the 2021 Researcher Award, while Rasuratnam received the 2021 Poster Award. Both individuals were also honoured at last year’s event, with Rasuratnam receiving the 2020 Student Award and Saini receiving the 2020 Teaching Award.
The Faculty of Social Sciences congratulates the student researchers across our Faculty who received Horizon Scholarships in 2021. Read more.
- Lulu Larcenciel, Child and Youth Studies master’s student
- Nazurah Khokhar, Applied Disability Studies master’s student
- Emese Graham, Social Justice and Equity Studies master’s student
- Zohreh Salaribaghsangani, Applied Linguistics master’s student
- Gifty Owusu, Applied Disability Studies master’s student
- Marwa Mohammed Iqbal, Applied Disability Studies master’s student
- Matthew Hayes, Child and Youth Studies PhD student
2021 Faculty of Social Sciences Research Colloquium
Each year, award-winning researchers from across the Faculty of Social Sciences gather to share their research with the Brock community at the FOSS Research Colloquium. The December 2021 virtual event featured five presentations, including two from the joint recipients of the 2021 FOSS Early Career Researcher of the Year Award (Jessica Blythe and Julia Baird, shown above) and three from winners of the 2021 FOSS Student Research Award:
- “Water resilience for a rapidly changing world” — Associate Professor Julia Baird, Geography and Tourism Studies and Environmental Sustainability Research Centre
- “Empathy and Equity for the World’s Oceans” — Assistant Professor Jessica Blythe, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre
- “A Holistic Approach to Mapping Priority Sites for Low-Impact Development” — Jillian Booth (BSc ’20), Sustainability Science and Society
- “Tracing the Colonial Dimensions of ‘Special Education’: History, Disability and Settler Colonialism” — Alec Moore (BA ’20), Child and Youth Studies
- “Evaluating Video Prompting to Teach Prospective Parents and Caregivers Correct Installation of Child Passenger Safety Restraints” — Niruba Rasuratnam, Applied Disability Studies
Council for Research in the Social Sciences (CRISS)
In the 2021-22 academic year, several FOSS researchers were awarded CRISS Research and Event funds.
- Simon Black, Labour Studies
- Jeff Boggs, Geography and Tourism Studies
- Priscilla Burnham-Riosa, Applied Disability Studies
- Maureen Connolly, Child and Youth Studies
- Charles Conteh, Political Science
- Lauren Corman, Sociology
- Paula Duarte-Guterman, Psychology
- Tom Farrell, Applied Linguistics
- Julie Koudys, Applied Disability Studies
- Caitlin Mahy, Psychology
- Sarah Matheson, Communication, Popular Culture and Film
- Liam Midzain-Gobin, Political Science
- Tim Murphy, Psychology
- Christina Peters, Applied Disability Studies
- Michael Pisaric, Geography and Tourism Studies
- Ayda Tekok-Kilic, Child and Youth Studies
2021 Faculty of Social Science Graduate Writing Awards
Best PhD Thesis
Christine Salabub (Psychology) – “Electrophysiological measures of flexible attentional control and visual working memory maintenance”
Supervised by Stephen Emrich
Best MA Thesis
Julia Hamill (Geography) – “Molida’, That’s Shimshali Food: Modernization, Mobility, Food Talk, and the Constitution of Identity in Shimshal, Pakistan”
Supervised by David Butz
Best MRP
Stephanie Piovesan (Critical Sociology) – “Animal Activism in Response to the Haudenosaunee Deer Harvest at Short Hills: Colonial Oppression, Responsibilities, and Indigenous-Settler and Human-Animal Relationships”
Supervised by Lauren Corman
Best Paper in a Graduate Course
Ralph Pot (Applied Disability Studies) – “Children, Disability, Education, and the Covid-19 Pandemic”
For Laura Mullins
Research Events
June 2022
Brock virtually welcomed Psychology students from across Ontario to share their research with peers and professors during the 52nd annual Ontario Psychology Undergraduate Thesis Conference (AOPUTC). Read more.
The Department of Applied Linguistics hosted the 13th Annual Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching (PSLLT) Conference, which brings together pronunciation researchers and graduate students from around the world. Read more.
May 2022
A Brock conference on selective mutism (SM), the first of its kind in Canada, brought together people who experience, care for and want to treat the condition. The event was hosted by the Faculty of Social Sciences. Read more.
September 2021
In September 2021, Social Justice and Community Collaboration, part of the interdisciplinary symposium series hosted by the Faculty of Social Sciences, showcased affiliates of the Social Justice Research Institute (SJRI) representing several disciplines. Researchers shared updates on their community collaboration research projects that have been funded by the SJRI. Learn more and watch the recording.
Distinguished Research Awards in the Social Sciences
The Faculty of Social Sciences awarded its top honours for research, the Distinguished Researcher and Early Career Researcher of the Year.
Professor Andrea Doucet of the Department of Sociology and the Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies was named the Faculty of Social Sciences Distinguished Researcher for 2020. Doucet holds a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Gender, Work and Care and recently began work on a SSHRC Partnership Grant entitled Reimagining Care/Work Policies (2020-2027).
The adjudication committee chose to name two Early Career Researchers of the Year for 2020: Assistant Professor Jessica Blythe of the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC), faculty lead on the Niagara Adapts Innovative Partnership, and Assistant Professor Julia Baird of the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies and the ESRC, who holds a Tier II Canada Research Chair in Human Dimensions of Water Resources and Water Resilience.
Andrea Doucet
Jessica Blythe
Julia Baird
Elizabeth Todd in the Department of Applied Disability Studies received the Governor General’s Gold Medal for highest academic achievement among graduate students at Brock’s spring convocation. Read more.
Diane Dupont, Professor in Brock University’s Department of Economics, has been named an inaugural Fellow by the Canadian Resource and Environmental Economics Association (CREEA). Read more.
Brock research teams are part of a $1.84 M Brain Canada Foundation grant to launch an EEG platform for national and international EEG-based neuroscience collaboration. In partnership with McGill University, the Montreal Neurological Institute and various Universities and research centres worldwide, the project, called EEGNET, is to develop an open EEG platform that will facilitate amalgamation of data from multiple labs. This project is part of the new open science movement that will generate larger, more diverse datasets to advance our understanding of neurodevelopmental, psychiatric and neurodegenerative brain disorders. Several Brock research groups are participating in the EEGNET platform: James Desjardins (MA PSYC, 2011), who is also the High Performance Computing Consultant at SHARCNET, has been working with the McGill team on large scale EEG analytic initiatives for some years starting with results stemming from his Masters research; Ayda Tekok-Kilic (CHYS), Erin Panda (CHYS) and Sid Segalowitz (PSYC) are starting a longitudinal study of children receiving services from Pathstone Mental Health to examine whether knowing about brain function at entry will help clinicians to provide more targeted services and therefore improve outcomes; Karen Campbell (PSYC) researches memory and cognitive changes associated with brain changes in older adults; Teena Willoughby (PSYC) has been collecting longitudinal EEG on a normative adolescent population to relate to well-being and health risk behaviours; and Chrissy Lackner (PhD PSYC, 2015, now at Mount St. Vincent University in Halifax) and Sid Segalowitz (shown here) are using EEG measures to examine self-regulation and information processing in young adults with cerebral palsy. This Brain Canada grant will fuel international collaboration and optimize data sharing for the research and medical community. Read more.
Kevin Turner of the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies was the University of Washington’s 2020-21 Fulbright Canada Visiting Chair in Arctic Studies. Read more.
The Faculty of Social Sciences congratulates the student researchers across our Faculty who were the first recipients of Horizon Scholarships. Read more.
- Onika Forde, Social Justice and Equity Studies master’s student
- Elvia Lopez, Social Justice and Equity Studies master’s student
- Sarah Lukaszczyk, Critical Sociology master’s student
- Sali Moieldin, Social Justice and Equity Studies master’s student
- Nneka Onyeachonam, Applied Disability Studies master’s student
- Teshawn Smikle, Social Justice and Equity Studies master’s student
- Helena Tizaa, Critical Sociology master’s student
- Nwakerendu Waboso, Child and Youth Studies PhD student
- Xiaoyang Xia, Psychology PhD student
2020 Faculty of Social Sciences Research Colloquium
Each year, award-winning researchers from across the Faculty of Social Sciences gather to share their research with the Brock community at the FOSS Research Colloquium. Presentations were as follows:
- “Exploration of how policies have limited access to health care services for trans people in the USA” by Appiah Bonsu, MA in Critical Sociology, supervised by Trent Newmeyer
- “Don Cherry’s final rant: Illuminating Canadian nationalism, racial xenophobia, and toxic masculinity through critical discourse analysis” by Jessica Falk, MA in Social Justice and Equity Studies, supervised by Margot Francis
- “Reviewing the options for the agricultural sector to adapt to climate change: Case study of the Niagara region, ON” by Pulkit Garg, MS in Sustainability Science and Society, supervised by Liette Vasseur
- “iPads and free data: Universal access for Ontario’s learners during the pandemic?” by Karen Louise Smith, Assistant Professor, Department of Communication, Popular Culture and Film and 2019 Untenured Researcher of the Year
- “Regulating cyber elections” by Nicole Goodman, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science and 2018 Untenured Researcher of the Year
- “Looking back to see the future” by Michael Pisaric, Professor and Chair, Department of Geography and Tourism Studies and 2019 Distinguished Researcher of the Year
Council for Research in the Social Sciences (CRISS)
In the 2020-21 academic year, 14 researchers across the Faculty received CRISS funds to support their projects. Read more about their work.
CRISS funding is instrumental in the creation of an in-depth media content analysis of issues related to affordable housing in Niagara. The report will provide background information for the SSHRC funded community-based project with the YWCA Niagara Region and Brock’s Niagara Community Observatory that investigates “Improving Safe and Affordable Housing for Women Before and After the COVID-19 Pandemic.” ~Joanne Heritz, CRISS Research Award recipient, May 2021
2020 Faculty of Social Science Graduate Writing Awards
Best MA Thesis
Katelyn Pierce (Geography) – “Detached from Our Bodies: Representing Women‘s Mental Health and Well-being with Graphic Memoirs”
Supervised by Ebru Ustundag
Best MRP
Sorayyah Chityal (Political Science) – “Did Former Chief Justice Beverly McLachlin Leave a Feminist Legacy Behind?”
Supervised by Matthew Hennigar
Best Paper in a Graduate Course
Steven Iamarino (Economics) – “Causes for Property vs. Violent crime in Canada”
For Robert Dimand
Research Events
May 2021
The Department of Applied Linguistics hosted the 12th Annual Pronunciation in Second Language Learning and Teaching (PSLLT) Conference virtually, the only annual North American conference on the topic, which brings together pronunciation researchers and graduate students from around the world. Funding for the event comes from a SSHRC Partnership Grant received by Ron Thomson and Andrew Lee of the Department of Applied Linguistics, as well as support from the Dean’s Discretionary Fund.
The Faculty hosted a second virtual symposium to highlight the impact of the Special COVID-19-Related Dean’s Discretionary Fund (see below).
April 2021
Perspectives on Mental Health kicks off a new interdisciplinary symposium series hosted by the Faculty of Social Sciences designed to offer members of the Brock and wider communities the chance to learn about research and activities happening across the University.
February 2021
The Faculty hosted a virtual symposium to highlight the impact of the Special COVID-19-Related Dean’s Discretionary Fund. In the spring of 2020, as the disruptive potential of the pandemic became clear, we sought to support ongoing and innovative initiatives by members of the Faculty of Social Sciences through the Special COVID-19-Related Dean’s Discretionary Fund call. The virtual symposium highlighted the impact of this funding by showcasing some of the projects that were supported as activities and projects across FOSS were reimagined and realigned to comply with the new COVID-19 context.
October 2020
Applied Linguistics and Psychology students hosted colleagues from around the world in the first “Words in the World Online Conference,” an online event specifically designed to highlight the research of students working in empirical language research as part of the Words in the World SSHRC Partnership Project hosted by Brock University. Over 300 people registered for the conference from more than 50 institutions in 17 countries.