Articles tagged with: research

  • Community invited to Brock’s World Water Day celebration

    THURSDAY, MARCH 14, 2024 | by  | From The Brock News

    Water — and all that it means to the world — will be celebrated at an upcoming community event hosted by Brock University.

    Brock’s Water Resilience Lab and Department of Geography and Tourism Studies will host the inaugural World Water Day Celebration on Friday, March 22 to showcase the many ways people study, appreciate and engage with water at the University and across the Niagara region.

    The free public event, funded in part by the Council for Research in the Social Sciences, brings to life a long-term goal of Julia Baird, Canada Research Chair in Human Dimensions of Water Resources and Water Resilience.

    “Water touches so many aspects of our lives — what we learn and the research that happens at Brock, as well as issues of water management, water conservation and the well-being of our community and ecosystems in the broader Niagara community,” says the Associate Professor in the Environmental Sustainability Research Centre and the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies.

    Baird has worked closely with Samantha Morris, Academic Advisor and Communications Co-ordinator in Geography and Tourism Studies, and graduate student volunteer Hannah Marlen Lübker to bring together the community to share the myriad of ways that water is important.

    The World Water Day Celebration will open at 10 a.m. in the Rankin Family Pavilion on Brock’s main campus. Students can learn about the many water-related courses on offer and the community can discover some of the dynamic water research being undertaken at Brock.

    Between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m., attendees can peruse water-themed informational and research posters from graduate and undergraduate students, an array of artistic submissions, featured course highlights or displays that combine all of these features, such as a PhotoVoice exhibit from one of Baird’s courses and the VISA 2P90 exhibit currently on display in the Matheson Learning Commons and Thistle display cases on  “Women, Water, and Words: An Exploration of Visual Culture in Niagara.”

    The James A. Gibson Library has also curated a featured collection of print and e-books entitled “Exploring Deep Waters” to highlight ways to learn more about water.

    From 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m., interactive booths will open featuring Brock researchers and community groups and organizations, including the following:

    • Niagara Region
    • Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority
    • Niagara Parks Commission
    • Niagara Geopark
    • Soaring Eagles Indigenous Elementary School
    • Brock’s Department of Geography and Tourism Studies
    • Water Resilience Lab

    Researchers will share their projects and community organizations will highlight their work as well as volunteer and student job opportunities that may be available. Visitors present during the interactive portion of the day can enter a prize draw, which includes a $50 gift card for Someday Books. The draw will take place at 1:30 p.m.

    All members of the Brock and wider communities are invited to drop in and enjoy this all-encompassing tribute to water.

    Reposted from The Brock News

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  • Brock student research sheds light on local women-owned businesses

    After spending much of her fourth year examining the experiences of women who own small businesses in downtown St. Catharines, Brock student Daria Do is sharing her findings — and related recommendations — with the community.

    Do presented her undergraduate thesis research, completed under the supervision of Associate Professor Ebru Ustundag in the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies, to business leaders from the St. Catharines Downtown Association, the Greater Niagara Chamber of Commerce and Innovate Niagara on Wednesday, Feb. 14.

    An entrepreneur herself, the fifth-year Concurrent Teacher Education student set out to look at social-spatial relationships and the gender dynamics that shape local female business owners’ experiences, as well as the personal and institutional support systems available to them.

    With support from Ustundag and her second reader, Professor of Geography and Tourism Studies Michael Ripmeester, Do interviewed six out of a possible 16 women business owners in the downtown core at the time of the research, which began in August 2022.

    Several themes emerged during these interviews, from financial barriers encountered when pursuing loans and grants to the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

    “A lot of the participants had to make some challenging decisions to lay off their team and work by themselves, taking on all of the business tasks — from labeling to producing to marketing to maintaining an online shop and making deliveries,” Do says.

    The role of support networks — whether it was family members helping out or official programming — proved to be crucial, particularly in identifying opportunities such government grants like those attached to the Digital Main Streets program.

    According to Do, the participants also showed a strong commitment to an inclusive downtown and diverse urban culture.

    “They don’t just care about their own store. They care about their customers and about their neighbouring business owners and that everyone’s successful, not just themselves,” says Do. “That cohesiveness and ability to be empathetic towards other people, I think, is something super special in downtown St. Catharines, something very unique.”

    During the presentation, Do and Ustundag offered recommendations based on the thesis interviews, including a networking program specific to women small business owners that caters to the needs and schedules of working caregivers and paid mentorship opportunities to help further strengthen local connections.

    “The presentation was a gratifying experience that allowed me to share my passions for the purpose of my research and illuminate the positive stories coming out of downtown St. Catharines,” says Do. “More importantly, it was a unique opportunity to be able to amplify the significance of having a geographical lens when trying to understand the changes in downtown St. Catharines and how female small business owners are active participants of this urban culture.”

    Ustundag says that Do’s work has particular significance because much of the existing research in Canadian urban economic geographies relates to large metropolitan centres.

    “I am continuously impressed by Daria’s dedication, curiosity and enthusiasm about conducting qualitative research as an undergraduate and as a first-generation student,” says Ustundag. “During her presentation, she made an excellent case about how critical geographical analysis is so vital in understanding the complex economic and social relationships in downtown St Catharines.”

    In all, Do says it was an honour to be able to learn from the experiences of her research participants, and that pursuing an undergraduate thesis created some great opportunities overall.

    “There are times that it is difficult, but it’s so rewarding in the end to be able to look at where I was, look at where I came from and what I learned from this experience,” says Do. “I learned about writing, about slowing down and paying close attention to detail, and I gained so many strong connections and relationships with my department and also my community. That’s something I will always appreciate.

    Story reposted from The Brock News.

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  • CRC Spotlight: Brock researcher examining ways to foster water resilience


    The federal government’s 
    Canada Research Chairs program invests up to $311 million per year to attract and retain some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds. Chairholders are recognized to be national and international experts in the fields of engineering and the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities and social sciences. Brock University has 10 active Canada Research Chairs, with more to be announced. This monthly series profiles the work, and lives, of Brock’s Chairholders.

    When she wants to take a break in her busy schedule, Julia Baird heads out to a lake or river.

    “I’ve always found water to be a source of calm in my life,” says the Associate Professor in Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre (ESRC) and the Department of Geography and Tourism.

    “Water is critical to life; it’s inherent in us that we’re connected to water,” she says. “I think of the well-being of future generations and how important it is to support sustainability.”

    As Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Human Dimensions of Water Resources and Water Resilience, Baird investigates activities that have an impact on water. She studies how decisions regarding water use are made at the government, community and individual levels through her Water Resilience Lab.

    “The diversity of voices, and how those voices are included and connected, is critical for creating the right conditions for water sustainability,” she says.

    Central to her work is the concept of water resilience, which Baird says involves “being able to continue to support the well-being of the system despite whatever disturbances may arise.”

    Baird says there are three ways to respond to disturbances in the environment, such as floods or droughts brought about by climate change: persist where possible in spite of disturbances, adapt to situation or transform the way society operates to mitigate or avoid disastrous impacts.

    Ideally, decision-making processes related to water, as well as related areas such as land-use planning, agricultural operations, coastline protection and erosion control, are guided by water resilience principles and practices.

    Baird has long been fascinated by how people make decisions and how individuals influence decisions carried out at the political level. Her research looks at how psychological traits, such as empathy and self-efficacy at the individual level, can motivate the public to support decisions that lead to water sustainability.

    Empathy is associated with attitudes that reflect stronger support for resilience-based approaches for the environment.

    In a study led by Baird, participants in six countries who read three scenarios describing situations of flooding, drought and depleted fish stocks gave moderate to strong support for governance taking a resilience-based approach.

    “We know that empathy is malleable, it can change in people,” says Baird. “The question is, how can we build empathy broadly so that the public will influence changes that can have positive impacts down the line?”

    Baird earned her PhD in Environment and Sustainability from the University of Saskatchewan in 2012 and came to Brock as a post-doctoral fellow. She became Associate Professor in the ESRC and the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies in 2021.

    In that same year, Baird was granted her Canada Research Chair position, which was renewed in 2022.

    Baird has had a number of accomplishments during her terms, including:

    In her second term, Baird plans to test interventions to build empathy broadly in society and examine the long-term impacts of empathy interventions on behaviour.

    “Ultimately, our work is centered on finding solutions to some of today’s most pressing water issues,” says Baird. “I’m motivated by that every day.”

    Story reposted from The Brock News

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  • David Fennell makes global list of top scientists

    Nearly three dozen Brock University researchers appear on Stanford University’s recently updated list of the world’s top two per cent of scientists with the most citations.

    First created in 2019 by Stanford University health researcher John P. A. Ioannidis, the list rates scientists globally on metrics that measure the types and numbers of citations they have.

    Citations, which appear in academic papers, are references made to earlier research. The number of times a researcher’s work is referenced in other peer-reviewed work is one important indicator of their research impact and reputation.

    The latest update to this list includes a career-long database containing 195,605 researchers globally, or about two per cent of researchers worldwide. Though billed as a list of scientists, the ranking includes social sciences and humanities scholars.

    Thirty-five of these researchers are from Brock University.

    “This ranking shows the strong place that Brock researchers hold among the most influential and high-impact scholars worldwide,” says Vice-President, Research Tim Kenyon. “It is a powerful illustration of the world-class inquiry happening at Brock every day, in every discipline.”

    The Brock University researchers who are among the top two per cent of scientists with the most citations are:

    • Stephen Anco, Professor, Mathematics, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
    • Michael Ashton, Professor, Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences
    • Anthony Bogaert, Professor, Health Sciences, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
    • Uwe Brand, Professor, Earth Sciences, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
    • Ian Brindle, Professor Emeritus, Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
    • Katrina Brudzynski, Adjunct Professor, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
    • Stefan Brudzynski, Emeritus Professor, Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences
    • Stephen Cheung, Professor, Kinesiology, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
    • Vincenzo DeLuca, Professor, Biology, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
    • Ivo Düntsch, Professor Emeritus, Computer Science, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
    • Bareket Falk, Professor, Kinesiology, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
    • Thomas Farrell, Professor, Applied Linguistics, Faculty of Social Sciences
    • Maurice Feldman, Professor, Applied Disabilities Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences
    • David Fennell, Professor, Geography and Tourism Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences
    • Martin Head, Professor, Earth Sciences, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
    • Gordon Hodson, Professor, Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences
    • Herbert Holland, (late) Professor, Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
    • Tomas Hudlicky (late) Professor, Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
    • Princely Ifinedo, Professor, Information Systems, Goodman School of Business
    • Frans Koffyberg, Professor, Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
    • Neil McCartney, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences (no longer at Brock)
    • Cheryl McCormick, Professor, Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences
    • Donald McCreary, Adjunct Professor, Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences (no longer at Brock)
    • Catherine Mondloch, Professor, Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences
    • Georgii Nikonov, Professor, Chemistry, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
    • Gary Pickering, Professor, Biological Sciences and Psychology, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
    • Piers, Faculty of Mathematics and Science (no longer at Brock)
    • Ryan Plummer, Professor, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre, Faculty of Social Sciences
    • Peter Rand, Emeritus, Biological Sciences, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
    • Andrew Reynolds, Professor, Faculty of Mathematics and Science (no longer at Brock)
    • Kirill Samokhin, Professor, Physics, Faculty of Mathematics and Science
    • Sidney Segalowitz, Professor Emeritus, Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences
    • Martin Tammemägi, Professor Emeritus, Health Sciences, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
    • Peter Tiidus, Professor, Kinesiology, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences
    • Teena Willoughby, Professor, Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences

    The Stanford-based list of top researchers uses a number of methods to create a single ranking, in spite of large differences in the customs and practices of citation across disciplines.

    Citation indices do not universally capture the impacts of all research types, Kenyon also notes, including work published in books rather than in journals.

    “No single type of measure tells the whole story of great research,” he says. “A great deal of excellent, high-impact research and creative inquiry leads directly to policies, community practices, live performances or works of art, rather than to other academic publications.”

    Brock’s representation in the Stanford University list has grown substantially from the original 2019 list.

    “This as a valuable sign of Brock’s continued development of research excellence and intensity across disciplines,” says Kenyon.

    STORY REPOSTED FROM THE BROCK NEWS

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  • Learn about issues of migration, mobility at upcoming public symposium

    Researchers from across Brock University will share insights on migration, immigration, movement and the mobility of people, things and ideas at a virtual public event next week.

    Hosted by the Faculty of Social Sciences and the Social Justice Research Institute (SJRI), the Movement and Mobility Symposium will feature six presentations from faculty, staff and student researchers in Geography and Tourism Studies, English Language and Literature, Education and Sociology at Brock.

    Presentations include:

    • “Education is my only carriage — it was not an easy road” by PhD student Denese Brown-Bell (MEd ’18)
    • “Road infrastructure, mobility and gendered subjectivities in Shimshal, Pakistan” by Professor Nancy Cook and Professor David Butz
    • “Contradictory mobility: child self-protection and automobiles in interwar Toronto’s Globe” by Professor Phillip Gordon Mackintosh
    • “Reflections on mobility and the 2021 photos of the Mounted U.S. Border Patrol” by Associate Professor Gale Coskan-Johnson
    • “Developing decolonial aesthetics with migrant domestic worker creative communities” by Assistant Professor Julie Ham
    • “Displacement and belonging in Canada: reconciliation through research, knowledge translation and the arts” by Faculty of Education Research Officer Snežana Obradović-Ratković, Professor Kari-Lynn Winters and Assistant Professor Catherine Longboat, with Associate Professor Spy Dénommé-Welch of Western University

    Associate Professor and Interim SJRI Director Tamara El-Hoss says the event is inspired by the current political climate.

    “Issues of mobility, displacement and migration are at the forefront of populous movements on all sides of the political spectrum,” says El-Hoss. “I look forward to hearing a diverse range of perspectives on these urgent and necessary questions from the presenters at the symposium.”

    The free public event is the latest in the Social Sciences Symposium Series, which aims to showcase the variety of work being conducted by faculty and student researchers across Brock’s Faculties to uncover an array of perspectives and foster potential synergies and collaborations. It is also the second symposium to be co-hosted by SJRI.

    Dean Ingrid Makus of the Faculty of Social Sciences expressed delight at partnering with SJRI for another event after the success of last year’s Social Justice and Community Collaboration symposium.

    “Our Symposium Series is designed to give the wider community a glimpse of the breadth of research and insight being carried out by Brock’s researchers on many of our society’s most pressing issues,” says Makus. “We are thrilled to partner with the SJRI once again to stage an event that promises to be engaging and enriching for all who attend.”

    Movement and Mobility: A Virtual Symposium will be livestreamed on Lifesize Wednesday, Oct. 26 from 10 a.m to 1 p.m. Everyone is welcome to attend, but advance registration is required.

    STORY REPOSTED FROM THE BROCK NEWS

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  • Brock geographer makes global connections during Fulbright Canada residency

    Almost two years after his Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Arctic Studies at the University of Washington was first announced, Kevin Turner is winding down his duties.

    The award normally involves a six-month residency, but the global pandemic prevented the Associate Professor in Brock University’s Departments of Geography and Tourism Studies and Earth Sciences from travelling to Seattle as expected.

    Instead, he virtually taught a fourth-year course in Arctic Landscape Change and Detection, conducted workshops for teachers and engaged in events hosted by the World Affairs Council, including a fireside chat with Chief Tizya-Tramm of the Vuntut Gwitchin Government through winter 2021.

    Earlier this spring, he was finally able to load his truck with his bikes and some field equipment and head west for his required in-person residency at the University of Washington.

    In spite of a hectic three-month schedule, Turner says the trip has created opportunities to meet up and collaborate with colleagues, sometimes in unexpected ways.

    In May, he travelled to Fairbanks, Alaska, for a meeting of NASA’s Arctic Boreal Vulnerability Experiment (ABoVE) Science Team. As a research affiliate of that program, he advises on airborne data acquisition and suggests key flyover locations from his main research site in Old Crow.

    “Being an affiliate of NASA ABoVE, I can help guide where they fly in northern Yukon and then utilize the data they collect within my research program, as can many others,” says Turner. “We also learn the latest on some of the cool things that colleagues are doing with the data to assess landscape conditions across the north, as well as share our own findings.”

    He attended a meeting of the International Circumpolar Remote Sensing Symposium in Fairbanks, which attracted top scholars from around the world, and was also involved in fieldwork being done by colleagues from University of Alaska, Fairbanks and the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab.

    “I was able to use some equipment I brought with me because I didn’t want it sitting in the truck at the airport while I travelled,” Turner says. “When I took it out for a little bit of show and tell, they invited me to visit one of their research sites to try it out.”

    Upon his return to Seattle, the University of Washington hosted Turner, Tram Nguyen, the 2021-22 Fulbright Canada Chair in Arctic Studies, and others for a roundtable discussion in late May on “Holistic Approaches to Health and Wellbeing in Arctic Communities and Beyond.”

    In June, Turner flew north again for fieldwork in Old Crow, Yukon. The strict parameters of his VISA required him to travel on specific dates — which can be hard to commit to when research excursions are delayed by Arctic weather.

    Turner counted on Brock Earth Sciences graduate student Michelle Pearce (BSc ’20) and undergraduate student Marley Tessier to help him meet the logistical challenges of the research trip and collaborated with colleagues from Polar Knowledge Canada and Parks Canada, along with local Indigenous community members, including photographer and drone pilot, Caleb Charlie, to collect data. Turner also credits helicopter pilot Ruth Hardy with being able to work wonders in small time frames.

    In addition to gathering water samples and aerial survey photography, Turner also used a LiDAR sensor — “a Ghostbuster-looking sensor that shoots out 300,000 pulses of light per second” — to collect data for fine-grained 3D imaging of the landscape.

    His use of the LiDAR device was of particular interest to a documentary film crew from France and Germany working on a four-part series on climate change, who accompanied the researchers and interviewed Turner in the midst of the data collection.

    Turner has now returned to Seattle for the rest of July to crunch some data and collaborate with colleagues at the University of Washington.

    Though it hasn’t been without its challenges, he says that he has enjoyed the “shake-up” of the Seattle residency and the Fulbright Chair overall. And he looks forward to soon welcoming his family for a quick holiday in a nearby mountain cabin.

    “If I didn’t have the support of my family, this would be impossible,” he says. “My wife, Jen, is amazing, and my two boys have really stepped up to fill in the gaps of getting things done around the house in my absence. Their ability to carry on with me somewhere else for an extended period has made this smooth, but I really miss them.”

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  • Indigenous Research Grant projects to explore critical issues

    Affordable housing, impacts of climate change, decolonizing experiential education and boosting health-care delivery will be the focus of projects supported by this year’s Brock University Indigenous Research Grants.

    The Office of the Vice-President, Research and the Office of the Acting Vice-Provost, Indigenous Engagement have announced the 2022 recipients of the grants, which support research or creative activities in any discipline and on any topic that relates to Indigenous Peoples.

    “What is exciting about these research projects is, not only do they engage with Indigenous Peoples in a meaningful way, but they’re also directed at improving the lives of Indigenous people,” says Acting Vice-Provost, Indigenous Engagement Robyn Bourgeois.

    The recipients are:

    • Maureen Connolly, Professor of Kinesiology, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, “Decolonizing experiential learning on the Brock University campus: A case study”
    • Liam Midzain-Gobin, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Faculty of Social Sciences, “Indigenous Affordable Housing in Niagara”
    • Constance Schumacher, Assistant Professor of Nursing, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, “Defining a Good Life: Community Partnerships and interRAI Data”
    • Kevin Turner, Associate Professor of Geography and Tourism Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, “The sky is the limit for community monitoring of climate change impacts in Old Crow, Yukon”

    The areas of study are dealing with critical issues, says Bourgeois. Accessing affordable housing, documenting the impacts of climate change, decolonizing experiential education and boosting the delivery of health care are areas of concern expressed by various communities, she says.

    “What an honour to be able to support these research projects,” says Bourgeois.

    By facilitating Indigenous-centred research, the Indigenous Research Grants program is a tangible way Brock University is advancing principles articulated in the Brock Institutional Strategic Plan, says Vice-President, Research Tim Kenyon.

    “These projects will contribute knowledge, understanding and partnerships that advance scholarship and have meaningful impact, in keeping with values of reconciliation and decolonization,” he says.

    Launched last year, the Indigenous Research Grants program aims to achieve several goals:

    • Supporting Indigenous researchers and Indigenous-focused research at Brock University.
    • Enabling researchers to hire students at any level to participate in their project (with preference toward students who self-identify as First Nations, Inuit, Métis, and/or another Indigenous group.
    • Supporting and advancing interest and expertise in Indigenous research areas.

    The grant of up to $7,500 aims to help researchers develop their research programs and creative activities so they can apply to external granting agencies such as the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research for funding, among others.

    Research and creative activities led by, or in partnership with, First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples are given priority, although research proposals involving Indigenous Peoples located around the world are also welcome.

    Four faculty also received Indigenous Research Grants last year, with the projects in various stages of research:

    Applications are accepted on a continuous basis. Brock faculty wishing to apply should visit the Indigenous Research Grant page of the Research Services site (login required). For more information, contact Karen Espiritu, Acting Manager, Sponsored Research and Internal Programs.

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  • Brock researchers awarded more than $1.1 million in SSHRC funding

    With so many charities competing for a limited number of dollars, it’s hard to know who to support. Donors want to make sure groups they fund are using the money responsibly.

    Professor of Accounting Hemantha Herath is among those challenging the conventional way charities calculate and report their program expenses.

    With funding from the federal government’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), Herath is researching how data science techniques can be integrated into current reporting methods to give a fuller picture of charities’ performances.

    Herath is among eight Brock University researchers awarded SSHRC’s Insight Grant, announced Thursday, June 16 by François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry.

    Brock University received more than $1.1 million in the latest round of Insight Grants, which support research excellence and are judged worthy of funding by fellow researchers and/or other experts. The research can be conducted individually or by teams.

    “SSHRC’s investment in our research enables our scholars to contribute valuable insights into our collective understanding of a wide range of challenges faced in society,” says Brock’s Vice-President, Research Tim Kenyon.

    In Herath’s case, he will use his funding to research how to recalculate the program expense ratio, which measures costs incurred by programs, services and other activities fulfilling a non-profit’s mission compared to its total costs.

    Herath is exploring how to integrate statistical techniques, including cluster analysis, which groups data that share similar properties, and text mining, which involves the process of examining large collections of documents to discover new information, into the accounting process.

    “This data-driven approach will generate more reliable information that will help donors, resource providers and the public evaluate the effectiveness of non-profit organizations so that they can make better funding decisions,” he says.

    Brock researchers awarded Insight Grants in 2022 are:

    • Julia Baird, Associate Professor, Environmental Sustainability Research Centre and the Department of Geography and Tourism Studies, Faculty of Social Sciences, “Individual interventions to transform water governance”
    • Angela Book, Associate Professor, Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, “The Social Predator Hypothesis of Psychopathy”
    • Timothy Fletcher, Associate Professor, Kinesiology, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, “Champions for Meaningful Physical Education”
    • Hemantha Herath, Professor, Accounting, Goodman School of Business, “How to Choose a Charity: A Data Science Based Investigation”
    • Shannon Kerwin, Associate Professor, Sport Management, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, “Signaling Change: Exploring Gender EDI and Human Resource Management Practices, Board Gender Composition, and Board Outcomes in Non-profit Sport Governing Bodies”
    • Sean Locke, Assistant Professor, Kinesiology, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, “Understanding how reframing inaccurate barrier perceptions promotes physical activity participation”
    • Bradley Millington, Associate Professor, Sport Management, Faculty of Applied Health Sciences, “Sport and the digital economy: A case study of the Canadian sports analytics industry”
    • Elizabeth Sauer, Professor, English Language and Literature, Faculty of Humanities, “Reorienting English National Consciousness: Renaissance to Late Restoration”

    Also announced June 16 are Stage 1 of SSHRC’s Partnership Grants, which provide support for new and existing formal partnerships over four to seven years to advance research, research training and/or knowledge mobilization in the social sciences and humanities.

    Brock University’s two awards, totalling $39,882, are:

    • Jennifer Roberts-Smith, Professor, Dramatic Arts, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, “Staging Better Futures/Mettre en scène de meilleurs avenirs”
    • Teena Willoughby, Professor, Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, “The impact of technology use on adolescent risk behaviours and wellbeing over time: A collaborative approach focusing on partnerships and comparisons across different research approaches”

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  • Proven performance trumps cost in agriculture innovation adoption, NCO research suggests

    When Ontario farmers consider introducing new technologies into their operations, there’s a laundry list of factors in addition to cost that go into determining whether they’re a fit.

    Although the inclusion of innovation can be seen as a significant investment, cost is often outweighed by performance when results are proven and make sense for the operation in question, new research by Brock University’s Niagara Community Observatory (NCO) says.

    The NCO’s latest policy brief, presented during a virtual event Wednesday, Dec. 8, examines the barriers and drivers to adoption of automation and robotics in Ontario’s agriculture sector. The research combines analysis of survey data from Ontario farms with that of in-depth interviews conducted with farmers and agriculture innovation stakeholders.

    The paper was authored by Amy Lemay, NCO Research Fellow and Adjunct Professor in Brock’s Environmental Sustainability Research Centre; Charles Conteh, Professor of Public Policy and Management in the Department of Political Science and NCO Director; and Jeff Boggs, Associate Professor of Geography and Tourism Studies and NCO Interim Director.

    The brief is the NCO’s latest agriculture innovation policy research, funded through the federal-provincial Canadian Agricultural Partnership.

    Its findings suggest that widespread adoption of automation and robotics technologies in the agriculture sector is dependent on:

    • Technologies that provide solutions to real problems.
    • Technologies with proven and validated performance and benefits.
    • Equipment suppliers with local and reliable service, maintenance and technical support.
    • Governance frameworks for data that protect privacy and security.
    • Policies and programs that incentivize early adopters and smaller farms.

    “Our results suggest that any perceived failures on the part of farmers to adopt automation and robotics technologies are not because they’re inherently slow adopters due to their overly risk-adverse or conservative nature, rather we’re seeing that farmers are making objectively rational decisions,” Lemay says. “Farmers are showing a reluctance to adopt technologies with unproven performance or profitability from suppliers with uncertain futures who have weak connections to or understanding of the agriculture sector.”

    Lemay says the team’s research found that “for most farmers, performance was more important than cost or ease of use when they were choosing a technology.”

    But challenges for adoption arose when it came to technologies that had yet to tangibly demonstrate promised benefits, as well as those unable to provide local, reliable access to service, parts and maintenance over the long term, given that many technologies are imported from multinational manufacturers based outside of Canada.

    To address these concerns, Lemay says it may be necessary for researchers and technology solution providers to build collaborations with established, local farm equipment distributors and retailers to bring new technologies to market.

    “Our findings point to the need for reconsidering, rethinking and revisiting how adoption of agri-food innovations is supported and promoted in the province,” Conteh says. “We want to generate solutions for accelerating technology transfer and adoption. While empirically our focus is on Ontario, our findings hold implications for all of Canada.”

    The next phase of the study, which is now underway, has researchers interviewing stakeholders from Canadian ‘superclusters’ — NGen in Hamilton and Protein Industries Canada in Saskatoon — to gain a broader understanding of the drivers and barriers to the adoption of technologies, Lemay says.

    The final phase, to take place this winter, will include a series of focus groups that will bring together agri-food stakeholders from industry, government and academia to identify policy and government recommendations for supporting and promoting the adoption of automation and robotics technologies.

    Following Wednesday’s brief presentation, a panel discussion was held featuring industry stakeholders: Kathryn Carter, Tender Fruit and Grape Specialist, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs; Hussam Haroun, Director, Automation, Vineland Research and Innovation Centre; and Rodney Bierhuizen, Co-owner, Sunrise Greenhouses.

    The Niagara Community Observatory’s latest brief, “Growing Agri-Innovation: Investigating the barriers and drivers to the adoption of automation and robotics in Ontario’s agriculture sector,” is available on the NCO website.

    STORY FROM THE BROCK NEWS

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  • New research finds evidence of climate-driven changes to northern lakes

    Across the Old Crow Flats in the northern Yukon, lakes are telling a story of climate-driven change.

    The traditional territory of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation (VGFN), the Old Crow Flats is recognized as a Ramsar Wetland of International Importance thanks to its more than 8,000 thermokarst lakes (up to 15 square kilometres) and ponds. Thermokarst lakes are formed by thawed permafrost and can be prone to drainage if they expand into low-lying areas.

    Kevin Turner, an Associate Professor in Brock’s Department of Geography and Tourism Studies and Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Arctic Studies at the University of Washington, has studied the area since 2007, and he says that warmer temperatures, longer summers and more rain are “priming this important landscape for continued climate-driven landscape change.”

    In a new paper with Lauren A. MacDonald, who was a post-doctoral research fellow at Brock in fall 2020, as well as researchers from Wilfrid Laurier University, University of Waterloo and Parks Canada, Turner and his team share an analysis of water samples suggesting significant trends toward increased rainfall in the area, which could affect drainage in the shallow lakes and cause changes to soil stability along shorelines.

    The research, conducted under the direction of the Vuntut Gwitchin Government and the North Yukon Renewable Resources Council, saw sampling take place from 14 lakes in the Old Crow Flats two to three times per year from 2007 to 2019.

    Kevin Turner collects water samples for analysis from a thermokarst lake in Old Crow Flats. (Photo courtesy of Luke Gray)

    The samples produced a 13-year record that the research team has analyzed using water isotope tracers to distinguish between input sources, such as rainfall and snow melt, and also to track water losses due to evaporation.

    “There is more than meets the eye with these results, as they represent a status indicator of the increasing vulnerability of this area to drastic change,” says Turner. “For example, permafrost, which holds the landscape intact, degrades more during warmer and wetter conditions, which can lead to more shoreline slumping and rapid drainage of lakes into the river network.”

    These changes to the landscape can disrupt ecosystems, affecting plants and wildlife and interfering with traditional ways of life — a trend already recognized by the VGFN.

    “Findings complement the traditional knowledge of the VGFN, who have observed changes in climate and landscape characteristics during recent decades and have recently declared a climate emergency,” says Turner.

    Isotopic evidence of increasing water abundance and lake hydrological change in Old Crow Flats, Yukon, Canada” was published in Environmental Research Letters in late November. Turner says that its findings demonstrate why collaboration and co-operation in research is so important.

    “This research showcases the value of innovative and collaborative long-term monitoring programs in these important and remote areas of the North where the impacts of climate change are heightened,” he says.

    STORY REPOSTED FROM THE BROCK NEWS

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