Kovalchuk earns CIHR Chair

trevor.kenney — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 20:55:14 +0000

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge researcher Dr. Olga Kovalchuk is the recipient of a Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Chair dedicated to examining the effects occupational radiation exposure has on men and women working in nuclear industries.

Canada is home to one of the highest concentrations of nuclear activity in the world. Nearly 40,000 people work in Canada's nuclear industry, while 800,000 individuals work in nuclear sectors worldwide. The number of females working in these industries has increased over time, making this project much more critical.

The Chair, which falls under CIHR's Gender, Work and Health program, will examine whether men and women are affected differently in nuclear work environments, which includes the nuclear power industry, healthcare and research departments.

Dr. Kovalchuk's work will examine whether females are equally protected in these environments. Established radiation protection guidelines are historically based on how the male's body is affected.

"I will collaborate with researchers in Russia and we will analyze their nuclear industry cohort. The knowledge can be applied in Canada and all over the world," says Kovalchuk, whose work was inspired by her experience as a high school student in the Ukraine in 1986, while living only 600 kilometres from Chernobyl, the site of the worst nuclear accident in history.

This Chair will provide an exciting opportunity to develop an international collaborative network. The network will have research representation from Canada, USA, Russia and key knowledge-users including Defence Research and Development Canada, the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission, Health Canada and the Nuclear Information and Resource (NIRS - USA).

"The Chair will be an initiative that will have a global impact and will position Canada as a global leader in radiation and environmental health research and radiation protection research," says Kovalchuk.

The CIHR award is for $800,000 over five years.

Vice-President (Research) Dr. Dan Weeks says this funding exemplifies the important contribution that U of L researchers are making in improving the quality of life of Canadians.

"This type of research is representative of the impact U of L faculty members continue to make for the benefit of Canadians. Dr. Kovalchuk's work will benefit tremendously a segment of the workforce that faces particular risks," says Weeks. "The impact the U of L is making in health related areas grows every year."

The Canadian Institutes of Health Research is the Government of Canada's health research investment agency. CIHR's mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to enable its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health-care system.

The future of Canadian history

trevor.kenney — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 21:08:56 +0000

Are we becoming a historically illiterate nation or are we already there? What teaching strategies would pique the interest of today's techno-generation?

These are a few of the types of questions U of L education professor Dr. Amy von Heyking and her colleagues from The History Education Network/Histoire et Education en Reseau (THEN/HiER) are investigating.

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) recently awarded the collaborative network $2.1 million to study ways in which teaching Canadian history in the K-12 setting can be made more relevant.

"Children are not being given the opportunity to think http://www.uleth.ca/newsstand/fiat/sites/all/themes/zen/fiat/images/spac... says von Heyking. "Clarifying the skills that historians use – collecting data, interpreting primary documents, assessing evidence, exploring the perspectives of people in the past – all are valuable in helping us improve the curriculum in the K-12 education system."

Through research, von Heyking and THEN/HiER intend to promote historical consciousness, heighten understanding of collective heritage and improve communication between teachers and historians.

Their collaboration extends to various public institutions and the education system – they dialogue with historians, educators, graduate students, heritage agencies and others from across the diverse field of Canadian history.

THEN/HiER works on an international level with history networks based in Australia, the United States and the United Kingdom. In this region, von Heyking will partner with teachers in classroom settings and work directly with education programmers at local museums and heritage sites, such as Head-Smashed-In Buffalo Jump.

"The goal of THEN/HiER is to encourage history education research that is informed by practice, and practice that is informed by research. We will continue to try and find ways to help teachers and public institutions to work together to build links," says von Heyking.

UNews - collaborative network

Kovalchuk earns CIHR Chair

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