UNews - Canada Research Chair

McDaniel one of three finalists for SSHRC Insight Award

caroline.zentner — Wed, 28 Sep 2016 22:40:10 +0000

Dr. Susan McDaniel, a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge sociology professor, has been chosen as one of three top finalists in the Insight Award category of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s (SSHRC) 2016 Impact Awards.

“I extend my respect and congratulations to Susan, whose career is one most of us aspire to but few of us achieve,” says Dr. Claudia Malacrida, associate vice-president of research. “This is a real coup; a quick glance at the history of this award reveals that recipients have primarily come from five institutions in the country."

"I am very honoured that the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge nominated me for this award and deeply pleased to be on the list of three finalists. That said, this award is not about me or individual researchers, but that social science research makes a difference. Sometimes, as in the case of my research, it makes a big difference to policy and Canadian society," says McDaniel.

In addition to McDaniel, the other two finalists are Marc-André Bernier from the Université du Québec à Trois-Riviéres and James Waldram from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Saskatchewan.

Each year, the Impact Awards acknowledge the achievements of exceptional researchers, students and research partners who have received SSHRC funding. Awards are bestowed in several categories, including talent, insight, connection and partnership categories, and a Gold Medal recipient is chosen. This year’s awards ceremonies are scheduled for Nov. 22 in Ottawa.

McDaniel, director of the Prentice Institute and Canada Research Chair in Global Population and Life Course, primarily studies macro-level trends that intersect with the life courses of Canadians and others around the world. She was nominated by the U of L for her work in a SSHRC-funded study that compared Canadians’ and Americans’ views on retirement and financial security in middle age. This research project showed that older people in the future will likely be very different from older people today and their lives are being shaped dramatically by recent economic and political events. These differences highlight the need to adjust policy. From this research project, McDaniel launched another project looking into the aging workforce in Canada and the effects on the future labour market.

As a result of her research work, McDaniel is sought out by policy officials in Canada and elsewhere to advise on a range of social issues and challenges. McDaniel’s work has set the research agenda in several areas of population studies and sociology. Her research project informs a variety of initiatives in social and health policy related to healthy aging. Corporate policies about retirement planning and the aging workforce have been significantly impacted by her research results.

Iwaniuk named a Tier II Canada Research Chair

trevor.kenney — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 16:20:06 +0000

Leading neuroscientist Dr. Andrew Iwaniuk, one of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s emerging young researchers, has been awarded a Tier II Canada Research Chair for a research program aiming to understand how the brain evolves into different sizes and forms in different species.

One of the U of L's emerging young researchers, Dr. Andrew Iwaniuk's research program aims to understand how the brain evolves into different sizes and forms in different species

The Canada Research Chairs program announced a total of 137 new and renewed research Chairs at 34 post-secondary institutions Thursday, committing $118 million to the program, with an additional $7.9 million in infrastructure support provided by the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). The Canada Research Chair program awards $500,000 over five years for Tier II awards.

“Since coming to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, Dr. Iwaniuk has consistently advanced his research program, all the while providing exceptional training for undergraduate and graduate students as well as post-doctoral fellows,” says Dr. Lesley Brown, the U of L’s Interim Vice-President (Research). “His program is an excellent example of the interdisciplinary work conducted on campus and encouraged between faculty members because he combines methods of diverse disciplines, specifically evolutionary biology, behavioural ecology and neuroscience.”

Over the past five years, Iwaniuk, now a Canada Research Chair in Comparative Neuroanatomy, has secured over $1.2 million in funding through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Alberta Ingenuity Fund, CFI and matching funds.

Toronto born, Iwaniuk grew up in Edmonton, Alta. and completed his undergraduate studies at Monash ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ in Australia. He made his way back to Alberta to study under Drs. Sergio Pellis and Ian Whishaw at the U of L, completing a master’s degree in psychology, before earning his doctorate upon return to Monash. He then worked as a post-doctoral fellow at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta and Smithsonian Institution before joining the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge as a faculty member in 2008.

Through his research work, Iwaniuk has received international recognition as an expert in evolutionary neurobiology. At over 500 specimens representing 160 species, he boasts the largest comparative brain collection in Canada and the largest collection of bird brains in the world. One of his more recent studies found that a single brain region that processes visual motion is greatly enlarged in hummingbirds, thus allowing them to maintain a stationary position while feeding. This was the first evidence that hummingbird flight involves neural adaptation.

He says that despite decades of intense neuroscience research, how the brain evolves into different sizes and forms in different species remains a mystery.

“My research aims to resolve this mystery by specifically examining how the brain evolves and why, using a series of cutting edge technologies and analytical methods,” says Iwaniuk. “The results of these studies will yield new information on how the brain evolves, what evolutionary changes in brain anatomy have occurred and why these changes are necessary, all of which are fundamental to understanding brain function in all animals, including humans.”

By better understanding how the brain evolves, Iwaniuk will be able to provide new insights into what makes the human brain unique and why.

Faculty members at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge consistently demonstrate that they are among the very best researchers in Canada. Iwaniuk’s appointment as a Canada Research Chair in Comparative Neuroanatomy brings to 33 the number of research Chair appointments at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. More information on U of L researchers is available on the U of L research website.

Alexander named Canada Research Chair in Child and Youth Studies

trevor.kenney — Fri, 22 Nov 2013 18:21:05 +0000

The Government of Canada has named Dr. Kristine Alexander, an assistant professor of history at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge, a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Child and Youth Studies.

Alexander, who investigates how 20th-century children and youth were affected by imperialism, globalization and war, is the U of L’s first Chair in the humanities. Alexander says the Chair appointment will add capacity to an important area of historical research.

Dr. Kristine Alexander is the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ's first Chair in the humanities disciplines.

“As Canada Research Chair in Children and Youth Studies, I hope to challenge and enrich our understanding of children and youth by using new sources and innovative interpretive methods to ask how young people in Canada and beyond understood and responded to British imperialism and the First World War,” says Alexander. “This multidisciplinary research will increase our understanding of the longer history of contemporary concerns about the effects of globalization and war on young people.”

Alexander’s work involves examining the photographic records produced by the global Boy Scout and Girl Guide movements – an unparalleled and understudied body of information about global and local childhoods across the 20th century. She is also using family letters to ask how the First World War affected young people’s family relationships, emotional well-being and gender roles, while tracing the ways in which families and young people interacted with the Canadian state and volunteer organizations.

Alexander arrived at the U of L in July, after completing post-doctoral fellowships at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Saskatchewan and Western ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. She received her PhD in history from York ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ and has successfully published many peer-reviewed journal articles.

Vice-President (Research) Dr. Dan Weeks says Alexander’s work on the past has relevance for how society makes decisions for the future.

“Having a thorough understanding of the retrospective is key in ensuring that social policy going forward is sound,” says Weeks.

He adds that Alexander’s Chair appointment demonstrates the strength of the social science and humanities research conducted at the U of L.

“This is a tremendous addition to the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ. Dr. Alexander’s research record is exemplary,” says Weeks. “Her appointment builds on the established strength the U of L has in Canadian history, as well as increases the capacity of the U of L’s recently established Institute for Child & Youth Studies (I-CYS).”

Alexander has assumed the role of co-director of I-CYS along with Dr. Jan Newberry, Chair of the U of L’s department of anthropology. She says the CRC appointment will enable her and her colleagues to conduct important research that will be of value to scholars, educators, and policy makers, while providing research and learning opportunities for U of L students.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge’s Institute for Child & Youth Studies is a multidisciplinary research institute committed to examining what children and youth mean as social, demographic, artistic, legal and existential categories. While strongly grounded in the humanities and social sciences, I-CYS is also a community-building project. Through events, an e-newsletter, and its website, the Institute fosters conversations and collaborations that cross the boundaries of traditional academic disciplines, while creating links between scholars, practitioners and community members. Its aim is to foster innovative, cross-disciplinary research, both curiosity and policy-driven, about young people.

The Government of Canada is providing $108.9 million through the Canada Research Chairs Program to support 135 newly awarded and renewed Canada Research Chairs. Of that total, 26 researchers have been recruited from abroad, including 11 Canadians returning to work in their home country. The research will be conducted at 41 Canadian post-secondary institutions and will lead to benefits for Canadian families, businesses, practitioners and policy-makers.

The Canada Research Chairs Program was created with an annual budget of $300 million to establish up to 2,000 research professorships across the country and to position Canada as a world leader in post-secondary research. The program currently supports researchers in more than 70 Canadian post-secondary institutions who are conducting studies in natural sciences and engineering, health sciences, and social sciences and humanities disciplines.

UNews - Canada Research Chair

McDaniel one of three finalists for SSHRC Insight Award

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