1. Indigenous Futurities

Faculty: Ashley Day, School of Kinesiology & Health Science
Funding: SSHRC

Decolonizing physical education
It wasn’t until she worked as a physical education teacher that Ashley Day realized that her own love of sports and athletic competition weren’t universal. Day, a lecturer of Dene and settler backgrounds, began exploring physical education for her PhD dissertation with input from urban Indigenous co-researchers who shared their own experiences of gym class. Her resulting research explores what health and well-being mean for diverse urban Indigenous Peoples and how these perspectives could decolonize physical education.

“Collectively, the research found how traumatic physical education classes are, especially for people of different abilities, different cultures, and those of diverse genders and sexualities,” says Day. “Physical education is very colonial, hierarchical, and focuses mainly on ball sports.

“It’s important to invert the top-down process and work from the bottom up. It’s about autonomy, sovereignty and the self-determination to move freely and to explore physical activities that are more holistic.”

Drawing on Indigenous ways of knowing, being, worldviews and laws, scholars are conducting research that is relevant to and respects Indigenous life and approaches to knowledge and learning, while enhancing cultural, economic and environmental sustainability. 

Day notes that this doesn’t mean eradicating what already exists; it simply means acknowledging that other ways exist, too.

“There is value in all paradigms, but we’ve just privileged one,” she says. “We need to make room for different ways of engaging movement and wellness that aren’t so involved with competition and competencies.”

It surprised Day to discover how traumatic many people found their physical education experiences to be, even years later.

“People remember these experiences vividly,” she says. “It can be traumatic for people who aren’t sports people and can be ostracizing to be watched and graded. I want to challenge that very narrow view of physical education, because some people are so turned off, it can take decades to come back to physical activity.”

Day’s research has implications for Indigenous communities and beyond.

“It’s about rethinking and expanding how we do physical education to be more reflective and supportive of students.”

2. Digital Cultures

Faculty: Ian Garrett, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design
Funding: SSHRC; Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts
Collaborators: Tarah Wright, Dalhousie University

Changing how we think of the world through sustainable art
Ian Garrett is using art to promote a more sustainable world. Garrett, who teaches ecological design for performance at 91��ɫ, views sustainability and the arts as a symbiosis through which we can mobilize action against climate change.

“We perform through the lens of society and civilization, but we can also use the arts to perform to the type of society we want to live in,” says Garrett, who is also a producer for the U.S.-Canadian company Toasterlab and director of the Centre for Sustainable Practice in the Arts.

Garrett’s research ranges from practical approaches – such as sourcing green materials and renewable energy in theatre production – to the use of sustainability within the arts to impact change.

91��ɫ researchers are addressing how the digital world influences the way we live, interact and conduct business.

One project is Creative Green Tools Canada, which brings together researchers and arts councils from across the country to learn sustainable strategies. Creative Green Tools Canada includes a comprehensive mechanism for carbon calculation and reporting tools to allow arts organizations to record and monitor their own carbon footprint.

“Our societal values around sustainability and equity inclusion are reshaping the way the cultural sector functions,” he says.

Collaborating with Tarah Wright (Dalhousie University) on a SSHRC Insight Grant, Garrett will examine the way sustainability is represented through the arts. The project unites Canadian and global scholars, artists and practitioners working in sustainability and the arts to examine the barriers and to develop a comprehensive research strategy for a sustainable future.

“You can’t make art that isn’t within the context of climate change because that is the world we’re living in. My hope is that we can use quantitative and qualitative research to get us to the other side of the climate crisis.”

03. Healthy Individuals, Healthy Communities & Global Health

Faculty: Rebecca Pillai Riddell, Faculty of Health
Funding: CIHR; IBM Canada (through SOSCIP)
Collaborators: Indigenous Friends Association; 360ºkids; Strongest Families Institute; Strong Minds Strong Kids, Psychology Canada

A model for inclusive mental health
A wave of awareness has grown around de-stigmatizing mental health over the last 10 years, yet many racial, ethnic and gender-diverse groups remain at risk for poor mental health outcomes. Professor Rebecca Pillai Riddell aims to change that through a revolutionary new research and training initiative.

Pillai Riddell and a leadership team of eight principal investigators from six Canadian institutions have received $5.45 million to develop a Digital, Inclusive, Virtual and Equitable Research Training in Mental Health platform (DIVERT), which will be accessible to all future learners in the field.

“The current mental health system adopts a Eurocentric view that doesn’t serve everyone equally,” explains Pillai Riddell.

DIVERT will pool resources nationally to offer a broad spectrum of training, expertise and diversity to students at every level. IBM Canada, through SOSCIP, will provide access to sophisticated computing infrastructure to develop tools such as chatbot apps and AI techniques that can be used to gain insight into mental health.

91��ɫ researchers are bridging new knowledge and applications to improve the understanding, prevention and treatment of disease and injuries, and to support healthier environments for individuals and communities.

“This technology can help us predict the proper course of action as well as manage assessments for patients, determine which patients are most susceptible to suicidality, and who can benefit from early intervention. Right now, we are limited to what one human mind can process.”

Pillai Riddell says the interdisciplinarity of the team, which includes 80 collaborators, is critical.

“Mental health doesn’t live within one discipline. That’s why we’re bringing together social workers, clinical psychologists, physicians, nurses, occupational therapists and computer scientists to move mental health research in a way that increases inclusivity and accessibility.”

4. Integration of Artificial Intelligence in Society

Faculty: Ian Stedman, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
Funding: CIHR
Collaborators: Alistair Johnson, Mjaye Mazwim Melissa McCradden (SickKids)

AI and child health care data: addressing issues of accountability and privacy

How do we ethically use pediatric data, while protecting one of our most vulnerable populations?

That is a question Ian Stedman, a professor at the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and an alumnus of Osgoode Hall Law School, aims to address. His research involves developing parameters around a social licence for reusing routinely collected pediatric health data to enable and foster future research by addressing issues around privacy, cybersecurity and ethics.

For Stedman, who was diagnosed with a rare disease called Muckle-Wells syndrome (MWS) in his 30s, the research has a personal motivation.

“During the first 18 years of my life I had close to 200 regular visits to my GP for the seven same symptoms, which I now know were associated with my diagnosis. Today, AI technologies could have diagnosed my disease by the eighth visit,” says Stedman.

MWS, which can include symptoms such as severe fever, rash and joint pain, is so rare that Stedman was the 12^th person in Canada to be diagnosed. The 13^th person to be diagnosed was his then one-year-old daughter Lia (now age nine).

91��ɫ researchers are applying equitable and moral perspectives to AI technologies to maximize benefits and minimize harm and unintended consequences for the communities we serve.

“There are a lot of conversations about mechanisms of accountability and what changes within the legal, policy and regulatory environments will be necessary to ensure that AI advances in an equitable, legal and ethical way,” says Stedman, a member of the CIHR’s Institute for Genetics (IG) Advisory Board, a legal member on SickKids’ Research Ethics Board and a member of 91��ɫ’s AI and Society Task Force.

He hopes to develop a framework that legitimizes AI and data-driven health research.

“We have these academic centres at the University Hospital Network, Mount Sinai and SickKids, where revolutionary work is being undertaken but rarely commercialized. Getting this research out across provincial jurisdictions so the broader Canadian health care community can benefit will be a gamechanger.”

5. Public Engagement for a Just and Sustainable World

Faculty: Carl Everton James, Faculty of Education

Exploring how power differential fuels bullying  
Bullying in the classroom is more than what a student or teacher does to another person, maintains Carl James, who holds the Jean Augustine Chair in Education, Community and Diaspora in the Faculty of Education. James is also the recipient of the 2022 Killam Prize.

“In exploring bullying, you must look at how societal power imbalances are replicated in the classroom and in teaching materials. We constantly need to be exploring how these inequities are playing out,” says James, who is also the University’s senior advisor on equity and representation. James is widely recognized for his research contributions in the area of the intersectionality of race with ethnicity, gender, class and citizenship as they shape constructs of identity. 

He cites an example in Minnesota where a professor used the “N-word” and justified it, saying it was in the textbook being used. “The professor wasn’t paying attention to how it was making the students feel devalued. 

“In both high schools and universities, there is a lack of curriculum that speaks to all students’ experiences. It’s not appropriate to say, ‘I don’t have to pay attention to your experience because this is the curriculum.’ That attitude is representative of the power dynamic in society that justifies who can prescribe ideas and what ideas they prescribe. To be inclusive, we should not be reinforcing such power differentials.” 

James believes that it’s important to foster an equitable learning environment, and to use materials that reflect our cultural diversity as well as our historical, social and political context. 

Societal issues such as climate change, racism and political polarization are increasing inequalities. 91��ɫ researchers are challenging the status quo and addressing the origins, nature and consequences of inequality and oppression.

“In the classroom, the curriculum we construct must be based on the students we are teaching. Our pedagogical approach must take into account the ways students engage with the learning material. 

“Students are not neutral parties,” he adds. “They come with experiences shaped by identities such as race and gender. Teaching is much more effective when relationships are established, and the experiences students bring to class are supported by what we are teaching.” 

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Vincci Li, PhD candidate, social and political thought

Li was named one of the five best “storytellers” of 2022 in a national competition held by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). The Storytellers project challenges scholars to exhibit how social sciences and humanities research helps create positive change locally and globally. Li’s submission was entitled “Crowdfunding for Our Lives,” an innovative study exploring the experience of Canadians who have raised or given money through crowdfunding platforms like GoFundMe or FundRazr for personal health-related expenses. Li’s goal was to understand public opinions about the ideal balance of public versus private provisioning. Her research raises important questions about the roles of government, the philanthropic sector and individuals in providing for Canadians under neo-liberalism. The issues which this project addresses are vital to investigate, especially in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, in an effort to explore how Canadians care for, and ought to care for, one another in times of need.

Michaela Pnacekova, PhD candidate, cinema and media studies

Pnacekova’s focus lies in usage of algorithms and AI in creating new non-fictional narratives as ways to increase algorithmic and data literacy. With researchers still wrangling over whether people can produce or perceive emotional expressions with fidelity, many in the field think efforts to apply emotional AI are premature.

The underlying processes of emotional AI – machine learning and computer vision – function as apparatuses through which human and non-human agents are produced: perceived, interpreted and constructed. Pnacekova’s research-creation project introduces the connection between affect theory, new materialism and AI.

She proposes a methodology to co-create AI art critically and with agency through an embodied experience in expanded reality. More concretely, her focus is on the apparatus of emotional AI as an artistic tool. She interrogates a new understanding of the ways discursive practices are related to the material world through the lens of quantum physics. The project thus represents an attempt to de-rationalize and queer the patriarchal, heteronormative and colonial structures in technology and academia via delving into sentience and affect through an immersive, emotional and embodied co-creative experience.  

Natalie Richer, PhD candidate, socio-legal studies

Richer explores the potential to decolonize sites of institutional power, including museums and universities, by challenging imperialist histories of curatorial and exhibition knowledge and of knowledge production more generally. Through a collaborative undertaking with a Canadian Indigenous visual artist, Richer is curating a digital exhibition of visual representations that makes way for the transgressing of dominant conceptualizations of human subjectivity.

Nonetheless, opposed to focusing on the actual creative “output,” her key interest regards the collaborative process in-and-of-itself. She is documenting this experience via autoethnography and storytelling, highlighting it as the substantive entry point into an interdisciplinary disruption of knowledge’s colonial ordering.

Joshua Shaw, PhD candidate, law

Shaw is a legal theorist (otherwise known as a “jurisprudent”) who researches laws in contemporary and historical Canada, and historical England and Australia. His research pertains to the use and disposal of dead human bodies and body parts, and the legal theories that make sense of such laws. His PhD dissertation looks specifically at laws that result in bodies and body parts becoming disposable as waste, in the sense of having a disposal other than burial (or cremation) upon death or becoming property. His theoretical writings draw on qualitative social research and archival methods.

The Faculty of Graduate Studies at 91��ɫ is proud of the groundbreaking research conducted by members of our graduate community and is dedicated to empowering scholars for long-term success!

Learn more at Knowledge Now, 91��ɫ’s graduate research showcase: yorku.ca/gradstudies/knowledge-now/

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Centre for Artificial Intelligence & Society (CAIS)

CAIS unites researchers who are collectively advancing state of the art theory and practice of artificial intelligence (AI) systems, law, governance and public policy. The research focuses on AI systems that address societal priorities in health care, smart cities and sustainability, and are fair, explainable, reliable and trusted. 

Centre for Bee Ecology, Evolution and Conservation

The mission of the BEEc is to foster interdisciplinary, innovative, collaborative and cutting-edge research to be used for the advancement of knowledge and implementation of policy changes to help sustain pollinators globally.

Centre for Feminist Research / Le centre de recherches féministes 

The CFR promotes feminist activities and collaborative research at 91��ɫ and works to establish research linkages between 91��ɫ scholars and local, national, international and transnational communities. Feminist research is conceived of in broad terms, as being concerned with issues of women, gender, class, race, sexuality, ability and feminism.

Centre for Indigenous Knowledges and Languages

This ORU supports research involving both traditional and contemporary knowledges, as care-taken, shared and created by Indigenous scholars located in the University and by Indigenous knowledge holders from communities. It aims to facilitate research and knowledge production and dissemination, by Indigenous and non-Indigenous scholars, that re-centres Indigenous knowledges, languages, practices and ways of being.

The mandate of this ORU, based in the Lassonde School of Engineering, is to establish itself as a nationally leading and internationally recognized research unit focusing on the science of computing and its realization to enable novel solutions and technologies.

Centre for Integrative and Applied Neuroscience (CIAN)

disease. One in three Canadians will experience a brain-related health disorder. The Centre for Integrative and Applied Neuroscience (CIAN) mobilizes research to address health, education, industry, and other applications important for the global community.  

The CRS is an interdisciplinary community of researchers dedicated to advancing the well-being of refugees and others displaced by violence, persecution, human rights abuses and environmental degradation, through innovative research, education and policy engagement.

CRESS facilitates research activity within the areas of planetary exploration, climate and environment, and space technology.

The CRBI brings together researchers to further understanding of the mechanistic details of how biomolecules interact with one another, the relationship between biomolecular interactions and cellular processes, and how biomolecular interactions can be used to diagnose and treat diseases.

The CRLCC is the bilingual research unit of Glendon Campus. It brings together the research activities of 91��ɫ faculty and students who investigate various aspects of language contact at both societal and individual levels.

Centre for Research on Latin America and the Caribbean

CERLAC is a 91��ɫ-based hub for inter- and multidisciplinary research on Latin America and the Caribbean, their diasporas, and their relations with Canada and the rest of the world.

The DIGHR furthers research, teaching, policy and practice around three main themes:  planetary health, global health and humanitarianism, and global health foresighting.

The GLRC engages in the study of work, employment and labour in the context of a constantly changing global economy.

The (IRDL) explores the diverse and evolving uses and implications of media and technology in formal and informal learning environments, and in digital culture more generally.

Institute for Social Research

The ISR undertakes research that engages interdisciplinary social issues through research methodologies that involve survey, quantitative and mixed methods research.

Institute for Technoscience and Society (ITS)

ITS is a global hub of critical and interdisciplinary research and knowledge mobilization on the relationship between technoscience and society, especially the configuration of social power underpinning scientific claims, medical practices, emerging technologies, and sites of innovation. 

This is Canada’s first interdisciplinary research centre in Jewish studies, bringing together a vibrant community of scholars and teachers to promote cutting-edge research in the field.

The Nathanson Centre focuses on the development and facilitation of a cross-disciplinary program of research and project initiatives to enhance knowledge of issues related to a variety of transnational phenomena that are rapidly changing society, law and governance.

LaMarsh Centre for Child and Youth Research

The LaMarsh Centre is a collaborative group of faculty and students that supports community-engaged interdisciplinary research in health, education, relationships and development of infants, children, adolescents, emerging adults and families everywhere.

Muscle Health Research Centre

The MHRC provides a centralized and focused research emphasis on the importance of skeletal muscle to the overall health and well-being of Canadians.

OneWATER

One Water will greatly enhance our capacity to address the diverse aspects of the ongoing water sustainability crises, attract and train future leaders in the field, educate the public, innovate with industrial partners, and attract external competitive funding and endowments.

Risk and Insurance Studies Centre

The RISC is a national and international research hub that pursues a holistic approach to the field of insurance and related topics.

The Robarts Centre is a 21st-century research engine for the study of Canada and “Canada in the world.”

Sensorium is a research centre for creative inquiry and experimentation at the intersection of media arts, performance and digital culture.

The City Institute at 91��ɫ

This interdisciplinary institute facilitates critical and collaborative research, providing new knowledge and innovative approaches to comprehending and addressing the complexity of the urban arena.

The Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on Africa and Its Diasporas

The Harriet Tubman Institute is the preeminent interdisciplinary centre for research, both historical and contemporary, on Africa and its global diasporas.

91��ɫ Centre for Asian Research

The YCAR is a community of researchers who are committed to analyzing the changing historical and contemporary dynamics of societies in Asia, understanding Asia’s place in the world, and studying the experiences of Asian communities in Canada and around the globe.

The CVR pursues world-class interdisciplinary research and training in visual science and its applications.

91��ɫ Emergency Mitigation, Engagement, Response, and Governance Institute (Y-EMERGE) 

Y-EMERGE works to transform the way societies understand, manage and govern crises, disasters, and emergencies through community-engaged scholarship, real-world research, and evidence-based training for effective emergency management.

The vision of YU-CARE is to promote graceful aging by approaching the subject with active and positive responses to changes and challenges throughout the process on a societal and individual level.

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Steeves is a professor in the Department of Psychology in the Faculty of Health; a member of the Centre for Vision Research (CVA); a core member of Vision: Science to Applications (VISTA); and a Tier I 91��ɫ Research Chair in Non-Invasive Visual Brain Stimulation. Prior to accepting the role of associate vice-president research, Professor Steeves served as associate dean of research and graduate education for the Faculty of Science from 2018 to 2021 and as director of the 91��ɫ MRI Facility.

91��ɫ appoints Jennifer MacLean as AVP innovation & research partnerships

With more than 10 years in Canadian innovation, MacLean is a thought leader in industry and research partnerships, and in driving innovation for entrepreneurs and startups. Prior to accepting the role of associate vice-president research & partnerships, she was vice-president, research and innovation, of Aspire Food Group, a scaleup for low-cost, high density, ethical food-grade protein production. She has also worked in leadership roles at NGen, Canada’s advanced manufacturing supercluster; SOSCIP, an industry-academic research consortium; and Mitacs.

Funding Annoucements

Announced in August 2021, the partnership aims to support the long-term success of Black entrepreneurs and business owners in Canada. With significant investment from the federal government, the partnership will provide better access to education and opportunities to promote Black entrepreneurship. Partners include Black Creek Community Health Centre, Black Creek Community Farm, Schulich Executive Education Centre, 91��ɫ-TD Community Engagement Centre and 91��ɫ’s entrepreneurship hub, YSpace.

In December 2021, the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation launched the Catalyzing Interdisciplinary Research Clusters (CIRC) program to fund six proposals. The projects will advance groundbreaking research to support areas of importance, including disaster and risk governance, artificial intelligence (AI) and society, digital cultures and financial technologies.

In February 2022, 91��ɫ announced the Black Research Seed Fund to provide funding and mentorship support for Black academics. The fund contains two streams: the Open Research Fund, which has awarded three Black scholars $25,000 each to support their research for 24 months; and the Collaborative Research Fund, which has awarded $25,000 each to three early-career Black researchers who plan to collaborate with a Black scholar on a 24-month project.

91��ɫ‘s Indigenous Research Seed Fund provides emerging and established Indigenous scholars with support for research that advances excellence in Indigenous knowledge, languages and ways of knowing and being. The first call for applications was administered by the University’s Indigenous Council and announced in May 2022. Ten scholars were awarded grants, receiving a total of $204,298. An additional $795,000 will be committed over three years.

In June, more than 40 research projects at 91��ɫ received a combined $16 million in funding from SSHRC, including $10 million in Partnership Grants. The funding supports long-term research projects in anti-homelessness, global health, 2SLGBTQ+ poverty and Indigenous rights and reconciliation.

Research Partnerships

91��ɫ formalized partnerships with a number of municipalities in the 91��ɫ Region. In June, the University signed a . Under this memorandum of understanding, 91��ɫ and the municipality will work together to build on shared priorities. These include 91��ɫ’s Markham Campus and a commitment to a wide range of projects to enhance experiential learning and employment opportunities, continuing and professional development and research and innovation. 91��ɫ also an MOU with the Town of Aurora to address common goals of mobilizing new knowledge and learning experiences for “smart communities.”

YSpace announced an expansion into the northern 91��ɫ region with the Towns of Georgina and East Gwillimbury. The collaboration will support entrepreneurs in gaining the skills, tools and networks they need to be successful within these dynamic and rapidly growing municipalities.

Strategic Research

This organized research unit (ORU) is the first of its kind at 91��ɫ. Led by inaugural Director Deborah McGregor, a 91��ɫ professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Environmental Justice at Osgoode Hall Law School, the ORU advances Indigenous and decolonizing research.

The report, , identifies AI as a key area of growth for the University. Launched in November 2021, it is the result of the task force’s work to develop ideas and examine options for building and featuring 91��ɫ’s research strengths in AI. Key recommendations from  include expanding 91��ɫ’s faculty strength through strategic cluster hiring of researchers with interests in core technical topics; developing interdisciplinary curriculum initiatives, with new academic programs and research partnerships across 91��ɫ’s faculties; and establishing a University-resourced platform such as an organized research unit (ORU), to serve as a showcase to attract students, partners and donors.

A Place of Online Learning for the Adjudication of Researchers Inclusively and Supportively (POLARIS) is an online asynchronous education and learning hub to foster equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in the adjudication of professors in research and on search committees. POLARIS is offered through a collaboration of the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation; Office of the Vice-President Equity, People and Culture; and the Provost’s Office. It offers six core online modules on EDI for faculty adjudications that can be completed at their own pace.

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In June 2020, 91��ɫ launched its , which included a University-wide challenge to elevate 91��ɫ’s contribution to the SDGs.

91��ɫ’s community of changemakers have proven themselves up for the challenge.

91��ɫ is highly ranked in these SDGs

• SDG 11: Top 10 in the world Sustainable Cities and Communities
• SDG 16: Top 10 in the world Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions
• SDG 5: #1 in Canada Gender Equality
• Top 35 in the world Times Higher Education Impact Rankings

Below are some of 91��ɫ’s rankings and some of its accomplishments toward specific SDGs:

SDG 4: Quality Education
Making sure Black students feel seen and heard

Faculty: Molade Osibodu, Faculty of Education
Funding: 91��ɫ Black Seed Research Fund

Even in diverse Canadian and American school systems, Black youth often struggle to feel like they belong in math classes. Molade Osibodu’s research aims to develop equitable approaches to ensure that Black students feel seen and valued in their learning. Her work dissects the social, political and cultural factors that impact Black youth learning in mathematics in racialized contexts, specifically in countries such as Canada and the U.S.

“I’m invested in the ways that Black youth, their experiences and their home communities are represented in their math learning and spaces,” says Osibodu, a professor in the Faculty of Education. Osibodu received the 2021 Pat Clifford Award for emerging researchers, presented by the EdCan Network, for her research in this area.

“I’m Nigerian and have been living outside of Nigeria for 20 years. I started my undergraduate degree in the U.S. when I was 16. I’ve had a long time to think about my own experiences.”

“The narrative is not whether Black students love math or are successful in math, but what they experience when they’re learning math.”

She cautions that society tends to focus on encouraging Black students to pursue careers in industry.

“We tend to encourage Black youth engaged in STEM fields to pursue careers in industry as opposed to teaching, which is a disservice for racialized youth, who need more teachers who look like them.

“What I care about the most is that Black youth feel like they were given opportunities to learn,” she says.

SDG 5: Gender Equality
Giving motherhood the respect it deserves

Faculty: Andrea O’Reilly, School of Gender, Sexuality & Women’s Studies 
Funding: SSHRC

Professor Andrea O’Reilly has put motherhood on the map as a legitimate field of scholarly study.

“I became a mother at 23 in 1984 and was dismayed at how invisible the topic of motherhood was in the undergraduate women’s studies and English courses I was taking,” says O’Reilly. “The same was true during my master’s and my PhD and I wondered, ‘Why?’ Motherhood was as worthy of intellectual inquiry as anything else.”

In the early 1990s, O’Reilly established and taught the first Canadian university course on motherhood and has taught it every year since. She also realized that there was no place for motherhood scholars to gather, so she founded the Motherhood Initiative and served as its director for more than 20 years.

In 1999, she created the Journal of the Motherhood Initiative as a place for scholars to publish their research in the field, and in 2006 she founded Demeter Press, which publishes scholarly works on motherhood topics. O’Reilly has also edited/authored more than 25 books on various motherhood topics, including one that introduces a feminism for mothers, which she has termed “matricentric feminism.” In March 2021, O’Reilly co-edited , with contributions from 70 scholars in a dozen countries.

“We were thanking everyone for their contributions during COVID, but there was no recognition of the extra work mothers were doing to keep their families and communities running throughout the pandemic: working full time while tutoring their children, for example,” she says.

"We needed a book to document this and to expose the fault lines in our culture and the burdens mothers were shouldering."

O’Reilly’s most recent grants will allow her to conduct a three-year study of young mothers across Canada to see how they can be better supported. She will also compare the impact of COVID-19 on the lives of mothers in Canada and in Australia to see how life has changed post-lockdown.

SDG 11 – Sustainable Cities and Communities
Planning for socially sustainable cities 

Faculty: Luisa Sotomayor, Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change
Collaborator: Liette Gilbert, Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change
Funding: Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change Small Grant

Luisa Sotomayor’s research investigates the social sustainability of cities through the lens of groups who are usually precluded from urban planning decisions, despite their contributions to urban life. “While planners increasingly recognize the need to include the voices and lived experiences of historically marginalized publics, people facing socio-legal exclusions, such as undocumented migrants, continue to be excluded from planning processes and adequate policy formulation,” says Sotomayor.

Together with Liette Gilbert, a fellow professor in the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change, Sotomayor is examining the barriers to housing and urban services for non-status populations in Toronto. Such barriers are a growing problem around the world, amid war-torn nations and groups fleeing persecution. The UN Refugee Agency recorded 82.4 million people worldwide who were forcibly displaced by the end of 2020. Many of them have no rights or limited status in the countries they relocate to, and securing housing is a pressing concern.

As a sanctuary city, Toronto has a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy that aims to give undocumented populations a layer of protection against deportation. The initiative provides non-status immigrants with access to certain services delivered by the city, including community centres, health clinics and settlement support. However, many services fall under the provincial purview, creating gaps, including access to social housing and rent-geared-to-income programs.

"Non-status migrants are left to their own devices in one of the world's most expensive rental housing markets."

She says this pushes them to informal arrangements where they may experience overcrowding, unsafe dwelling conditions or landlord exploitation.

Sotomayor insists that policies which legalize rooming houses and enable more flexibility in rental agreements play a huge role in supporting sustainable living for undocumented residents. Furthermore, the creation of well-located affordable housing with access to green spaces, libraries, community centres and reliable transit will also support the socially sustainable cities of the future. 

SDG 15: Life on Land
Nurturing ecosystems by protecting bee populations

Faculty: Sheila Colla, Faculty of Science
Funding: Weston Family Foundation; 91��ɫ; NSERC Discovery Grant; New Frontiers in Research Fund

Sheila Colla has spent her academic career studying and advocating for the conservation of wild bees, of which there are upwards of 20,000 species. Some of these are experiencing a worrying decline in Canada and the U.S.

Colla’s research led to the rusty patch bumblebee being the first bee species listed as endangered in Canada and the U.S. Her research mobilized federal and provincial governments to dedicate resources to conserving this and other wildlife species, and supported policy that required new land developments and gas lines to be surveyed and studied to assess their future impact on endangered bee populations.

“Counting bees and searching for rare populations doesn’t translate to change on its own,” says Colla, who holds a Tier II 91��ɫ Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Conservation Science and teaches in the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change. “I’ve been working in this area for 15 years. We need more awareness of the connection between livestock bees, wild bees and their relationships to the ecosystem.

"In Canada, bees are the most important pollinating group. Not only do they support natural ecosystems like trees and flowers, which then produce food and shelter for songbirds and small mammals, but they also benefit conventional and urban agriculture."

There is a lot of research on crop systems that demonstrates that when it comes to pollination, even when managed bees are being used, wild bees do much of the pollination.

“We know with climate change that we’re going to experience more ecological disruptions in the future, like summer droughts and spring ice storms. If we want our ecosystems and food systems to be resilient during these changes, we need to conserve diverse wild bee communities,” she says.

SDG 16: Peace, Justice & Strong Institutions
Repairing the land, repairing the people

Faculty: Deborah McGregor, Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change; Osgoode Hall Law School
Funding: Canada Research Chairs Program (SSHRC, CIHR, NSERC)

“Until we make peace with the Earth, we won’t have peace among people,” explains Deborah McGregor. McGregor is Anishinaabe from Whitefish River First Nation, Birch Island, Ontario. She is a professor in the Faculty of Environmental & Urban Change and at Osgoode Hall Law School, and holds a Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Environmental Justice.   

Her research focuses on Indigenous knowledge systems in a variety of contexts, including water, environment and environmental and climate justice and governance. Supporting Indigenous self-determined futures is at the core of her work. She also serves as director of the Centre for Indigenous Knowledges and Languages (CIKL), the first organized research unit of its kind at 91��ɫ, which aims to advance Indigenous and decolonizing scholarship.  

McGregor says the key to peace, justice and strong institutions is to repair the relationships among peoples and extend that to the natural world, striving for planetary well-being. 

"The planet is very much in crisis in terms of ecology, climate, water and biodiversity."

“As Indigenous Peoples, we’re trying to figure out how planetary well-being relates to our own journey for a self-determined future, and how to bring our knowledge, language, laws and governance to the fore in support of this broader goal.” 

The rapid increase and intensity of environmental disasters such as floods and wildfires are the Earth’s reaction to the detrimental actions of people, says McGregor. “We hear a narrative that the Earth is turning against us, but it isn’t the Earth that needs to change, it’s people. “Part of my work centres around how we can take better care of the planet so it is livable for future generations and all life. I’d like to see my children and grandchildren, and future generations, have a healthy place to live in their future.” 

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