National Film Board of Canada Archives | Research & Innovation /research/tag/national-film-board-of-canada/ Wed, 29 Jan 2025 19:47:06 +0000 en-CA hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.9.10 Passings: Film professor Douglas Davidson learned his craft at CBC and NFB /research/2011/04/29/passings-film-professor-douglas-davidson-learned-his-craft-at-cbc-and-nfb-2/ Fri, 29 Apr 2011 08:00:00 +0000 /researchdev/2011/04/29/passings-film-professor-douglas-davidson-learned-his-craft-at-cbc-and-nfb-2/ Douglas Drysdale Davidson, a film editor, television producer and director who taught film at 91ÑÇɫ for 30 years, died April 3 at his home in Toronto. He was 82. A memorial service will be held today in the A.W. Miles Chapel at the Humphrey Funeral Home, 1403 Bayview Ave., at 11am. 91ÑÇɫ has lowered the flag […]

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Douglas Drysdale Davidson, a film editor, television producer and director who taught film at 91ÑÇɫ for 30 years, died April 3 at his home in Toronto. He was 82.

A memorial service will be held today in the A.W. Miles Chapel at the Humphrey Funeral Home, 1403 Bayview Ave., at 11am. 91ÑÇɫ has lowered the flag today in his memory.

Born in Toronto in 1929, Prof. Davidson graduated from the University of Toronto in 1952 and began work as a stagehand in live CBC television dramas. His career moved into film editing at the National Film Board (NFB) in Ottawa, where he co-founded the NFB Film Guild and helped organize a comprehensive survey of international documentary filmmaking. Later, he returned to the CBC and Toronto, where he was also active – sometimes as a programmer – in the Toronto Film Society.

During the late 1950s and early 1960s, he produced and directed children’s programs for the CBC, including “The Friendly Giant”, “Mr. Dress-Up”, “Junior Roundup”, “Maggie Muggins” and “Nursery School Time”. He also produced the after-school series “Passport to Adventure”, featuring Elwy Yost as host of serialized feature films chosen to fire the imaginations of young viewers, a precursor to Yost’s later TVO series “Magic Shadows”. The two men would team up again in 1977 when Prof. Davidson produced a season of TVO’s “Saturday Night at the Movies” and produced his own series, “Aspects of Cinema”, exploring all aspects of the art of cinema.

Prof. Davidson’s teaching career began in 1970, in the second year of 91ÑÇɫ’s pioneering film program with founding chair James Beveridge. For three decades, he taught film editing, with rigorous attention to detail and meaning, as well as film history and theory, conveying a profound respect for the art of cinema. He loved the work of François Truffaut, Federico Fellini and Ingmar Bergman, but came alive when sharing the art of film dance or talking about the poetry of film.

He had a broad and eclectic interest in all films, from the silent films of Buster Keaton, Charlie Chaplin, Lillian Gish and D.W. Griffith to the comedies of Preston Sturges and Ernst Lubitsch, from the Hollywood musical to the documentary art of Leni Riefenstahl, from Norman McLaren shorts to Fellini’s 8 1/2 and Robert Altman’s Nashville.

As a film-programming consultant, he was often invited to speak about educational television, the design, choreography and production of Hollywood musicals, the practice of musical "quoting" in Hollywood musical scores and other related topics.

In an obituary, his family described him as a gentleman and humanitarian, a man of integrity and kindness, and a gentle soul who developed many friendships.

At 91ÑÇɫ, he was particularly close to 91ÑÇɫ film Professor Tereza Barta and Ryerson University film instructor Laurinda Hartt-Fournier, who wrote in a note published on the funeral home website: “Doug, you were my best friend for 40 years and affected my life profoundly as a teacher, director, film editor, film admirer (much more than a film fan) and a wonderfully supportive friend. You are missed, but all the students I have taught in the past 20 years have been the recipients of your love of film and your joy in it through how I teach and what I teach.”

Prof. Davidson is predeceased by his wife Catherine and survived by his brother Ronald, stepdaughter Christine Thomson and her son Jeremy, as well as his nieces Robin Tonna (Vincent), Kelly Davidson and nephew Cameron Davidson. In latter years, longtime friend Catherine Lawson and her sons, Thomas and David, welcomed Professor Davidson into their lives.

Donations may be made to the Heart & Stroke Foundation of Ontario, 2300 Yonge St., Suite 1300, PO Box 2414, Toronto, ON, M4P 1E4 or charity of your choice.

Condolences and memories may be forwarded through .

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91ÑÇɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Filmmaker draws inspiration from work of Global Suburbanisms team /research/2011/01/25/filmmaker-draws-inspiration-from-work-of-global-suburbanisms-team-2/ Tue, 25 Jan 2011 10:00:00 +0000 /researchdev/2011/01/25/filmmaker-draws-inspiration-from-work-of-global-suburbanisms-team-2/ A United Way report last week highlighted a problem in Toronto: our city’s poor are increasingly concentrated in crumbling highrise towers, mostly in the inner suburbs, wrote Edward Keenan in EYE Weekly Jan. 20: The report addresses a subject that National Film Board filmmaker-in-residence Katerina Cizek has been studying for two years, while making films on […]

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A United Way report last week highlighted a problem in Toronto: our city’s poor are increasingly concentrated in crumbling highrise towers, mostly in the inner suburbs, wrote :

The report addresses a subject that National Film Board filmmaker-in-residence Katerina Cizek has been studying for two years, while making films on a digital, interactive project called Highrise. Her films allow viewers to click in and around apartment towers in Toronto and around the world to hear the stories of residents. In the wake of the United Way report, EYE WEEKLY checked in with Cizek to get her thoughts on the state of our concrete vertical suburbs, and the need to rejuvenate them.

Q: What are the “Highrise” films, in a nutshell?

A: The original idea was to do something in Toronto, as a city. Not City Hall, but Toronto; to see how documentary can be part of city building. I’m not someone who studies the city—I’m not an urban planner, I’m not an architect—and I had certain assumptions about the city. The city I live in—Toronto—but also the urban experience in general. I think we are, or at least I was, at fault in thinking of the city as something that kind of happens to you, rather than as something we create and we constantly reinvent.

I got really inspired by this phenomenal world-class research that’s happening in our city—from David Hulchanski, ERA Architects and 91ÑÇɫ’s —not only to engage in the city I live in but to start rethinking how we understand the city all over the world. What “urban” entails is not what we typically think: it’s actually at the edges, at the periphery, in the suburbs where some of the most complex, diverse, interesting and highly problematic things are happening. We need to understand these things in order to be able to do something about them. “Highrise” is, quite simply, a multi-year, multimedia documentary exploring the human experience in “vertical suburbs” around the world.

The Global Suburbanisms project is led by Professor Roger Keil in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, director of the City Institute, and funded by the (SSHRC). The National Film Board is a partner in the project.

The rest of the interview is available on .

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91ÑÇɫ’s daily e-bulletin

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CBC’s Ideas re-airs girls and bullying documentary, featuring Professor Debra Pepler /research/2011/01/20/cbcs-ideas-re-airs-girls-and-bullying-documentary-featuring-professor-debra-pepler-2/ Thu, 20 Jan 2011 10:00:00 +0000 /researchdev/2011/01/20/cbcs-ideas-re-airs-girls-and-bullying-documentary-featuring-professor-debra-pepler-2/ CBC Radio's Ideas program is re-airing "It's a Girl's World," Lynn Glazier's audio documentary about the social world of girls where a hidden culture of nastiness lurks beneath a cultural facade of niceness. The series examines the tumultuous nature of female relationships from girlhood to adulthood. The radio series, and its companion National Film Board […]

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CBC Radio's Ideas program is re-airing "," Lynn Glazier's audio documentary about the social world of girls where a hidden culture of nastiness lurks beneath a cultural facade of niceness. The series examines the tumultuous nature of female relationships from girlhood to adulthood.

The radio series, and its companion , features commentary from Professor Debra Pepler. Pepler is distinguished professor in the Faculty of Health's Department of Psychology, senior associate scientist at the , and a member of 91ÑÇɫ's LaMarsh Centre for Research on Violence and Conflict Resolution.

Pepler is an expert on bullying behaviour among teens and children; Part 1 of the radio series sites groundbreaking research she conducted with Professor Wendy Craig of Queen's University into children's bullying activity on schoolyards. Craig and Pepler currently co-lead (Promoting Relationships and Eliminating Violence Network), which provides anti-bullying resources for educators, parents and children.

Part 3 airs on January 21, 2011 at 9 pm on CBC Radio 1. Parts 1 and 2 are currently available for download on the . A connected to both the audio and film documentaries is also available with additional resources.

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National Film Board doc offers glimpses into immigrants’ high-rise world /research/2011/01/10/national-film-board-doc-offers-glimpses-into-immigrants-high-rise-world-2/ Mon, 10 Jan 2011 10:00:00 +0000 /researchdev/2011/01/10/national-film-board-doc-offers-glimpses-into-immigrants-high-rise-world-2/ Documentary is affiliated with 91ÑÇɫ's Global Suburbanisms Project Take a glimpse into someone’s life that is otherwise invisible to most, wrote The Globe and Mail Jan. 5 in a story about the groundbreaking, web-based work Out My Window, by the National Film Board of Canada, that offers glimpses of lives within housing developments: Zanillya Maria […]

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Documentary is affiliated with 91ÑÇɫ's Global Suburbanisms Project

Take a glimpse into someone’s life that is otherwise invisible to most, wrote in a story about the groundbreaking, web-based work Out My Window, by the National Film Board of Canada, that offers glimpses of lives within housing developments:

Zanillya Maria Farrell is a musician and the daughter of the recently deceased singer Bobby Farrell of the disco group Boney M. Many would label her part of the huge, immigrant community in a southeast corner of Amsterdam and stop there. But her story, although unique, symbolizes the dramatic changes happening in cities around the world.In the groundbreaking, Web-based work Out My Window by the National Film Board of Canada, Farrell’s story is one of 13 offering glimpses of lives within otherwise anonymous housing developments.

. . .

[Director Katerina] Cizek and [NFB producer Gerry] Flahive are also collaborating with academic research on how cities are changing, such as the multiyear at 91ÑÇɫ’s City Institute, which looks at how cities have inverted: The suburbs are now the lower-income peripheries and the inner city is the wealthier urban core.

Many people in this changing suburban periphery “don’t have cars. They’re not stereotypically suburban. ... They are invisible, to some extent politically invisible. But they are also physically invisible because they are not living in Chinatown or Little Italy. They are living in these anonymous high-rise blocks,” Flahive says.

“And that’s a really good place for documentaries,” he adds. “The overall Highrise project is not about architecture and urban planning. Primarily, it’s about how people live. The attempt is to peel back some of those stereotypes.”

The individual segments for Out My Window were made by local photographers and crews, with Cizek often directing the segments from thousands of kilometres away in Toronto via Skype, e-mails and phone calls.

Yet, for all of its emphasis on technology, Cizek and Flahive are actually going for something far older: A non-linear way of telling the story of people’s lives in the lower-income high-rises, doing so in the way people in the real world perceive things, in small dollops of information, rather than regular, documentary-length stories.

The Global Suburbanisms Project is led by Professor Roger Keil in the Faculty of Environmental Studies and funded by the (SSHRC).

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– 91ÑÇɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Professor Michael Zyrd focuses on 'ugly ducklings' of film world /research/2010/07/29/professor-michael-zyrd-focuses-on-ugly-ducklings-of-film-world-2/ Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0000 /researchdev/2010/07/29/professor-michael-zyrd-focuses-on-ugly-ducklings-of-film-world-2/ 91ÑÇɫ film Professor Michael Zryd is interested in the ugly ducklings of the film world. As a researcher, Zryd’s current work is focused on the complexities of history and academic institutionalization from the 1960s onward in relation to experimental and independent film. While most of his past research has concentrated on American films, Zryd is also […]

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91ÑÇɫ film Professor Michael Zryd is interested in the ugly ducklings of the film world.

As a researcher, Zryd’s current work is focused on the complexities of history and academic institutionalization from the 1960s onward in relation to experimental and independent film. While most of his past research has concentrated on American films, Zryd is also examining Canadian avant-garde films created since the 1960s.

Left: Michael Zryd

"To analyze an experimental film is not so different from analyzing an abstract painting," says Zryd. The fun, he says, is in finding intersections between the elements of sound and sight, and discovering how these contiguities trigger emotions and ideas in a viewer.

Although "experimental" and "independent" films are both considered avant-garde film genres, they are not interchangeable terms. Experimental films are made outside the mainstream practice of filmmaking. They serve "to broaden the horizons of what film can be and do," says Zryd.  Experimental films usually lack dialogue and are sometimes referred to as "underground".

Independent or "Indie" films are made without studio aid and usually have a narrative. The more politically inclined avant-garde films, like many artistic endeavours of the 1960s, were created in response to events like the Vietnam War, the assassination of US President John F. Kennedy and the American civil rights movement.

Zryd’s research on Canadian film history will provide important information about the cultural contexts to which avant-garde filmmakers in Canada were responding. An interesting fact, notes Zryd, is that avant-garde were watched in the past by advertising companies to steal new techniques to market their products in television advertising. On the other side of the spectrum, avant-garde films have also influenced abstract and performance artists like , , and .

Even the Hollywood filmmakers of many well-known classics were influenced by the avant-garde films they were exposed to in film school, he says. Big-time Hollywood directors such as and have mentioned the influence of experimental filmmakers like and (a Canadian who was trained by the Group of Seven painter, Arthur Lismer).

One important difference between avant-garde and mainstream films is the sharp contrast in salary. George Lucas makes $121,354.16 per hour. Arthur Lipsett died almost penniless after losing his job at the . Does that mean Lucas is any less of an artist? Zryd is no hippie. Since art is not defined by its price tag, he considers Star Wars as much a piece of art as any of Arthur Lipsett’s pieces – just not as interesting.

By Jacquelin Chatterpaul, Faculty of Fine Arts research officer aide

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91ÑÇɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Interdisicplinary symposium focuses on education and climate change /research/2010/07/15/interdisicplinary-symposium-focuses-on-education-and-climate-change-2/ Thu, 15 Jul 2010 08:00:00 +0000 /researchdev/2010/07/15/interdisicplinary-symposium-focuses-on-education-and-climate-change-2/ Today, the shared experiences of those working in education and climate change is the central theme of a one-day symposium taking place at 91ÑÇɫ. Organized by the Faculty of Education, the Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chair for Reorienting Teacher Education Towards Sustainability, […]

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Today, the shared experiences of those working in education and climate change is the central theme of a one-day symposium taking place at 91ÑÇɫ.

Organized by the , the (IRIS) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chair for Reorienting Teacher Education Towards Sustainability, the Leadership for Sustainable Communities Symposium will focus on learning, leadership and climate change.

Leading experts from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom will gather at 91ÑÇɫ’s Keele campus for the symposium. They will share their experiences and expertise in the area of climate change with students enrolled in summer courses that address issues of sustainability. The focus of the symposium will be a shared dialogue to examine the intersections between education, leadership and climate change.

91ÑÇɫ Faculty of Education Professor Charles Hopkins (right) will open the conference. As the UNESCO Chair for Reorienting Teacher Education Towards Sustainability , Hopkins has developed and continues to coordinate an international network of institutions from 38 countries working on the reorientation of teacher education towards the issues inherent in sustainable development. Hopkins is also an adviser to both UNESCO and the United Nations University regarding the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, which began in 2005 and continues until 2014. A major contributor at previous UN summits on sustainability in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 and in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002, he authored Chapter 36 of Agenda 21 of the Rio Earth Summit Action Plan on Education, Public Awareness & Training. Previously, Hopkins was a superintendent with the Toronto Board of Education.

Following Hopkins' opening comments, David Greenwood (left), a professor in the Department of Teaching & Learning at Washington State University, will deliver the keynote address, titled “Nature, Empire, and Paradox in Environmental and Sustainability Education”. Greenwood conducts research on the relationship between environment, culture, and education; environmental, place-based and sustainability education; and alternative education. He has published widely in journals such as: Harvard Educational Review, Educational Researcher, American Educational Research Journal, Curriculum Inquiry, Educational Administration Quarterly, Environmental Education Research, Canadian Journal of Environmental Education and a host of other publications. Greenwood is working on his second book, which will examine place and education.

After Greenwood's address, a panel of scholars from IRIS, the Faculty of Environmental Studies and will present their work as it relates to climate change.

Particpating in the panel are:

(left) is a professor of biology in 91ÑÇɫ's , an ecologist and the director of IRIS. Bazely has conducted field research in many ecosystems, including arctic tundra, sub-arctic and temperate salt-marshes, deciduous forests, temperate managed grasslands and prairies, and her research findings on white-tailed deer and lesser snow geese have informed wildlife and conservation management in Canada. In 2003, she published a book on the ecology and control of invasive plants with Professor Judy Myers of the University of British Columbia. She is currently leading an interdisciplinary project based in Canada, Norway and Russia on human security in the Arctic, specifically the impact of oil and gas development on people and ecosystems.

Patricia (Ellie) Perkins (right) is a professor and program coordinator for the Faculty of Environmental Studies at 91ÑÇɫ. An economist who is concerned with the relationship between international trade, the environment and local economies, Perkins is interested in globalization and how local economies may grow as an antidote to international trade. She also looks at international means of controlling air pollution in the Arctic and at the metals and minerals resource industries. Perkins is the primary investigator of a (SSHRC) funded research project titled "Collaborative Research for Equitable Public Participation in Watershed Governance: Canada, Brazil, Mozambique, South Africa, Kenya". In 2008, she was awarded the 91ÑÇɫ Knowledge Mobilization Course Release for Community Engagement Award. Currently, she is editing a book on feminist ecological economics.

Professor (left) is director of Osgoode Hall Law School’s Mooting Program as well as its LLB/MES Program. He is actively involved in the work of the Standards Council of Canada and the International Organization for Standardization in the field of environmental management standards. He has published on numerous topics related to environmental and international affairs, including the ISO 14000 environmental management standards, global environmental governance, sustainability, regulatory reform, corporate social responsibility, Canadian forest law, international relations theory and international fisheries regulation. His current research focuses on the role of voluntary standards for environmental management and corporate social responsibility in the governance of corporate conduct.

In the afternoon, 91ÑÇɫ film Professor Brenda Longfellow, award-winning filmmaker, writer and theorist, will screen her 2008 feature-length documentary Weather Report to symposium participants.

As the world reels from a series of unprecedented weather events, it is clear that climate change is forcing a fundamental re-evaluation of our most basic assumptions about energy, progress and values. Produced with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the National Film Board of Canada, looks at the dramatically evolving impacts and social implications of climate change. Travelling through North America, the Canadian Arctic, India and China, the film explores how the battle against climate change is implicated in the larger movement for sustainability and global justice.

Winner of the Sundance Channel's Green Award and the Bronze Remi Award at the 2008 WorldFest-Houston Independent International Film Festival, Longfellow's film has earned high praise from climatologists, educators and others in the field.

"Weather Report is a beautifully filmed documentary that travels the globe and is one of the first films to put a human face on the myriad impacts of climate change. Highly recommended," said Professor Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the Yale Project on Climate Change in the School of Forestry & Environmental Studies at Yale University.

Left: Brenda Longfellow

"Weather Report masterfully accomplishes something scientists have not been very good at – putting a real, human face on the consequences of global warming and the resulting climate change," said Cindy Parker, co-director of the Program on Global Sustainability & Health in the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Following the screening, there will be an informal round-table discussion on climate change and education with a focus on translating knowledge into action. The discussion will feature contributions from:

Professor Tony Shallcross is a visiting scholar from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). Shallcross is teaching ecology, ethics and education in the Graduate Program in Education Summer Institute at 91ÑÇɫ. He has more than 20 years of experience working in schools and is a former deputy head and head of department. Before taking up his post at MMU, he was a lecturer in environmental studies at the University of Edinburgh.

is a professor in 91ÑÇɫ's Faculty of Education where he coordinates the 91ÑÇɫ/Seneca Institute for Mathematics, Science & Technology Education and the Graduate Diploma in Environmental/Sustainability Education. Alsop has taught in primary and secondary schools in inner-city London and coordinated the Centre for Learning & Research in Science Education at the Roehampton Institute at the University of Surrey. He has published widely in science and technology education and his recent books include and [co-edited with Larry Bencze and Erminia Pedretti]. He holds affiliated scholarly positions at the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Mexico; the Roehampton Institute; and the Centre for Science, Mathematics &Technology Education at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. He is associated with a number of activist organizations including The Project for Altruistic Science and Technology Education.

Soni Craik is the acting executive director of EcoSource and has worked for the organization for over four years to extend its educational programming. Craik links her academic background with her interest in education for sustainability through child rights. She has worked for the International Institute for Child Rights & Development and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in South Africa as a facilitator of a participatory programs evaluation, specializing in working with elementary-aged children. Craik has also worked as an environmental education consultant for the Packard Foundation in Ethiopia and for the Child Welfare League of Canada in Cuba on a joint study of Havana’s social systems.

Rebecca Houwer is a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Education at 91ÑÇɫ. Prior to returning to university, she worked for several years with community-based organizations committed to educating youth. Her academic interests include: ethics and critical place-based education in urban contexts; participatory action research as praxis; ethical community-university relations; ecology without nature; and, collaborative place-making and place-recovery with, and by, forced migrants. She is a research assistant for the $1-million Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) grant by SSHRC led by 91ÑÇɫ social work Professor  in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.

The symposium will conclude with a wrap-up and pledge that will be delivered by Hopkins.

For more information, visit the  Web site.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91ÑÇɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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91ÑÇɫ leads all Canadian universities in SSHRC’s largest awards /research/2010/03/23/york-leads-all-canadian-universities-in-sshrcs-largest-awards-2/ Tue, 23 Mar 2010 08:00:00 +0000 /researchdev/2010/03/23/york-leads-all-canadian-universities-in-sshrcs-largest-awards-2/ 91ÑÇɫ researchers awarded two of SSHRC’s largest grants to study long-term residential healthcare and global suburbanism Two teams led by 91ÑÇɫ researchers have received $5 million in research funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Their multinational research teams, involving multiple universities and community partners in a large-scale collaboration, […]

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91ÑÇɫ researchers awarded two of SSHRC’s largest grants to study long-term residential healthcare and global suburbanism

Two teams led by 91ÑÇɫ University researchers have received $5 million in research funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

Their multinational research teams, involving multiple universities and community partners in a large-scale collaboration, have each received $2.5 million to examine long-term residential healthcare and global suburbanization.

The funding is part of ’s $10-million investment in critical issues of intellectual, social, economic and cultural significance through the (MCRI) program, the largest award competition SSHRC currently runs.

The program contributes to the deeper understanding of people and society while providing graduate students with research training opportunities. Royal Galipeau, MP for Ottawa–Orléans, made the announcement in Ottawa this morning on behalf of Gary Goodyear, Minister of State for Science and Technology.

Pat Armstrong, professor of sociology in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies and an executive member of both the 91ÑÇɫ Institute for Health Research and the Graduate Program in Health Policy & Equity, will lead a study to identify promising practices for understanding and organizing long-term residential healthcare.

Right: Pat Armstrong

Although many of Canada’s most vulnerable citizens live in long-term residential care, it is often characterized as a last resort rather than as a positive option where both providers and residents can thrive. Armstrong’s project seeks to learn from and with other countries to understand the approaches, structures, accountability practices, and ownership arrangements that create conditions prompting respectful and dignified treatment for both residents and caregivers.

Twenty-five researchers, eight partnering institutions, and 17 universities in six countries will work across disciplines to capture and share data and best practices. Armstrong is Chair in Health Services and Nursing Research, co-funded by the (CHSRF) and the (CIHR).

Roger Keil, professor in the Faculty of Environmental Studies, director of the City Institute at 91ÑÇɫ, and director of the , is working with 44 researchers at 29 universities, and 16 partners in 12 countries to better understand the challenges suburbanization poses in a globalizing world.

Right: Roger Keil

Based on the experience of Canadian suburbanization, but ranging from North America’s wealthy gated communities to Europe’s high-rise-dominated suburbs, the exploding outskirts of Indian and Chinese cities to the slums and squatter settlements of Africa and Latin America, this project is the first to systematically take stock of worldwide suburban developments while analyzing their governance models, land use, infrastructure and suburban everyday life. The project also includes collaboration with the on documentaries about life in suburban high rises.

Of the four $2.5-million grants awarded, 91ÑÇɫ was the only institution with two successful projects, building on its strong track record in leading large, interdisciplinary collaborative research projects. Prior to today’s announcement, 91ÑÇɫ researchers held nine major SSHRC collaborative grants worth a total of $13.6 million in research funding.

“As the only institution to win multiple awards in this category, 91ÑÇɫ’s researchers have clearly demonstrated their national and international excellence and leadership in large-scale, SSHRC research projects,” says Stan Shapson, vice-president research and innovation. “Leading major research initiatives allows us to address key social issues facing our society. As global populations expand and age, suburban research and new approaches to long-term residential healthcare are increasingly important to the well-being of Canadians and nations around the world. These projects provide unique opportunities for Pat, Roger, and their research collaborators to conduct groundbreaking research with significant impact on real-world issues.”

“These grants highlight the excellence of our country’s talented researchers and recognize the importance of fostering international collaboration to keep Canada at the forefront of research, development and innovation in the 21st century,” said Chad Gaffield, president of SSHRC.

91ÑÇɫ's other major SSHRC-funded interdisciplinary collaborative research projects

  • “Assets Coming Together for Youth: Linking Research, Policy and Action for Positive Youth Development”, led by social work Professor Uzo Anucha in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies (LA&PS) is developing a comprehensive youth strategy that will outline how marginalized urban communities like Toronto’s Jane-Finch neighbourhood can use their community assets to support positive youth development.
  • The , led by Professor Emeritus Wesley Cragg in the Schulich School of Business, is mobilizing the University’s business expertise by bringing University researchers together in dialogue with leaders and researchers in business, government and the volunteer sector.
  • The , led by Professor Stephen Gaetz in the Faculty of Education enhances the impact of research on homelessness and the housing crisis by increasing collaboration and discussion among researchers, policy-makers and community workers.
  • The , led by LA&PS social work Professor Susan McGrath, studies refugee and forced migration issues to find solutions to the plight of refugees worldwide.
  • “Monitoring the Human Rights of People with Disabilities in Canada”, led by health policy & management Professor Marcia Rioux in the Faculty of Health, monitors and records human rights violations to put together an accurate picture of the daily lives of Canadians with disabilities.
  • The Toronto Immigrant Employment Data Initiative, led by geography Professor Philip Kelly in LA&PS, assists community organizations whose mandate includes the better integration of immigrants into Toronto's labour force by providing these organizations with free access to statistical data and analysis on various aspects of immigrant labour market integration.
  • “Slavery, Memory, Citizenship”, led by Distinguished Research Professor Paul Lovejoy, includes a team of more than 50 Canadian and international scholars who are researching the global migrations of African peoples under conditions of slavery and how the resulting racism arising from the exploitation of African peoples has shaped modern societies.
  • “The University as a Civic Change Agent: Community-Based Knowledge Mobilization”, led by David Phipps, director of the Office of Research Services, is developing a community-focused input model for that seeks first to identify community knowledge needs and then focus university research expertise to help fill that need by creating a self-sustaining cycle of knowledge production and its uptake for policy, practice and community capacity building.
  • “Work in a Warming World”, led by social science Professor Carla Lipsig-Mummé in LA&PS, studies the challenge presents to Canadian employment and workplaces by examining seven Canadian employment sectors to seek policy, training, employment and workplace solutions to effectively assist Canada’s transition to a low-emission economy.

For complete competition results, visit .

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with photos courtesy of YFile – 91ÑÇɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

The post 91ÑÇɫ leads all Canadian universities in SSHRC’s largest awards appeared first on Research & Innovation.

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