UNIVERSITY OF NORTHERN BRITISH COLUMBIA
Five UNBC researchers awarded nearly $1 million in federal funding

Five researchers from the University of Northern British Columbia received nearly $1 million in federal funding to pursue projects ranging from the accessibility of outdoor recreation spaces to the social history of nutrition science in Iraq and Indigenous rights-based environmental oversight in the oil sands.

Planning and Sustainability Associate Professor Dr. Mark Groulx and History Associate Professor Dr. Sara Farhan each earned Insight Grants through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), while Psychology Assistant Professor Dr. Xiaoxue Kong, Psychology Assistant Professor Dr. Christopher Kowalski and First Nations Studies Assistant Professor Dr. Tara Joly each received Insight Development Grants.

"With support from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, UNBC researchers are generating knowledge that addresses pressing societal issues and expands what we understand about the world around us," says UNBC Interim President Dr. Bill Owen. "From making outdoor recreation spaces more accessible to strengthening Indigenous rights-based environmental oversight, these projects show what it means to advance research from campus to community."

The SSHRC Insight Grant program is open to individual researchers and teams of scholars who are advancing knowledge and building understanding about individuals, groups and societies. The grants also create funding and research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students. The Insight Development Grant program supports research in its initial stages. 

"Securing Insight Grant funding is a competitive, national process, and this year's results reflect the strength and range of social science and humanities research happening at UNBC," says UNBC Interim Vice-Provost Research Dr. Sarah Gray. "This funding will support research that responds to the needs of modern society, creating opportunities for students to gain hands-on research experiences that will positively impact communities across the region and beyond." 

Groulx's project, From barriers to belonging: Making the accessibility of outdoor nature spaces a pillar in planning for a barrier-free society, looks at how physical, information, service and attitudinal barriers exclude people with disabilities, as well as families with young children and older adults, from meaningful, self-determined experiences in nature.

Working across northern B.C., Groulx and his research team will assess the accessibility of approximately 400 nature spaces, building an evidence baseline to track how B.C.'s accessibility policies are translating into real change on the ground. In addition, the research team will critically asses the accessibility policy landscape.  

"Nature should be a place where everyone belongs, but right now there are barriers that keep many people with disabilities, older adults and families with young children from experiencing it fully," Groulx says. "This project will give us the evidence we need to understand where those barriers exist and how policy changes can close the gap."

Funding: $436,879 over five years.

Farhan's project, A social history of nutrition science in modern Iraq, 1910-1972, examines how nutrition science shaped public health policy in the Middle East from the late Ottoman period through the 1970s, and how colonial and post-colonial states used nutritional knowledge as a tool of governance, tying it to agriculture, food sovereignty, class and labour productivity.

"This project recovers the experiences of communities that endured nutrition-based health crises, centring lives often reduced to statistics," Farhan says. "It also highlights the work of Middle East and North Africa scientists, physicians and health workers whose expertise guided nutrition policy and shaped regional scientific debates."

Farhan is conducting the research in collaboration with the Middle East Centre at St. Antony's College, University of Oxford, where she is currently an academic fellow. 

Funding: $253,637 over five years.

Kong's Insight Development Grant worth $95,540 seeks to better understand shyness and sociability among children across cultures. The project compares how children in Canada and China interpret shyness and sociability in their peers.

"Children's social behaviours are often interpreted through cultural lenses," Kong says. "Behaviours that may seem shy or withdrawn in one culture may be viewed as respectful or appropriate in another. This project helps us better understand these differences and supports more inclusive environments for children."

Funding: $95,540 over two years.

Kowalski is examining dark personality traits in career choices. The project looks at how traits such as psychopathy, narcissism and sadism relate to career preferences.

"We know dark personality traits can cause harm in the workplace, but what if they're actually a good fit for certain careers?" Kowalski posits. "Our research examines where people with dark traits belong professionally, and what managers really think about hiring them."

Funding: $99,996 over two years. 

Joly is tracking Indigenous rights-based accountability in the oil sands. Working with the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, the project will track whether regulatory commitments made during project approvals have been fulfilled.

"By grounding our audit methodology in Dene law and community priorities, I hope this project will help ensure that resource extraction doesn't come at the cost of Indigenous sovereignty," Joly says.

Funding: $99,816 over two years.

SSHRC is one of the three major federal research funding agencies along with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council.