As far as Vice President Research Mario Pinto is concerned, “Social sciences and humanities rock at SFU.” The university recently received a total of $3.5 million in federal grants for both research areas.
In the two years since the launch of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s (SSHRC’s) Insight and Partnership grants, SFU has consistently ranked above the national average in almost every category in terms of application success. This year, 34 per cent of SFU applications were successful, compared with 21 per cent across Canada.
Pinto attributed this to the skills of several grant facilitators on board, positions which were created eight years ago as part of a strategic plan to increase SFU’s research prestige.
The $3.5 million will be distributed to 28 research projects who applied under the Insight and Insight Development categories. Grants are given to a project over the span of between three and five years. The research to be undertaken spans the gamut of the soft science disciplines, from language and learning in children, to persuasion in online environments, to the creation of an archive focused on lesbian knowledge.
Hoskyn received just under $500,000 for her research on the developmental differences in cognitive functions in bilingual children.
Kirsten McAllister, who will be receiving about $85,000 over a period of three years, said that her funding included the salaries of the three graduate students on her team. McAllister is researching the intersection of human rights violations between Asian countries, such as during times of war, in order to broaden the Asian-Canadian perspective on these topics.
Maureen Hoskyn received the largest grant, at just under $500,000, for her research on the developmental differences in cognitive functions in children who speak more than one language.
Total funding levels from the SSHRC, which includes types of grants other than the Insight categories, has remained steady over the last five years. In contrast, the natural and health sciences at SFU have seen total funding from their respective federal grant institutions steadily increase.
Earlier this year, the SSHRC also awarded SFU approximately $5.4 million in Partnership grants, which are given to joint research ventures between universities or with another institution. Two projects received just under $2.5 million each, one looking at the role of the arts in social change, and the other, a seven-year effort at preserving Aboriginal culture and language. Two more projects received about $200,000 each.
SFU’s reputation has seen marked advancement in the last decade, jumping from 28th to 12th place on the QS World Rankings list for Canadian universities. In Times Higher Education 2013 rankings for universities under 50 years old, the university came in second in Canada and 30th in the world. Sixty per cent of both lists’ criteria are based on research and research influence.
