UNBC researchers get $390,000 in grants

The Government of Canada gave more than $390,000 to three local social science researchers.

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) grants will keep University of Northern B.C. professors Gail Fondahl, Ben Bryce and Linda O'Neill busy for the next couple of years.

Fondahl got the biggest grant, $273,880, to expand on earlier research looking at legal reforms guiding indigenous territorial rights in the Russian Federation. The geography professor's four-year project with her international team is unique because it's an area not often covered outside of Russia, UNBC's Friday release said.

History professor Bryce's four-year $61,666 grant supports his work examining the role of immigrant-run hospitals and mutual aid societies had in providing health-care services along ethnic lines in Buenos Aires in the early twentieth century.

O'Neill was handed a $54,820 development grant to research new indigenous approaches for evaluating aboriginal community programs with education associate professor Tina Fraser.

"Social sciences and humanities researchers help us to understand issues affecting our daily lives and provide evidence for sound policy-making," said Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, in a statement. "The Government of Canada believes that only this broad and holistic approach can lead to true discoveries, innovation and solutions that will help all Canadians, including those who now call Canada home."

The money means UNBC can continue participating in both local and global research, said the university's interim vice president or research.

"These three projects demonstrate the breadth of social science and humanities research at UNBC and will generate new knowledge that positively impacts society going forward," said Geoff Payne in a statement.