Just about this time of year for the past two years I have written a column about what professors do in the summer. I always joke with my students that they should never ask a professor, "how was your summer off" because I can guarantee there will be a curt response: "we do not get the summer off." The better question is, "how did your research go this summer? That is a question we love to hear because sharing our research work is both our job and our passion.
This year's column will be a bit different because I don't want to sound like a broken record and because there is so much more to say about the world of research. Earlier this year I was honoured to be appointed to the Social Science and Humanities Research Council's Governing Council. I am very excited to be part of this esteemed group who are tasked with "promot[ing] and assist[ing] research and scholarship in the social sciences and humanities. [The Council] meets regularly to set policy and program priorities, allocate budgets and ...advise the minister of industry and Parliament on research policy in these areas."
The Social Science and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) is the main granting agency for researchers at Canadian post-secondary institutions. It was "[c]reated by an act of Canada's Parliament in 1977..." and "...supports research and talent that are central to quality of life and innovation." There are other critical government granting agencies, including the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada that fund science but SSHRC is dedicated to the social sciences and humanities. This is how they describe their contribution, "SSHRC-supported research in the social sciences and humanities enhances our understanding of modern social, cultural, technological, environmental, economic and wellness issues. It raises profound questions about who we are as human beings, what we need in order to thrive in complex and challenging times, and where we are headed in the new millennium....Research outcomes are shared with communities, businesses and governments, who use this new knowledge to innovate and improve people's lives."
Of course research grants are highly competitive. They require very detailed applications including explicit budget requests. Canada's granting agencies are concerned with supporting leading edge innovation and facilitating the opportunity for researchers to collaborate and to help to enhance best practices. One of the great benefits of research agencies is their capacity to support students' research. These young, bright and creative people put their minds to our greatest problems and they find imaginative and original ways to help us to solve problems. I urge everyone to take a few minutes to look at the Storytellers project on the SSRCH website (just use your search engine and type in "SSHRC Storytellers"). Here you will see the finalists of the Storytellers challenge that asked students to communicate their research. The short videos tell the stories of fascinating work including: youth engagement in disadvantaged neighbourhoods; youth transition from group homes to independent living; re-venerating sustainable local foods; understanding music's social meaning; and creating a complex, world-wide database to share important economic, social and political research - and these are only the top 5 contributions!
SSHRC has also launched the "Imagine Canada's Future" program that identifies six future challenge areas potential study:
1. What new ways of learning, particularly in higher education, will Canadians need in order to thrive in an evolving society and labour market?
2. What effects will the quest for energy and natural resources have on our society and our position on the world stage?
3. How are the experiences and aspirations of Aboriginal Peoples in Canada essential to building a successful shared future?
4. What might the implications of global peak population be for Canada?
5. How can emerging technologies be leveraged to benefit Canadians?
6. What knowledge will Canada need in order to thrive in an interconnected, evolving global landscape?
Over the next few weeks I will look at a few of these questions. My aim will be to highlight how research into these challenges can inform our politics. Of course, these critical questions are only six among the thousands that are asked every day by researchers and students who work on them - mostly over the summer.
