Bailey Gerrits, photo supplied
The University of Winnipeg is very excited to welcome our inaugural Banting Postdoctoral Fellow, Bailey Gerrits, to our campus starting September 1, 2019. Gerrits will work with supervisors Dr. Steven Kohm and Dr. Kevin Walby in the Department of Criminal Justice on her project Gendering and Racializing Canadian Police “Image Work:” Theorizing Police Framing of Gender-Based Violence. The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship is valued at $140,000 over two years.
“I feel honoured to be selected as the University of Winnipeg’s first Banting Postdoctoral Fellow,” said Gerrits. “I was drawn to the faculty in the criminal justice department and Drs Steven Kohm and Kevin Walby in particular, as they have stellar reputations for critical research and supportive collegiality. UWinnipeg itself hosts a number of innovative research centres and groups that I am excited to connect with and learn from. I am also over the moon to be heading west and returning to a Prairie province.”
Her supervisors are looking forward to working with her at UWinnipeg.
“Bailey Gerrits is a highly motivated and extremely talented young scholar, and I am delighted that she has chosen to pursue her postdoctoral research here in criminal justice,” said Kohm, Chair of the Department of Criminal Justice.”Ms. Gerrits could have chosen to go virtually anywhere in Canada to pursue her postdoctoral research. That she reached out to us is strong testament to the high quality of research and scholarship at UWinnipeg.”
While at UWinnipeg, Gerrits will work in the Centre for Interdisciplinary Justice Studies (CIJS) and in the newly established Centre for Access to Information and Justice (CAIJ) under the direction of Dr. Kevin Walby, an internationally recognized leader in research on both policing and access to information.
“Bailey is an incredibly talented scholar,” said Walby. “UWinnipeg and criminal justice are very lucky she selected us as the site for her postdoctoral studies. The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship is a big deal. We are thrilled for Bailey — and thrilled for our department — that this is all happening.”
Gerrits is completing a PhD in political studies at Queen’s University. Her dissertation documents how Canadian newspapers frame domestic violence and explains the relations and processes that propel contemporary framing patterns.
She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) and a Master of Arts in political science from the University of Alberta, located in her hometown of Edmonton. Gerrits has researched how women and men politicians in Canada are covered differently in the news (gendered mediation). Gerrits has also conducted research on anti-violence activism, gender-based violence, and anti-violence awareness campaigns.
In addition, Gerrits has been involved in a number of community projects focused on ending gendered violence and other human rights violations. She co-led two community-based research projects, one that investigated how to better prevent sexual violence among youth and the other on university campuses. She also co-hosted a conference that focused on sexual violence prevention in post-secondary contexts.
“Postdoctoral fellowships, including the Banting Fellowship, allow UWinnipeg to enhance the University’s research culture by attracting and developing outstanding young researchers,” said Dr. Jino Distasio, Vice-President, Research and Innovation. “We are thrilled to have Ms. Gerrits as our first ever Banting Postdoctoral Fellow, and we look forward to the exciting research and knowledge mobilization that she will be engaging in over the next two years.”
“The Banting awards help Canada attract and retain some of the brightest doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows to build up our world-class research talent,” said The Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Sport.
The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship is offered to only 70 scholars annually and provides funding to the very best postdoctoral applicants, both nationally and internationally. The Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship will contribute to the country’s economic, social, and research-based growth. The objective of the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships are to attract and retain top-tier postdoctoral talent, both nationally and internationally, develop their leadership potential, and position them for success as research leaders of tomorrow.
