Dr. Evelyn Peters, Canada Research Chair in Inner-City Issues, Community Learning and Engagement/ photo by Dan Harper
The University of Winnipeg’s Dr. Evelyn Peters, Canada Research Chair in Inner-City Issues, Community Learning and Engagement today received a prestigious grant of $77,138 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation. Matching funds of $77,138 were awarded from the Province of Manitoba, Department for Innovation, Energy and Mines, Manitoba Research Innovation Fund and The University of Winnipeg contributed $40,000 towards this grant, for a total award of $194,276.
Dr. Peters joined the Department of Geography at UWinnipeg in September 2010. She is working closely with the Institute of Urban Studies to open the new Centre for Inner-City Research, Community Learning and Engagement (CIRCLE), to be housed on the third floor of the new Richardson College for the Environment and Science Complex opening this Fall.
CIRCLE enables collaborative research with academics, government representatives and community organizations on inner-city issues concerning Indigenous, and immigrant and refugee communities in Winnipeg. It will feature space for research assistants, graduate students and post-doctoral students, and a place where visiting international scholars can find temporary workspace; collaboration space for academics, and government and community partners; and a welcoming area for engagement with community members. Key elements of the research function of the centre will be software and equipment to collect and analyze interview and focus group data.
“There is no comparable centre in Manitoba or Canada, where both Aboriginal and immigrant and refugee issues in the inner-city are brought together and where the focus is community-based research,” said Dr. Peters. “CIRCLE reflects our mandate to situate the UWinnipeg as a `living urban laboratory’ of which it is a part while looking outward to a globalizing world.”
“The University of Winnipeg has a strong history in the areas of Indigenous Development and Urban Studies and we believe that CIRCLE will be an excellent addition to our research facilities,” said Dr. Neil Besner, Vice-President, Research and International. ”Dr. Peters will be working with urban Indigenous communities and refugee and immigrant communities in Winnipeg to understand their individual experiences and their interactions with each other. This is a unique field, and CIRCLE will be a collaborative research centre where community and government representatives will be able to meet, visiting scholars from Canada and beyond will come to work, and students of all levels will be able to gain valuable action-based research experience.”
Canada Foundation for Innovation
“CFI investments provide vital infrastructure in communities across the country and create opportunities for leveraging the work being undertaken by our enterprising researchers,” said Dr. Gilles G. Patry, CFI President and CEO. “Cutting-edge research facilities are magnets that attract the best talent from around the world, allowing them to work with business and train a new generation of Canadian researchers and innovators.”
Created by the Government of Canada in 1997, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) strives to build our nation’s capacity to undertake world-class research and technology development to benefit Canadians through investments in state-of-the-art facilities and equipment in universities, colleges, research hospitals and non-profit research institutions.
MEDIA CONTACT
Diane Poulin, Communications Officer, The University of Winnipeg
P: 204.988.7135, E: d.poulin@uwinnipeg.ca
