As the pandemic changes the way we see and experience the world around us, many are turning to social sciences and humanities for answers.
Because of SSHRC’s funding, our researchers are able to provide invaluable support to community partners.
Dr. Jino Distasio
Thanks to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)’s Partnership Engage Grants, five University of Winnipeg professors are working with community partners to understand and address COVID-19-related issues experienced by educators, firefighters and paramedics, and those working and living in prisons.
“Because of SSHRC’s funding, our researchers are able to provide invaluable support to community partners while helping to address pressing questions,” said Dr. Jino Distasio, Vice-President Research and Innovation. “I’m very proud of the work they are doing.”
School leadership and teacher resilience
Dr. Laura Sokal, Faculty of Education, Dr. Lesley Eblie Trudel, Faculty of Education, and Jeff Babb, Department of Mathematics and Statistics, received $24,575 towards their project, COVID-19: A transformational model of teacher resilience and school leadership.
They are working in partnership with Seven Oaks School Division, the EdCan Network, and the Canadian Mental Health Association to conduct divisional surveys, interviews, and focus groups of teachers, principals, divisional administrators, and school board trustees in order to better understand the relationship between organizational leadership models and teachers’ experiences of burnout and/or resilience during the pandemic.
Learning from firefighters and paramedics
Dr. Aman Hussain, Faculty of Kinesiology and Applied Health, received $24,781 towards COVID-19 – Leveraging the Experiences of Firefighters and Paramedics’ in Winnipeg, MB: Lessons from the COVID-19 pandemic.
He is working in partnership with the Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service to conduct a mixed-methods study aimed at understanding how firefighters and paramedics are responding to, and have been affected by, the current pandemic.
He is exploring how firefighters and paramedics manage and respond to the COVID-19 pandemic; how they communicate work-related information; and what strategies and lessons learned from previous crises and emergencies are shaping current practice.
“By answering these questions, we can begin to develop a deeper understanding of how firefighters and paramedics are currently navigating the pandemic, including the increased demands they are faced with, and inform how work-related practices and information are shared and communicated,” said Hussain.
Prison pandemic partnership
Dr. Kevin Walby, Department of Criminal Justice, along with Dr. Justin Piché, University of Ottawa, received $24,900 towards COVID-19: Investigating Canada’s Carceral Response to Coronavirus through the Prison Pandemic Partnership.
They are working in partnership with the Canadian Civil Liberties Association (CCLA) to investigate how correctional, legal, and health agencies are responding to the COVID-19 pandemic. This investigation includes using freedom of information and access to information requests to locate government records on pandemic management and policies governing health and safety.
The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) is the federal research funding agency that promotes and supports post-secondary-based research and research training in the humanities and social sciences.
