SSHRC and its partners are pleased to announce the two winning teams of the Human Dimensions Open Data Challenge.

A research team from the University of Ottawa, led by Dr. Patrick McCurdy, won the top prize to create a database of information and images to help Canadians better understand how public campaigns can influence their perception of energy development.

A Grant MacEwan University research team, led by Dr. Rafat Alam, won second place with a project to create a dashboard to understand the impact of energy development on society and the economy. 

The Human Dimensions Open Data Challenge was a national competition organized by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Compute Canada, the Ontario Centres of Excellence, and ThinkData Works.

“ The Human Dimensions Open Data Challenge was launched to engage the research community in working in multi-disciplinary teams and promote the use of open data sets to develop innovative solutions that will address priority issues in the natural resources and the energy sector. SSHRC congratulates the winning teams and is proud to have collaborated with Compute Canada, the Ontario Centres of Excellence and Think DataWorks on this valuable initiative. ”

“ Canada is a world leader in the digital social sciences and humanities. Canadian-authored publications in these disciplines over the last five years, enabled by Compute Canada resources and experts, demonstrated an impact factor more than three times the world average (based on field-weighted citation impact). This first ever open data challenge builds on the leadership of Canada's digital social sciences and humanities community, and we were pleased to work with our partners to support the challenge with our data analytics capabilities. Fostering and engaging this growing community is a key strategic focus of Compute Canada. ”

Congratulations to both teams!