eNewsletter of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

November 2023

Canada Excellence Research Chairs Program enters a new era 

In a November 16 event at Simon Fraser University, the federal government announced 34 new Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERCs) at 18 Canadian postsecondary institutions. This is the largest number of CERCs awarded in a single competition in the history of the program, and represents $248 million in funding. Over the next eight years, the CERCs will maximize domestic and international partnerships across sectors to increase knowledge mobilization, generate innovations, and support economic and social advances, through their work in fields spanning health, natural sciences, engineering, and social sciences and humanities. 

Imagining Canada’s Future Ideas Lab: Global Health and Wellness for the 21st Century—Stage 2 (by invitation only: November 22, 2023)

Canada Graduate Scholarships—Master’s Program (December 1, 2023)

New Frontiers in Research Fund: Exploration competition

(full application, December 12, 2023)

Knowledge Synthesis Grants: Evolving Narratives of Cultures and Histories

(December 14, 2023)

Partnership Engage Grants (December 15, 2023)

New Frontiers in Research Fund: Transformation competition

(letter of intent, January 10, 2024)

Connection Grants (February 1, 2024)

Insight Development Grants (February 2, 2024)

Partnership Grants—Stage 1 (February 10, 2024)

Forest fires and forest futures

As climate change magnifies the volume and impacts of wildfires, in Canada and globally, with the 2023 wildfire season the worst on record, researchers are looking for ways to help forests—and everything and everyone who relies on them—prepare for and recover from fire, Canada Research Chair in Fire Ecology Jill Harvey, believes the answers for the future of forest management will come from the past, from Indigenous fire management knowledge to what the trees themselves can tell us. The Thompson Rivers University assistant professor and her multidisciplinary research team are coring through centuries of tree rings, learning how and why trees have survived and recovered from past fires, to propose methods to help forests and forest communities survive and even thrive. 

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Replacing ableism with academic inclusivity

“This project will help us redesign everything so that the maximum number of people can find success,” says Tina Chen, University of Manitoba distinguished professor and executive lead (Equity, Diversity and Inclusion). Chen and her research team see their project as part of a new momentum toward breaking down barriers in academia for those with visible or invisible disabilities. Funded through one of three inaugural Robbins-Ollivier Awards for Excellence in Equity, their project includes a speakers series to build community around disability issues, and will result in sweeping anti-ableist recommendations for the university. 

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