Two Nipissing research projects receive national funding
North Bay, ON – Two research projects led by Nipissing University researchers have received federal funding totalling $491,716 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), enabling them to further their important work across a wide variety of topic areas.
The announcement of these investments was made today by the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, on behalf of the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, and the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health at an event at the University of Alberta.
SSHRC Funding
The project entitled “Social Simulation on Refugee Resettlement and Canada’s Policy Making” was awarded a SSHRC Insight Grant valued at $341,716 and will be led by Dr. Haibin Zhu, Professor of Computer Science and Program Coordinator at Nipissing University.
Zhu’s research proposes a new approach to resolving issues regarding refugee resettlement by considering both the positive and negative impacts of social development and humanitarian aid on refugees. It also aims to develop innovative computational ways to specify and solve issues surrounding refugee resettlement that are traditionally processed manually.
“With the advancement of computing technologies, more and more problems can be clarified and specified by computational ways and then solved by computer-based systems,” shared Zhu. “This program has the potential of improving current styles of dealing with refugee resettlement while also providing cost savings and at the same time, increasing the degrees of satisfaction for both refugees, and the cities or towns that accept them.”
SSHRC’s Insight Grants program aims to support and foster excellence in social sciences and humanities research intended to deepen, widen and increase our collective understanding of individuals and societies, as well as to inform the search for solutions to societal challenges.
NSERC Funding
Dr. Colin McCarter, Assistant Professor at Nipissing University and Canada Research Chair in Climate and Environmental Change was awarded an NSERC Discovery Grant valued at $150,000 for his project entitled “Ecohydrological evolution of organic soils: Linking structure, flow, transport, and geochemistry”.
“This research aims to provide new knowledge on how organic soils evolve in an era of accelerating climate and environmental change,” explained McCarter. “Through a series of lab experiments on different organic wetland and adjacent upland soils, we will gain a much more thorough understanding of how wetlands transform and sequester contaminants, allowing humanity to better protect wetland ecosystem services for future generations.”
The NSERC Discovery Grants program supports ongoing research programs with long-term goals rather than single short-term projects, giving researchers the flexibility to explore the most promising avenues of research as they emerge.
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