Social Innovation & Social Enterprises
Ryerson faculty and students continue to address societal challenges at a local, national and international level. Deploying thought into action, we are innovating products, services and systems in order to enhance social equity and quality of life for all.
Faculty
Mehrunnisa Ahmad Ali (School of Early Childhood Studies) engaged in a study titled, Structures and strategies for social engagement of Syrian refugees: A pilot project. Her research investigated the part that social engagement has played in the successful integration of the approximately 24,000 Syrian refugees who have arrived in Canada, either through private sponsorship or through the government-assisted refugee program.
Tom Griffin (Hospitality and Tourism Management) has been delving into the emerging tourism sector of immigrants who host Visiting Friends and Relatives (VFR) to their new homes in the Greater Toronto Area. His study, Immigrants’ hosting behaviour and impacts, co-led with Daniel Guttentag (Hospitality and Tourism Management), not only identifies an area in which municipal partners can deliver more marketing implementation. It also affirms the sense of belonging for new Canadians who are proud to share their communities with VFR.
Danielle Lamb (Business Management) received support for The employment vulnerability of recent Canadian immigrants. She and co-investigator Rupa Banerjee (Business Management) examined the extent to which recent cohorts of immigrants to Canada from 2006–2016 have experienced employment vulnerability. Their analysis – which includes interviews with immigrants – aims to shed light on the barriers they face to securing employment.
Students
Bachelors of Health Science in Midwifery student Kambili Husbands received support for Working with equity and diversity in midwifery education and practice. Her study sought to develop a better understanding of how a midwifery education program can increase its capacity for the social inclusion of racialized women. The research informed ways of empowering racially diverse women to play a stronger part in midwifery practice, benefiting both their communities and the Canadian healthcare system.
PhD candidate in the Policy Studies Program, Bhutila Karpoche launched the project What is ‘mental health’? Answers from the perspective of the Tibetan refugee population of Toronto, carried out in collaboration with community-based organization, the Tibetan Women’s Association of Ontario. The first study of its kind in Canada to explore Tibetan women’s mental health, the knowledge generated will be used to inform policy programs that address the health and social precarities that Tibetan women in Canada face.
Pallavi Roy, a master’s student in Environmental Applied Science and Management, received support for her project, Newcomers in the green economy. Working in collaboration with CultureLink Settlement Services, she sought to cultivate, share and build upon interest in environmental sustainability among newcomers. Her work included organizing focus groups with 75 participants from 10 different countries to translate their skills and interest in sustainability into development of their own community-based social enterprises.