Municipal, Provincial & Other Federal Funding
During the 2019-20 fiscal year, Ryerson’s research support from non-Tri-Council government partners saw an overall increase of 66.68%. This included Ryerson’s first-time receipt of the Fund for Innovation and Transformation (FIT), a new program of the Inter-Council Network, a coalition of Canada’s eight Provincial and Regional Councils for International Cooperation.
$70M Total municipal, provincial & other federal funding
$5.5M Provincial agency funding
$1.1M Municipal funding
$63.4M Non-Tri-Council federal funding
Non-Tri-Council Federal Funding
Greg Elmer (Professional Communication) received support from Heritage Canada to establish a Canada-wide research network, with labs at Ryerson, Concordia and Simon Fraser Universities, to address new disruptions to online practices of citizenship revolving around the spread of disinformation, hate speech and extremist ideologies.
Mandana Vahabi (Nursing) and Josephine Wong (Nursing) received support from the Fund for Innovation and Transformation (FIT) to work with partners from Toronto and India to test a new strategy for preventing cervical cancer in rural areas of India.
Provincial Funding
Early Researcher Awards (ERA)
Run by the Ministry of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade, the ERA program enables emerging academics to pursue innovative projects and to build research teams, including the hiring of students to help conduct the studies. The 2019-20 fiscal year saw four Ryerson researchers receive this prestigious, Ontario-wide award.
Idil Atak (Criminology) will investigate the impact that border security measures have on the human rights of migrants who enter a country without legal permission, and examine changes and consequences of European and Canadian policies on immigration detention and border controls.
Elsayed Elbeshbishy (Civil Engineering) will continue his research into the ways that waste created by towns and cities can be a source of sustainable energy, including the development of new treatments that can be applied to waste in order to increase the amount of natural gas that can be extracted.
Shelagh McCartney (Urban and Regional Planning) is working with First Nations partners to develop strategies and community-created policies that can address the housing and homelessness crisis in Northern Ontario First Nations communities.
Sharareh Taghipour (Mechanical and Industrial Engineering) will help Ontario manufacturers transition into the “fourth industrial revolution” by developing maintenance scheduling tools for emerging technologies like autonomous robotics and artificial intelligence.
Municipal Funding
James Li (Civil Engineering) received support from the City of Toronto’s Transportation Services division to monitor several streets in Toronto’s west end for surface and subsurface water quality and quantity as the stormwater flows into the sewer system, and the potential effects such runoff could have on Toronto’s lakes and rivers.
Sejal Patel (Early Childhood Studies) received support from the Toronto District School Board to conduct a community-partnered study of its Model Schools for Inner Cities initiative and what initial conditions and program features help contribute to sustainable improvements in students’ educational success and the well-being of children and families living in marginalized communities.