Department of Anthropology

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Nisrin Elamin (photo by Diana Tyszko)

Nisrin Elamin, an assistant professor in the Faculty of Arts & Science's department of anthropology, has received the Sam Dubal Memorial Award for Anti-Colonialism and Racial Justice from the American Anthropological Association.

This award honours anthropologists who have demonstrated a deep commitment to anti-colonial and racial justice in any world region.

Elamin's research traces the spatialized geography of imperial power in Sudan and beyond, while also paying attention to processes and dynamics that threaten to destabilize such power. Her insights and analyses have taken on greater importance ever since war erupted between different factions of Sudan’s military coup regime in April 2023.

Since 2023, she has played a leading role in developing the Sudan Solidarity Collective with U of T students. The Collective has raised around $350,000 for volunteer-run emergency response rooms in the areas hardest hit by Sudan's war, as well as farmers’ unions.

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9 researchers receive Connaught Community Partnership Research Program awards

rahul.kalvapalle — Thu, 22 Aug 2024 23:04:44 +0000

9 researchers receive Connaught Community Partnership Research Program awards

Community

rahul.kalvapalle Thu, 08/22/2024 - 19:04

Connaught Community Research Partnership Award

Scarborough

Connaught Fund

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Department of Mechanical and Industrial Engineering

Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Rotman School of Management

Faculty of Dentistry

U of T Scarborough

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Nine researchers from the University of Toronto have received Connaught Community Partnership Research Program awards.

Given by the Connaught Fund, the awards support research carried out in collaboration with non-academic community partners and driven by their needs and priorities. For the 2024-25 funding cycle, the Connaught Committee made the decision to exceed its $300,000 allocation to award a total of $820,000 to nine research initiatives.

“It is a testament to the range and excellence of research proposals that the Connaught Fund will, this year, support more Community Partnership Research Programs than ever before,” said Leah Cowen, U of T’s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives.

“In recent years, projects supported by this program have blossomed into established relationships that are enriching research at our university and poised to have a sustained impact on communities.

“I have no doubt that this will continue to be the case with this year’s awarded projects, which address complex challenges that range from tracking contaminants in traditional foods in First Nations to enhancing the wellness of older adults in retirement living.”

The recipients of the 2024-25 Connaught Community Partnership Research Program awards are:

Elyse Caron-Beaudoin, department of health and society, U of T Scarborough – Kihcinahowin kîspin piscipowin astîk kimîcowinân (Tracking contaminants in traditional foods)
Mark Chignell, department of mechanical and industrial engineering, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering – Activity spaces for community-living older adults: Implementing a pilot space in a naturally occurring retirement community and evaluating its impact on physical and cognitive function, and social interaction
Bernhard Ganss, Faculty of Dentistry – Chalky teeth in Ontario’s children: Determining prevalence and raising awareness in the Durham region
Daniel Grace, department of social and behavioural health sciences, Dalla Lana School of Public Health – Advancing 2-spirited health equity: Learning through the narratives of 2-spirited people impacted by HIV
Matthew Hoffmann, department of political science, U of T Scarborough – From envisioning to empowering a just transition in Scarborough
Sheng Liu, operations management and statistics, Rotman School of Management – Enhancing support for survivors of abuse through intelligent volunteer management
Angela Mashford-Pringle, Waakebiness Institute for Indigenous Health, Dalla Lana School of Public Health – Rivers of plenty: Enabling heart healthy eating in James and Hudson’s Bay
Laura Risk, department of arts, culture and media, U of T Scarborough – Old sounds, new stories: A partnership with the Canadian Museum of History to activate the Fonds Jean Trudel
Daniel Sellen, department of anthropology, Faculty of Arts & Science – The ecosystem of birthing and lactation in Toronto: Lived experiences of marginalized parents and the role of community support providers

PhD student Sarah Hazell recognized with 2024 Governor General’s Innovation Award

rahul.kalvapalle — Tue, 28 May 2024 18:42:08 +0000

PhD student Sarah Hazell recognized with 2024 Governor General’s Innovation Award

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 05/28/2024 - 14:42

Students

Governor General's Innovation Award

Indigenous

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Sarah Hazell (photo by Sara Cornthwaite)

Sarah Hazell, a PhD student in the department of anthropology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, has received a 2024 Governor General’s Innovation Award.

Launched in 2016, the annual awards celebrate exceptional Canadian individuals, teams and organizations for their excellence in innovation and their contributions in helping to shape our future and positively impact our quality of life.

Hazell was recognized for her contributions to the Canadian Archaeological Association Working Group on Unmarked Graves (CAAWGUG), which developed resources pertaining to the search for missing Indigenous children and unmarked burials associated with residential schools in Canada. The working group was nominated for the honour by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

A member of Nipissing First Nation, Hazell is an award-winning archaeologist and anthropologist with over 25 years of experience working in the Middle East, the Canadian Arctic, Alaska and northern Ontario. She has played a central role in building archaeological capacity in Indigenous communities, with the aim of achieving equity in the domains of research, legislation and industry.

“The significance of this award, hopefully, will bring more attention to the difficult work that communities are engaged in to bring their children home,” Hazell said. “Our working group continues to develop training resources so that communities can ultimately undertake all aspects of the work themselves.”

Read the Faculty of Arts & Science story about Sarah Hazell

Read about the 2024 Governor General's Innovation Awards

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Five faculty members receive School of Graduate Studies Supervision Awards

rahul.kalvapalle — Mon, 27 May 2024 15:48:00 +0000

Five faculty members receive School of Graduate Studies Supervision Awards

Teaching

rahul.kalvapalle Mon, 05/27/2024 - 11:48

Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Department for the Study of Religion

Early Career Supervision Award

JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Award

Lawrence S. Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing

Rehabilitation Sciences Institute

School of Graduate Studies

Temerty Faculty of Medicine

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(L-R) Angela Colantonio, Elizabeth Peter, Pamela Klassen, Angela Mashford-Pringle and Cillian O'Hogan (supplied images)

Five faculty members have been honoured with School of Graduate Studies Supervision Awards in recognition of their outstanding and thoughtful supervision of graduate students.

Pamela Klassen, a professor in the Faculty of Arts & Science’s department for the study of religion who is cross-appointed to the department of anthropology, and Angela Colantonio, a professor in the department of occupational science and occupational therapy at the Temerty Faculty of Medicine who is cross-appointed to the Rehabilitation Sciences Institute and Dalla Lana School of Public Health, received JJ Berry Smith Doctoral Supervision Awards, which recognize excellence in supervision over a minimum 15-year period. Elizabeth Peter, a professor in the Lawrence Bloomberg Faculty of Nursing, received an honourable mention.

Cillian O’Hogan, assistant professor in the department of medieval studies in the Faculty of Arts & Science, and Angela Mashford-Pringle, an assistant professor in the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, received Early Career Supervision Awards, which recognize pre-tenure faculty members who have been supervising graduate students for up to six years.

Read about the School of Graduate Studies Supervision Awards

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Nisrin Elamin named 2024 Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies

rahul.kalvapalle — Tue, 30 Apr 2024 19:42:13 +0000

Nisrin Elamin named 2024 Fellow of the American Council of Learned Societies

Community

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 04/30/2024 - 15:42

African Studies

New College

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Assistant Professor Nisrin Elamin (photo by Diana Tyszko)

Nisrin Elamin, an assistant professor in the department of anthropology at the Faculty of Arts & Science and the African Studies Program at New College, has been awarded a 2024 American Council of Learned Societies (ACLS) Fellowship.

The fellowships are presented annually to “scholars who are poised to make original and significant contributions to knowledge in any field of the humanities or interpretive social sciences.”

Elamin’s work investigates the connections between land, race, belonging and empire-making in Sudan and the broader Sahel region.

Her ACLS fellowship will support the completion of a book project titled Stratified Enclosures: Land, Capital and Empire-Making in Central Sudan.

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Tania Li awarded 2024 Killam Prize in Social Sciences

rahul.kalvapalle — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 14:56:44 +0000

Tania Li awarded 2024 Killam Prize in Social Sciences

rahul.kalvapalle Tue, 03/19/2024 - 10:56

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University Professor Tania Li (photo by Diana Tyszko)

Tania Li, a University Professor in the department of anthropology in the Faculty of Arts & Science, has been awarded the 2024 Killam Prize in Social Sciences.

Killam Prizes are awarded to Canadian scholars who have distinguished themselves through sustained research excellence, making a significant impact in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, health sciences and engineering.

Li’s research concerns land, labour, capitalism, development, politics and Indigeneity, with a particular focus on Indonesia. She collaborates with scholars in fields such as geography, planning, law and environmental studies, as well as with activists and policy makers.

The author of many books, Li has written about the rise of Indonesia’s Indigenous peoples’ movement, land reform, rural class formation, conservation struggles, community resource management and state-organized resettlement.

“Anthropologists examine changing lifeworlds by conducting long-term field research in particular places. My focus has been rural Asia — home to more than two billion people, a third of the global population,” Li says. “City dwellers in Asia and here in Canada generally know little about rural areas, but in an inter-connected world, this needs to change.

“I’m thrilled that the decades I have spent conducting research in muddy places and communicating my findings in multiple formats has been recognized with the Killam Prize.”

Alicia Hawkins and collaborators from Sagamok Anishnawbek, Ojibwe Cultural Foundation receive Connaught Community Partnership Research Program award

rahul.kalvapalle — Thu, 14 Mar 2024 20:22:10 +0000

Alicia Hawkins and collaborators from Sagamok Anishnawbek, Ojibwe Cultural Foundation receive Connaught Community Partnership Research Program award

rahul.kalvapalle Thu, 03/14/2024 - 16:22

Connaught Community Partnership Research Award

Mississauga

U of T Mississauga

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Associate Professor Alicia Hawkins (photo by Nick Iwanyshyn)

Alicia Hawkins, an associate professor in the department of anthropology at U of T Mississauga and collaborators at the Sagamok Anishnawbek First Nation and the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation (OCF) have received a Connaught Community Partnership Research Program award for their project exploring the cataloguing and reclamation of archaeological artifacts.

Historically, archaeology in Ontario has been an extractive practice that failed to include Indigenous communities. From the 1960s to 1980s, teams of archaeologists excavated at the La Cloche site on the north shore of Lake Huron – but the work was unpublished for decades.

More than 40 boxes of artifacts are now in the care of the OCF. However, the lack of publication and comprehensive reporting of the excavations pose challenges for the OCF and Sagamok Anishnawbek, on whose lands the site is located.

To address this, Hawkins and her partners will bring together a multigenerational team of Indigenous Peoples to catalogue and interpret the artifacts. The collaboration will guide the planning and decision-making process for the site and its collections.

The Connaught Community Partnership Research Program aims to help create and nurture partnerships between U of T scholars and community partners that support community-driven research.

Hawkins is one of four U of T scholars to receive awards from the program this year. The others are Amaya Perez-Brumer at the Dalla Lana School of Public Health, Ishtiaque Ahmed in the Faculty of Arts & Science and Jaris Swidrovich at the Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy.

Learn more about the Connaught Community Partnership Research Program

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Alina Trofimova awarded Dean’s Doctoral Excellence Scholarship

siddiq22 — Wed, 12 Jul 2023 15:30:11 +0000

Alina Trofimova awarded Dean’s Doctoral Excellence Scholarship

siddiq22 Wed, 07/12/2023 - 11:30

Students

Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations

Department of Chemistry

Dean's Doctoral Excellence Scholarship

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Alina Trofimova (supplied image)

Alina Trofimova, a PhD student in the department of chemistry in the Faculty of Arts & Science, has been awarded the Dean’s Doctoral Excellence Scholarship – the top prize in the Faculty of Arts & Science Excellence Scholarships, given to a PhD student in recognition of their achievements in research and for demonstrating leadership.

“It's a huge honour that I’m very grateful for,” Trofimova said.

“I’m in the final year of my PhD and I was hoping to be a teaching assistant less and focus more on my research. As much as I love being a TA and working with students, this will allow me to do that.”

The scholarship recognizes the originality, significance and quality of a student’s research, which Trofimova has demonstrated in the papers she’s co-authored and contributed to during her time in the lab.

Trofimova is a member of Professor Andrei Yudin’s lab where Yudin and his team develop new tools for chemical synthesis and create innovative molecules.

“Over the past four years, Alina has made some of the most challenging molecules my lab has ever dreamed of,” Yudin said.

“What sets her apart is the tenacity with which she approaches scientific challenges and the intellectual rigour with which she analyzes complex data.”

Three runners-up were also recognized with A&S Doctoral Excellence Scholarships. They are:

Thomas Dudgeon, ecology and evolutionary biology
Fernando Mercado Malabet, anthropology
Jun Wong, Near and Middle Eastern civilizations

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Four University of Toronto professors named 2021 Guggenheim Fellows

lanthierj — Mon, 12 Apr 2021 19:29:00 +0000

Four University of Toronto professors named 2021 Guggenheim Fellows

lanthierj Mon, 04/12/2021 - 15:29

Guggenheim Fellowships

Department for the Study of Religion

Department of Chemistry

Centre for Diaspora & Transnational Studies

Centre for Criminology and Sociolegal Studies

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(L-R) Eugenia Kumacheva, Amira Mittermaier, Kevin Lewis O'Neill, Kamari Clarke

Four University of Toronto scholars – Kamari Clarke, Eugenia Kumacheva, Amira Mittermaier and Kevin Lewis O'Neill – have been awarded prestigious Guggenheim Fellowships.

The Faculty of Arts & Science researchers are among 184 artists, writers, scholars and scientists selected through a rigorous peer-review process from almost 3,000 applicants this year.

“Congratulations to Professors Clarke, Kumacheva, Mittermaier and O’Neill on this prestigious honour,” said Melanie Woodin, dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science. “We are thrilled that four members of our faculty are receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship. This is an incredible career achievement for a scholar, and it will allow them each to continue their important work in their respective areas of focus.”

The 2021 Guggenheim Fellows:

A distinguished professor at the Centre for Criminology & Sociolegal Studies and the Centre for Diaspora & Transnational Studies, Clarke conducts research on issues related to legal institutions, international legal domains, religious nationalism and the politics of globalization and race. Her books include Fictions of Justice: The International Criminal Court and the Challenge of Legal Pluralism in Sub-Saharan Africa.

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Susan Pfeiffer elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

lanthierj — Mon, 16 Dec 2019 18:58:36 +0000

Susan Pfeiffer elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science

lanthierj Mon, 12/16/2019 - 13:58

American Association for the Advancement of Science