Calling all future SSHRC Storytellers: why does your research matter?
How is our world changing? Are we ready for the challenges that lie ahead?
Every day, researchers in the social sciences and humanities tackle these sorts of questions as they engage with society’s most pressing issues.
And, for the past six years, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) has been putting its ear to the ground to unearth the best of these research stories from across the country.
Through SSHRC’s annual Storytellers contest, post-secondary students from every Canadian institution are encouraged to “show Canadians how social sciences and humanities research affects our lives, our world and our future prosperity.”
Participants are invited to demonstrate in three minutes or 300 words how SSHRC-funded research makes a difference in our society. Contestants from past years have covered fields ranging from development economics to gender identity, environmental management and game culture.
The format is flexible; researchers can use the medium of their choice to tell their story in a creative and innovative way. The featured project can be either the student’s or a professor’s (with their permission).
The top 25 finalists each receive $3,000 and go on to compete in the Storytellers Showcase at the 2018 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences in Regina, Saskatchewan.
Last year, John Bryans, a master's student in sociology, and Nadia Naffi (a PhD candidate in the Education Technology Program and one of Concordia’s 10 Public Scholars) were both among the SSHRC’s 25 national finalists.
Naffi was selected as one of the final five winners. She studies methods to help newcomers feel at home in their adoptive country, including through the use of social media. Bryans researches how performers who self-identify as plus-size or big negotiate roles in the film and TV industry in light of their own identity.
Participants have until January 31 to submit their stories.
Find out more about the SSHRC Storytellers contest.
