Ted Hewitt, president of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), today applauded five talented students who have been named this year’s top research storytellers. The five were selected from among 25 finalists in a national challenge to find innovative ways to communicate the impact of social sciences and humanities research.

SSHRC’s annual Storytellers contest challenges postsecondary students to demonstrate—in three minutes or 300 words—how SSHRC-funded research is making a difference in the lives of Canadians. This year’s 25 finalists presented research on a range of important issues, including immigration, national and personal identity, the value of art, child psychology, health, and education. All highlighted how knowledge from the social sciences and humanities helps Canadians understand and improve our society and our global communities.

“Congratulations to all of today’s Storytellers. SSHRC is proud to recognize and reward these students, who stand out as exceptional examples of Canada’s next generation of research communicators,” said Hewitt. “Their investment of creative energy has brought ideas to life in new and inspiring ways, and showcases the positive impact that social sciences and humanities research is having on Canada and the world.”

Left to Right: Allyson Stevenson, Guy Laforest, Michiko Maruyama, Tom Howell, Patricia Bérubé, Michelle Ogrodnik, Dominique Bérubé, Jay Marquis Manicom, Shari Graydon, Galen Watts, Ted Hewitt and Ursula Gobel

The final round of the competition took place in front of a live audience at the 2018 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, hosted by the University of Regina in Saskatchewan.

The expert panel of judges included: Dominique Bérubé, vice-president of Research Programs at SSHRC; Shari Graydon, author, journalist and founder of Informed Opinions; Tom Howell, co-producer of CBC Radio’s Ideas; Guy Laforest, president of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences; and Allyson Stevenson, Tier II Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples and Global Social Justice in the Department of Politics and International Studies at the University of Regina

Below is a list of the 25 finalists in this year’s contest, with links to their bios. Video entries by the 2018 Storytellers finalists can be viewed on SSHRC’s YouTube channel.

For media enquiries, contact:

Julia Gualtieri
Media Relations
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council
613-944-4347
Julia.Gualtieri@sshrc-crsh.gc.ca

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2018 Top 25 Storytellers Finalists

Name	Institution	Title
Aly Bailey	Brock University	Reshaping the Mind, Not the Body: A Positive Body Image Program
Patricia Bérubé	Université de Montréal	Vers une médiation plus inclusive : la couleur au bout des doigts
Meagan Black	The University of British Columbia	Because One is an L and the Other Isn’t: “Learning Disabled” as Lived Social and Emotional Reality
Evan Bowness	The University of British Columbia	Urban Agrarianism in Florianópolis, Brazil
Meaghen Buckley	Concordia University	Articulations of the Body: Speaking from the Senses in Improvisation
Agnieszka Chalas	Queen’s University	Painting a Portrait of Evaluation in Art Museums
Claire Champigny	York University	Academic Outcomes in Pediatric Stroke
Candace Couse	Brock University	Picturing Illness: Reparative Possibilities in Autobiographical Art Practice
Adam Ellis	University of Toronto	Reconceptualizing Urban Warfare in Canada: Exploring the Relationship between Trauma, Post-Traumatic Stress, and Violence among Combat Soldiers and “Street Soldiers”
Mackenzie (Mack) Enns	Western University	Game Scoring: Software Programming and/as Aleatoric Composition
Mei Lan Fang	Simon Fraser University	Mapping Relocation Experiences: An Exploration of Older Peoples’ Place-Based Histories Through an Intersectionality Lens
Maryam Golafshani	Western University	Why Family Photographs Matter: Hon Lu’s Story and the Family Camera Network
Shannon Herrick	McGill University	Physical Activity Considerations for LGBTQ+ Adults
Eunjeong Eugena Kwon	Western University	Examining the Role of Food Literacy in Shaping Immigrant Integration Experiences in Canada
Christine Labrie	University of Ottawa	Les mères, les normes sociales et le don d'enfant au Québec (1960-1979)
Michelle MacQueen	Carleton University	Critical Constructions of Canadianness: The Tragically Hip and Representations of Canadian Identity
John (Jay) Marquis-Manicom	Concordia University	Exploring the Alt-Right: An Ethnographic Portrait of the Rise of a Movement
Michiko Maruyama	University of Alberta	Changing the World One Toy at a Time
Michelle Ogrodnik	McMaster University	Can Exercise Breaks Boost Student Learning?
Jeremy (Jay) Olson	McGill University	Influencing the Feeling of Control Using Suggestion and Magic
Svjetlana Oppen	University of Windsor	Going Back to Yugoslavia: Composite Identities of Nation and Self
Eric Powell	Concordia University	Hearing Motion in the Moment: New Approaches to Sound-Based Mapping
Harprit Singh	McGill University	Children's Voices in Medical Assistance in Dying for Minors in Canada
Galen Watts	Queen’s University	The Spirit of Millennials: Community and Citizenship in Canadian Life
Yolanda Weima	York University	Responses to Recurrent Refuge and Return: Burundian Refugees in Tanzania