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Ontario Tech acknowledges the lands and people of the Mississaugas of Scugog Island First Nation.

We are thankful to be welcome on these lands in friendship. The lands we are situated on are covered by the Williams Treaties and are the traditional territory of the Mississaugas, a branch of the greater Anishinaabeg Nation, including Algonquin, Ojibway, Odawa and Pottawatomi. These lands remain home to many Indigenous nations and peoples.

We acknowledge this land out of respect for the Indigenous nations who have cared for Turtle Island, also called North America, from before the arrival of settler peoples until this day. Most importantly, we acknowledge that the history of these lands has been tainted by poor treatment and a lack of friendship with the First Nations who call them home.

This history is something we are all affected by because we are all treaty people in Canada. We all have a shared history to reflect on, and each of us is affected by this history in different ways. Our past defines our present, but if we move forward as friends and allies, then it does not have to define our future.

Learn more about Indigenous Education and Cultural Services

Faculty of Social Science & Humanities Project Summaries

*Updates for 2024 are in progress.

 

Supervisors

Bobby Stojanoski | Natalie Oman | Pariss Garamone

 

Supervisor name: Bobby Stojanoski
Project title: Developing online test of theory of mind

Summary of research project: The Project will use an open-source platform to develop online "games" that probes for theory of mind abilities. The objective is to 1) develop and 2) validate the "games" with the purpose of using the games to evaluate the development of theory of mind abilities in autistic and neurotypical children.

 Student responsibilities/tasks:

  • Student will read and provide a writeup of the relevant literature, become familiar with using the open-source platform, and work with me to develop the games, and potentially collect some pilot data.

Student qualifications required:

  • Minimum GPA of 3.9
  • Some background with coding (although the open-source platform does not require coding)
  • Completed statistics courses

Expected training/skills to be received by the Student:

  • Software development
  • Literature review
  • Data analysis

Length of award: 16 Weeks

Location of award: In-Person

Available Award: Ontario Tech STAR Award

 

Supervisor name: Natalie Oman
Project title: The impact of the shift to pandemic teaching on women scholars

Summary of research project: Women scholars are hired, tenured, and promoted less often & paid less than their male counterparts. Over 50% of Ontario university courses are taught by faculty in precarious employment -- who are disproportionately comprised of women & other equity-seeking groups. Preliminary scholarly work suggests that these pre-pandemic features of systemic inequality in academic labour have become more pronounced since public health measures necessitated the rapid shift to remote academic work. This study analyzes quantitative & qualitative data that supports this conclusion, & explores the longer-term implications of this trend for equity and representation in universities.

Student responsibilities/tasks:

  • The student researcher on this project will conduct literature reviews, write abstracts of relevant articles, add to the Endnote database of sources, and use NVivo software results to further analyze qualitative and quantitative data. The chosen candidate will be mentored in all of these skills.

Student qualifications required:

  • Excellent communication skills (verbal and written)
  • Very good note-taking skills
  • Organized self-starter
  • Able to work independently
  • Comfortable learning new software
  • Familiar with conducting literature reviews
  • Minimum B+ average in previous year of university studies

Expected training/skills to be received by the Student:

  • The student researcher on this project will be trained in conduct literature reviews and receive one-to-one instruction from an academic librarian, as well as mentoring from the supervisor.
  • The student researcher will be mentored in analyzing relevant articles and writing abstracts.
  • The student researcher will be trained in using Endnote database software to organize research and format academic papers.
  • The student will learn to interpret NVivo software coding results to analyze quantitative and qualitative data.

Length of award: 14 Weeks

Location of award: Hybrid

Available Award: Ontario Tech STAR Award

 

Supervisor name: Pariss Garramone
Project title: Narrative of Downtown Oshawa: Developing Place-based Knowing

Summary of research project: Research objectives: construct literature review of walking pedagogy and the pedagogy of Jane Walks for ecopedagogy and urban environmental education, develop two Jane Walks in downtown Oshawa to be used as creative models for walking pedagogy, course development for the Liberal Studies program of a third-year research based course on citizen urban environmentalists

Student responsibilities/tasks:

  • Interest in Jane Walks
  • Research on Jane Jacobs and the creation of the Jane Walks project
  • Research into the history of downtown Oshawa
  • Research on walking as a way of knowing literature, arts-based and creative development of historical narratives for a general public audience

Student qualifications required:

  • Upper year student with at least second year standing
  • B average required
  • Strong writing and research ability and interest
  • Strong ability to organize and manage tasks
  • Strong interpersonal skills
  • Interest in local history, storytelling, sustainability, and environmental education for all age groups

Expected training/skills to be received by the Student:

  • Training how to develop a literature review for a research project
  • Training how to conduct historical research and how to use the archives
  • Training with consulting and interviewing local community members
  • Training with project management
  • Training with developing and implementing a community project

 Length of award: 16 Weeks

Location of award: In-Person

Available Award: Ontario Tech STAR Award