UNB News
News and stories from one of Canada’s top universities

Researchers at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) have been awarded new funding from the Government of Canada in support of five new projects. The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) grants were announced on Sept. 13, 2024, as part of a Government of Canada research funding bundle.

“Congratulations to the scholars involved in these five projects on their funding success,” said UNB vice president research Dr. David MaGee. “As well as having scholarly value in their own right, these projects will help us better understand our present moments and our human history, and to better respond to situations and challenges that arise now and in the future.”

Bringing Black and Indigenous writers into the spotlight

Dr. David Creelman, a professor of English in Saint John, has been awarded a $62,027 Insight Grant in support of his four-year project, Under the Surface: Voices from Maritime Communities.

Through this project, Creelman will work to increase the visibility of the Black and Indigenous writers who emerged in the region after 1970. Black and Indigenous communities had long been held back by systemic barriers but were finally able to break into the literary world in the latter part of the 20th century, bringing their own voices and representations to the wider culture.

The generally pejorative representations that had dominated the Maritimes for much of the 20th century were transformed after writers from these communities brought their own voices into the cultural mix.

“My goal is to document the limited representations initially produced in the Maritimes and to celebrate the work of resistance and restoration performed by the later writers who emerged to speak about their own communities and experiences. Through this work, I hope people will be able to have a deeper understanding of the region’s complex communities, their advocacy and the diversity of their voices over the last fifty years.”

Exploring the interconnections of fatphobia, femininity and faith in multi-level marketing

Dr. Andrea Bombak, an associate professor of sociology in Fredericton, will lead a multi-scholar team investigating how multi-level marketing (MLM) companies and their connection to fatphobia, faith, femininity and gendered labour oppression.

By analyzing social media posts, the researchers will work to better understand how the agents who take part in these MLM companies talk about fatness, bodies, eating and weight loss; about faith; and about entrepreneurship and aspirational labour. They will then explore how these various discourses intersect and interact with each other.

The team, which has been awarded $71,800 over two years through a SSHRC Insight Development Grant, also includes co-applicants Dr. Marianne Clark, associate professor of kinesiology at Acadia University; Dr. Cathy Holtmann, professor of sociology; and Dr. Emilie Lacroix, assistant professor of psychology and co-director of the Maritime Eating and Appearance Lab; as well as collaborator Dr. Clare Southerton, lecturer in digital technology and pedagogy at La Trobe University.

According to Bombak, these MLMs can be problematic in a multitude of ways.

“Joining an MLM can be financially risky or costly, and they are legally ambiguous,” says Bombak. “Further, they often sell weight loss products and may draw from, and contribute to, fatphobic discourses and disordered eating. However, they are very infrequently studied by social scientists.”

“Additionally, many MLM agents are women, and like others working online to influence consumers, MLM agents may engage in frequent invisible, unpaid and emotional labour.”

Creating housing needs assessments that account for disability

Dr. Tobin LeBlanc Haley, assistant professor of sociology in Saint John and co-director of the UNB Housing and Mental Health Research Lab (HOME-RL), along with co-applicants Dr. Ted MacDonald, professor of political science and director of the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training; and Dr. Julia Woodhall-Melnik, associate professor of sociology, Canada Research Chair in Resilient Communities and HOME-RL co-director, will receive a $66,960 Insight Development Grant in support of their project exploring the consideration of disability in housing needs assessments.

These assessments, say the researchers, are growing in use and popularity among governments working to respond to the housing crisis, but often either omit disability as a consideration, or treat it as a singular trait that overlooks the individualized needs of different diagnoses.

“This situation is especially troubling for adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD), who experience some of the highest rates of poverty among the disability community, disproportionate rates of homelessness, and very likely hidden housing precarity,” said Haley. “We simply do not have a good understanding of the manifestations of housing needs among adults with IDD.”

To address this, the researchers have planned a mixed-method, community-engaged project that will use census and survey data, focus groups and individual interviews to develop and implement a housing needs assessment that responds to the needs of individuals with IDD. In so doing, they will also give a voice to these individuals and their needs.

Improving sexual wellbeing by understanding the role of partner responsiveness

Dr. Charlene Belu, assistant professor of psychology in Fredericton, along with co-applicant Dr. Natalie Rosen, professor of psychology and neuroscience and of obstetrics and gynecology at Dalhousie University, have also been awarded an Insight Development Grant.

With $69,998 in support over two years, they will lead a study exploring how perceived partner responsiveness may promote sexual wellbeing for couples when women experience persistent and distressing orgasm difficulty.

To date, very little of the related literature has included both partners in the research. By understanding the role this perception plays, the researchers hope to identify a new factor in sexual wellbeing and address this gap in the literature. They will also work to create new interventions that promote positive outcomes in sexual wellbeing, relationships, general wellbeing and quality of life.

“Our research will identify and explore a novel factor–perceived partner responsiveness–and a specific way that it can be used to enhance sexual wellbeing among couples coping with women’s orgasm difficulty,” said Belu. “This research will be useful in helping clinicians by informing couples-based intervention for women with orgasm difficulty.”

Using modern AI techniques to understand ancient stone tablets

Finally, Dr. M. Willis Monroe, assistant professor of classics and ancient history in Fredericton, has been awarded a $26,240 Insight Development Grant to continue his work in ancient Middle Eastern history. His two-year project will use quantitative methods to better understand Mesopotamian science and logic.

“With the rise of more innovative methods of quantitative text analysis, and the vast amount of already digitized primary sources, we have the opportunity to create a fuller picture of the internal logic of Mesopotamia science,” said Monroe.

To achieve this, Monroe will assemble a team of student research assistants from the faculty of arts and computer science. Together, they will first gather a collection of representative scientific texts to use as data. They will then code this body of text to identify important vocabulary and syntax–that is, important words and the way they are assembled into phrases or ideas. Finally, they will use machine-based text analysis methods to identify the underlying thought patterns that may not be visible through close reading of the text.