Strategic Framework initiatives making an impact

Nine initiatives receive support

Following a call for proposals in the spring, nine UVic initiatives have received funding of $294,551 in the first year of the new Strategic Framework Impact Fund. The fund provides up to $300,000 per year to strategic initiatives that are directly related to implementing the priorities of the Strategic Framework 2018-2023. 

“These initiatives showcase how UVic faculty and staff are applying our commitment to excellence in research and creative activity, teaching, service and engagement to serve students, communities and the world,” says President Jamie Cassels. “Each of these projects will have a significant impact on the university or the community.”

A sample of this year’s Impact Fund projects:

Historical Injustices and Current Realities (HICR) research cluster

Led by Helga Thorson (Germanic and Slavic studies), this three-year initiative will bring together humanities, fine arts, law and Centre for Global Studies scholars to establish a research cluster on historical injustices and current realities. “This initiative will give us the opportunity to ask what we can learn from historical injustices and how we can apply the lessons of the past,” says Thorson. The initiative will include research workshops in the first year, followed by public panels in the second year, culminating in a public symposium and SSHRC Partnership Grant application. HICR received $76,645 from the Impact Fund. 

Indigenous Knowledge Tours through UVic’s Public Art

This Legacy Art Galleries initiative will develop a walking tour of UVic’s Indigenous public art on campus. Led by Indigenous curator Lorilee Wastasecoot, in collaboration with local Indigenous artists, Elders and knowledge keepers, the tour will use storytelling related to land, peoples and culture to connect visitors and the campus community with UVic’s values of respect and reconciliation. “This project will bring to life UVic’s Indigenous art collection,” says Legacy Galleries curator of collections Caroline Riedel. “The tour will also be a dynamic interdisciplinary teaching resource.” The one-year project received $46,600 from the Impact Fund.

Climate Solutions Navigator

The Climate Solutions Navigator initiative will convene a cross-campus working group and fund coordinated activities to identify, develop and implement climate solutions awareness and engagement, in response to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°. Chaired by AVP Research Operations Rachael Scarth and Pacific Institute for Climate Solutions Executive Director Sybil Seitzinger, the group will include widespread representation from faculty and administrative units and seek to engage broadly across campus during its term. “We will be working to increase awareness of climate action opportunities and gaps, supporting new research partnerships across faculties, and enhancing climate solutions leadership at UVic,” says Seitzinger. The two-year project received $50,000 from the Impact Fund.

Theatre for Education: Re-examining the Child Welfare System with Current and Future Gatekeepers

Led by Warwick Dobson in the Department of Theatre, this initiative is centred on the use of theatre in education (TIE) to encourage decolonization and address systemic racism among law students, lawyers and judges. The TIE program will involve graduate and undergraduate applied theatre students in a special topics course, with presentations on campus for students at the UVic Law School, and for lawyers and judges. “The TIE program will identify and explore the influence of colonialism on the current child welfare system,” says Dobson. The program received $14,306 from the Impact Fund.

Also funded in 2019 were: Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Resources for Research Plans; Grant Camp: Research Grant Application Writing Intensive for UVic faculty; Cultural Capital: 50 Years of Creating Victoria with UVic’s Faculty of Fine Arts; Illuminating the Impacts of Language Revitalization; and Research-enriched Curricula.

The Strategic Framework Impact Fund is open to individual UVic staff and faculty, academic and administrative units, including research centres and affiliated entities. Collaboration across faculties and administrative units is encouraged. The fund provides total funding of up to $100,000 for a single proposal; the length of the initiative may be up to three years. The next call for proposals will take place in early 2020.

For descriptions of all the 2019 initiatives, visit the Strategic Framework website.