Congratulation Dr. Iain McKechnie: Discovery Grant recipient

(September 8, 2017) - The Faculty of Social Sciences was included in a large funding announcement by the Federal Government on Friday, September 8. Honourable Minister of Science, Kirsty Duncan was on campus to make the announcement.

“We believe in encouraging scientists’ cutting-edge ideas that will lead Canada to greater social and economic growth,” says Duncan.

The federal funding announced today includes $7.8 million in individual grants to 48 UVic researchers, with an additional $1.7 million awarded in scholarships, fellowships and accelerator supplements to other faculty and students. NSERC is providing a total $515 million in Discovery Grants this year to researchers at Canadian universities.

Researchers from the departments of anthropology, environmental studies and psychology were part of the awarded grants. Iain McKechnie (anthropology) will use his Discovery Grant for "quantifying long-term change in coast ecosystems"; Brian Starzomski (environmental studies) is looking at "community resilience through subsidies and millennial-scale human impacts in an island biogeography context"; and Stuart Macdonald (psychology) is researching "Intraindividual Variability as an Indicator of Cognitive Function".

“These awards recognize that creativity and innovation drive research advances,” says UVic President Jamie Cassels. “We appreciate NSERC’s vital ongoing support for fundamental research and the training of the next generation of our leaders in natural sciences and engineering.”