The Government of Canada has announced more than $289 million in support for 1,788 social sciences and humanities research projects and partnerships across Canada, including 20 projects in the Faculty of Arts.
The Arts projects reflect the interdisciplinary strength and broad scope for social impact of our researchers in the humanities and social sciences. Their work explores timely and critical concerns including artificial intelligence and policing, loneliness among youth, aging and the politics of inequality, creator economy entrepreneurship, consumer interactions with AI agents, shifting democratic and diplomatic processes, and cultural forces shaping social and political life.
“The diversity of Arts' scholarship highlights the strength of Waterloo’s research ecosystem and its capacity to produce innovative, impactful work with local, national, and global significance,” said Ana Ferrer, Associate Dean, Research. “Warm congratulations to all our researchers on their excellence and dedication. We’re looking forward to the new insights that will emerge from their work.”
Here are the 2026 SSHRC Insight Grants, Insight Development Grants, and Partnership Development Grants awarded to Arts researchers:
SSHRC Insight Grants, 2026
- Tim Bauer, School of Accounting and Finance, When is Client Incivility Toward Auditors More or Less Problematic
- Jennifer Clary-Lemon, School of Critical and Creative Humanities (English), Field Notes on Hope
- Andrew Cooper, School of Social, Political and Historical Research (Political Science), Trump's Personalist Approach to International Politics: Implications for Diplomatic Processes, Practices and Outcomes
- Jordana Cox, School of Critical and Creative Humanities (Communication Studies), Radical Edits: Reimagining News Participation in Contemporary Visual and Performing Art
- Igor Grossmann, School of Psychology, From Narratives to Choices: Advancing Semantic Topic Modeling for Mapping Cultural Narratives to Social Decision Making
- Sara Hart, School of Psychology, Intergenerational Transmission of Reading Ability
- Jingjing Huo, School of Social, Political and Historical Research (Political Science), How Has Population Aging Changed the Politics of Inequality in Advanced Industrialized Nations?
- Suzan Ilcan, School of Social, Political and Historical Research (Sociology & Legal Studies), Constellations of Migrant Precarity: Precarious Legal Status in Precarious Spaces and Precarious Times
- Tisha King, School of Accounting and Finance, Balancing Roles in Elite Tax Advisory: Insights from Big Four Tax Professionals Serving Family Offices
- David Moscovitch, School of Psychology, Autobiographical Memory as a Vehicle for Social Resilience
- Winfried Siemerling, School of Critical and Creative Humanities, (English), Critical Theory, Blackness, and Anthropocene Poetics
- Galen Watts, School of Social, Political and Historical Research (Sociology & Legal Studies), Culture Wars in Canada: Romantic Expressivism and the Reconfiguration of Political Conflict
- Kaishu Wu, School of Accounting and Finance, The Influence of Information Environments on Tax Efficiency and Use of Tax Planning Channels: Evidence from Private CbCR Tax Disclosure
- Will Zhao, Stratford School of Interaction Design and Business, Multimodal Optimal Distinctiveness in Creator Economy Entrepreneurship: A Verbal-Visual Alignment Approach
SSHRC Partnership Development Grants, 2026
- Heather Henderson, School of Psychology, Co-Creating Belonging: Strengthening Youth Inclusion Through Shared Practice
SSHRC Insight Development Grants, 2026
- Steven Bednarski, St. Jerome's University, DAMMES: the Digital Archive of Medieval Manosquin Environment and Society
- Holly Campeau, School of Social, Political and Historical Research (Sociology & Legal Studies), Curbing the Craft: AI, Officer Discretion, and the Sociotechnical Transformation of Policing
- Clara Colombatto, School of Psychology, The Moral Weight of Confidence: How Decision Dynamics Shape Perceptions of Moral Character
- Sepideh Ebrahimi, School of Accounting and Finance, How Does Anthropomorphism Influence Consumers' Susceptibility to Deception by Conversational Agents?
- Seda Oz, School of Accounting and Finance, Decentralized Entry Signals and Strategic Disclosure: How Crowdfunding Activity Shapes Incumbent Firms
Read the university-wide announcement: University of Waterloo researchers secure more than $8 million in SSHRC funding