Research chairs in Arts

Dillon Browne, Psychology, CRC in Child and Family Clinical Psychology (SSHRC, Tier 2)

Children’s emotional and behavioural functioning influences—and is influenced by—how families get along. Unfortunately, many families suffer adverse experiences that affect members’ relationships and mental health. These experiences can include physical abuse, neglect, violence, substance abuse, mental illness, parental incarceration, poverty and divorce. A higher number of such experiences are linked to poorer child outcomes. As well, family relationships tend to be more hostile and less sensitive in such settings.

To date, most research in child and family psychology has focused on one child or relationship system per family. But families are complex, and approaches to understanding and helping must account for this. Dr. Dillon Browne’s research expands the focus of study to entire families.

As Canada Research Chair in Child & Family Clinical Psychology, Browne uses a unique combination of laboratory methods, population surveys, intervention research and community partnerships to deepen our understanding of how adversity affects whole-family relationships and child development. He and his research team are also developing evidence-based treatments for whole families that struggle with the consequences of stress. They are applying and evaluating relationship-based approaches to child psychotherapy and family therapy while adapting existing community mental health interventions to whole families.

Alana Cattapan, Political Science, CRC in the Politics of Reproduction (SSHRC, Tier 2)

Reproductive autonomy refers to a person’s meaningful capacity to decide whether, when and how to have children. As Canada Research Chair in the Politics of Reproduction, Dr. Alana Cattapan is trying to determine how law and public policy support or limit reproductive autonomy.

Cattapan and her research team are carrying out this research through a group of inter-related projects organized around three main objectives. First, they want to theorize “reproductive policy regimes,” particularly in the Canadian context. They also hope to produce empirical data that will expand our knowledge of reproductive autonomy in Canada. Finally, they are working to build research capacity for the study of reproduction in the social sciences and humanities.

Chris Eliasmith, Philosophy, CRC in Theoretical Neuroscience (NSERC, Tier 1)

Our brains can outperform the best computers at recognizing faces, controlling sophisticated movements and learning about the environment—but we still do not know why. Enter Dr. Chris Eliasmith, Canada Research Chair in Theoretical Neuroscience, who is developing a mathematical theory to help understand how brains process information.

Eliasmith hopes to apply his theory to a wide variety of systems in specific parts of the brain. He is doing so by building biologically-realistic models that are involved in perception, motor control and several aspects of cognition.

The models will pave the way for a much deeper understanding of how the many parts of the brain work together.

That deeper understanding of the inter-relatedness of the brain will also lead to better understanding of forms of brain damage and unhealthy brains. In both Parkinson’s disease and addiction, a core brain system malfunctions. Eliasmith’s research will help understand precisely how the brain system breaks down.

Eliasmith’s work may not only lead to a better understanding of how the healthy brain can perform its dazzling array of tasks, but also of how damaged or diseased brains may be sped along the road of recovery.

Lai-Tze Fan, Sociology and Legal Studies, CRC in Technology and Social Change (SSHRC, Tier 2)

Dr. Fan is examining the benefits and risks of rapidly developing artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. By investigating the design of sexist, racist, and classist AI voice assistant software, racist facial recognition systems, and exploitative AI hardware production, she will identify how AI produces human experiences that reinforce social inequalities. In response, Dr. Fan will create equitable human-AI experiences that improve on those designed by "Big Tech" companies (e.g. Apple, Google). The outcome will be to improve AI design practices of researchers, industry, and practitioners for greater EDI (equity, diversity, and inclusion) outcomes.

Through the Unseen-AI Lab, Dr. Fan will contribute a novel, multidisciplinary approach that stops inequitable AI at their stages of design and production. Using advanced infrastructure such as AI-compatible computers, 3D scanners, and VR headsets, she will collaborate with experts in technological design to create toolkits for equitable AI assistant software, racially diverse resources for face recognition, and experiential VR representations of hardware production. Dr. Fan's goal is to encourage EDI-enhanced change in AI design and to improve technological literacy. She will do this by engaging with key audiences (including AI designers, practitioners from amateur to expert levels, and everyday AI users in Canada and abroad), and by seeking meaningful policy changes through decision makers in government and industry.

Naila Keleta-Mae, Communication Arts, Race, Gender and Performance (SSHRC Tier 2)

Research on Black freedom has the potential to re-orient the field of Black studies toward how Black artists and intellectuals use the idea, experience and expression of freedom to respond to oppression and assert their agency to combat it. As Canada Research Chair in Race, Gender and Performance, Dr. Naila Keleta-Mae aims to create a body of artistic work that contributes to Black expressive culture and Black studies by examining what Blackness and freedom mean in the 21st century.

She and her research team are studying how Blackness and freedom are imagined in Black expressive culture. They are also creating new artistic works in fiction, video, music and theatre about Blackness and freedom and sharing these works to advance public and academic discourse. By creating these artworks, they aim to demonstrate how Black people exercise agency and assert freedom in the face of various forms of oppression.

Ashley Rose Mehlenbacher, English Language and Literature, CRC in Science, Health, and Technology Communication (SSHRC, Tier 2)

Millennial and Generation Z adults face long-term risks associated with climate change. These generations are keenly aware of these risks, and many are advocating for climate action. Understanding how they perceive climate change-and what strategies they propose to address it-is important not only so we can consider potential solutions, but because these generations represent a significant proportion of Canadian voters.

Dr. Ashley Mehlenbacher, Canada Research Chair in Science, Health, and Technology Communication, is investigating how millennial and Generation Z adults discuss and debate climate change and action. She and her research team are studying how to communicate more effectively about climate science and action, what sources are trusted, and how to combat misinformation and disinformation.

Nicole Nolette, French Studies, CRC in Minority Studies (SSHRC, Tier 2)

Since the 1960s, theatre has been a major creative force in the development of Canada’s official linguistic minorities. But in recent years, new stage technologies such as surtitles (translated lyrics or dialogue projected above a stage or on a screen) have allowed minority theatres to open their doors to spectators outside their traditional communities.

As Canada Research Chair in Minority Studies, Dr. Nicole Nolette is examining how these recent technological changes have influenced French-Canadian theatre and translation practices and how they’ve been portrayed within theatre productions. Her theory is that while the use of technologies by minorities is a sign of today’s more globalized market, it also allows them to better define themselves and close the gaps between prestige and authenticity, minority and majority, local and global.

Through fieldwork and archival research in Toronto’s French-language theatres, Nolette and her research team will observe the transition of paper- and performance-based modes of translation to multilingual, multimedia productions. They will also combine empirical research on minority theatre infrastructures across Canada with an in-depth look at how these theatres represent past, present and future societies. Nolette and her team will also compare other minority and majority practices across the country to better understand them in the context of the globalization of artistic practices.

Ultimately, Nolette seeks new insights into the minority condition—a condition that is increasingly common in contemporary societies and that touches on a series of important questions, such as the expression of individual and collective identities, national linguistic policies and globalization.

John Turri, Philosophy, CRC in Philosophy and Cognitive Science (SSHRC, Tier 2)

One of philosophy’s main tasks is to illuminate concepts that matter in our everyday lives. Twentieth-century philosophers relied mainly on introspection and social observation to accomplish this. But recent psychological research shows that these techniques have serious limitations. Some philosophers have responded by incorporating more powerful methods from cognitive and social science into their research.

Dr. John Turri, Canada Research Chair in Philosophy and Cognitive Science, is a leading figure in this movement, which is known as experimental philosophy. He and his research team hope to continue to increase their philosophical and scientific understanding of important social judgments and categories, including knowledge, morality, agency and communication.