The Ontario government recently announced funding for five Waterloo faculty members — including Recreation and Leisure Studies associate professor Dr. Karla Boluk and Kinesiology and Health Sciences associate professor Dr. Paolo Dominelli — to advance their research projects. The announcement was made as part of an investment into Ontario-based researchers whose projects will help to create jobs, technologies and accelerate economic growth.
Researchers will receive funding through the Early Researcher Awards program — a program that gives research funds to new researchers working at publicly funded Ontario research institutions to build a research team.
Each award from the government is valued at $100,000 and will be matched by an additional $50,000 from the University of Waterloo.
Read more about their projects:
Dr. Karla Boluk
Project title: Understanding the Supports Required by Equity-Deserving Tourism Social Entrepreneurs in COVID-19 Recovery and their Implementation of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals
Equity-deserving groups have been under-represented in entrepreneurial ecosystems in Ontario; and COVID-19 has exacerbated this. The proposed study uses a feminist intersectional and care lens employing case study and grounded theory methodologies focused on the Toronto-Waterloo Technology Corridor. The goal of the study is to improve understandings of the multiple intersectional barriers faced by equity-deserving technology tourism social entrepreneurs and appreciate their contributions to the United Nations SDGs. Findings will point at new directions for policy making, lifting and nurturing equity-deserving tourism social entrepreneurs and research to support an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Dr. Paolo Dominelli
Project title: Understanding the Impact of Sex-Differences in the Pulmonary System on Exercise
Chronic illness is a major financial and societal burden to Ontario, estimated at more than 55 per cent of the province's total health care costs. Exercise can prevent and treat most chronic illness and substantially reduce this burden by approximately $3 billion per year with minimal cost and risk. The respiratory system is the first and last line of defense for maintaining adequate oxygen levels in the blood during exercise and is fundamental to the basic exercise response. Dr. Dominelli’s team seeks to further understand how sex-differences in the respiratory system impact the response to exercise. The proposed research will address the long-standing bias in exercise physiology where females are underrepresented in research, despite growing evidence of known differences that can impact exercise training and rehabilitation. This research will use advanced experimental techniques and technologies, utilizing participants from both sexes and across the lifespan, to provide detailed insights into how the respiratory system responds and impacts exercise tolerance.
To learn more about the other three ground-breaking researchers and their projects, visit the full story on Waterloo News.