The Ontario government recently announced funding for five Waterloo faculty members — including Recreation and Leisure Studies associate professor Dr. Karla Boluk — 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. Department of Kinesiology and Health Sciences associate professor Dr. Paolo Dominelli is also a recipient.
Read more about Boluk's project:
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.
To learn more about the other ground-breaking researchers and their projects, visit the full story on Waterloo News.