2020-21 VIU Research and Creative Activity Highlights by Vancouver Island University

2020-21

Research and Creative Activity Highlights

WELCOME from Dr. Nicole L. Vaugeois, Associate Vice-President, Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity The 2020-21 academic year presented each of us with new and unexpected challenges and growth opportunities. The COVID-19 pandemic required faculty and students to rethink and revise their research and creative activity plans. It also highlighted important new areas of inquiry and inspired the emergence of innovative creative outputs.

We are pleased to share some of the research and creative activities engaged in by VIU faculty and students in this report. It contains stories of perseverance, preservation, dedication, collaboration and innovation. We shine the light on faculty who are exposing challenging and important questions for society to look at, and others who are experimenting with bold solutions to some of our complex problems. If the past year has taught us anything, it is that we are all connected and rely on one another. On behalf of VIU, I would like to acknowledge and thank the many community partners that collaborated with us on a range of applied research projects. We are committed to being a hub for research in the region and to continuing to build and deepen relationships with external partners so that our intellectual capital is engaged in finding solutions to some of our collective priorities. We would also like to extend a thank you to our diverse funding partners for your support and your willingness to be flexible with reporting deadlines. Your understanding of the realities and challenges faced by our research teams has enabled them to carry out their work under extraordinary circumstances. And finally, I would like to acknowledge the tremendous efforts of our faculty and students over the past year. Your ability to carry on and push through with your research and creative activity exemplifies your dedication to inquiry. The knowledge you have created and shared will play a critical role in helping society to learn and thrive.

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Contents 5 VIU Research Stats 6 The Heat is On 8 Chemists Developing “Game-Changing” Methods

9 10 12 14 15 16 18 19

to Measure Contaminants

Forestry Professor Wins Scientific Achievement Award Are Wolverines on Vancouver Island a Distinct Subspecies? Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria is Becoming a Global Problem Following the Pollinators Video Game Cultivates Resilience The Role Leisure Plays Exploring Changing Attitudes Toward Childbirth Scholar Sheds Light on the Need to Broaden Social Work Education

20 VIU Psychologist Investigates Hospital Design Elements to Improve Employee Well-Being

22 Healing Emotional Wounds 25 Building Prosperity for People and the Planet 26 Community Vision 28 Researcher Developing a Better User Interface

for Historical Archive

30 32 33

Indigenous Youth Exploring Issues through VIU Art-Based Literacy Project

34 36 38

Equity, diversity and social justice

Cultural, heritage and creative expression

Innovation, entrepreneurship and social change

Integrated sciences, technology and environment

Health, resilience and well-being

RESEARCH STRENGTHS AND FOCUS AREAS

Resilience of island, coastal and rural regions

Teaching and learning

Creating Change VIU Hosts EDI Symposium Cover image: Dr. Shannon Dames, a VIU Nursing Professor, and Snuneymuxw First Nations Elder Geraldine Manson work together in a resilience-focused, psychedelic-assisted mental health therapy program that helps people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and mental health complications. See story on page 22.

VIU Professor Appointed to Reference Group for Review of Indigenous Research 2020 Research Award Recipients Regional Initiatives Fund Student Research Awards

Research and Creative Activity Highlights Volume 4 / 2021 PUBLISHER Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity Vancouver Island University, 900 Fifth Street, Nanaimo, BC V9R 5S5 MANAGING EDITORS Dr. Nicole L. Vaugeois, Associate Vice-President, Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity

GRAPHIC DESIGN Sheila Warren, Graphic Designer

EDITORIAL LIAISON Roisin Mulligan, Research Development Manager EDITOR Rachel Stern, Communications Officer

WRITERS Rachel Stern, Annette Lucas, Kendra Stiwich, Julie McManus CONTRIBUTORS Gloria Bell, Island Expressions Photography

Janina Stajic, Director, Communications & External Affairs

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To the Snuneymuxw First Nation, Tla’Amin First Nation, Cowichan Tribes, Snaw-Naw-As First Nation and Qualicum First Nation, we raise our hands and say Hay ch qa’ sii’em sieye’ yu mukw Mustimuxw.

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VIU

research stats 6

British Columbia Graduate Scholarship Awards

Canada Graduate Scholarship Awards for master’s students

$1.2 million

in federal research funding

$1.3 million

awarded for research infrastructure

$1.7 million

in funding from research grants and contracts

NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Awards

$532,892

121

in external student research funding

projects led by faculty

780

and students that involved community partners

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Integrated sciences, technology and environment

The Heat is On

Researchers are investigating how extreme temperatures are affecting marine animals. Climate change is causing more extreme temperature events, such as heat waves, in marine environments and researchers at VIU are studying how these changes are affecting the health of fish and shellfish. Drs. Spencer Russell and Dan Baker, VIU Fisheries and Aquaculture Professors, and Dr. Tim Green, VIU’s Canada Research Chair in Shellfish Health and Genomics, received $548,973 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and BC Knowledge Development Fund to design research projects that aim to understand how marine heat waves, which are periods of abnormally warm seawater events that can last for a few days to months, impact the health of farmed finfish and shellfish. These events are expected to increase in frequency in the future. While the research focuses on aquaculture environments, it will also provide information on how different species could adapt to climate change. “By identifying how marine heat waves alter finfish and shellfish behaviour, physiology and immune responses, we will improve our knowledge on how these warm water events increase the susceptibility of aquatic animals to disease and make significant advances in the management of finfish and shellfish health and welfare,” says Russell. Green is investigating how marine heat waves can cause death in farmed oysters. Baker will examine how heat waves may alter how wild and farmed salmon and sturgeon respond and adapt to higher summer temperatures. Russell is investigating the impact on gill health of farmed salmonids. Their research will take place at VIU’s Centre for Shellfish Research, the International Centre for Sturgeon Studies and Centre for Innovation in Fish Health. “The world is changing, and we must make informed decisions to change with it successfully,” says Baker. “British Columbia has a crucial part to play in providing food to Canada and the rest of the world in the future, and we believe we can help by addressing challenges in aquaculture industries hit hard by problems created by climate change and other anthropogenic activities.” 

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“The world is changing, and we must make informed decisions to change with it successfully.” Dr. Dan Baker VIU Fisheries and Aquaculture Professor

Integrated sciences, technology and environment

Dr. Spencer Russell VIU Fisheries and Aquaculture Professor

Strengthening Food Security The BC government is investing $2 million to support the development of three new food hubs to strengthen food security on Vancouver Island, which includes a new Centre for Seafood Innovation at VIU’s Deep Bay Marine Field Station.

Dr. Tim Green Canada Research Chair in Shellfish Health and Genomics

“We are thrilled to harness the potential of Deep Bay’s world-class research labs and state-of-the-art experimental commercial kitchen facilities to link together the culinary, business, distribution and research expertise needed to put new ideas into action in the regional seafood industry,” says Carl Butterworth, Manager of the Deep Bay Marine Field Station. “We hope that the lasting benefit of the centre will be a track record of continuous innovation, technological and process development, answered research questions and a greatly expanded seafood sector that contributes to the food security of British Columbians and the general economy in BC.” In April 2021, Debra Hellbach became Manager of VIU’s Centre for Seafood Innovation. She has 35 years of experience in the food and seafood industry, including seafood and shellfish processing. 

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Integrated sciences, technology and environment

Chemists developing “Game-Changing”

Methods to Measure Contaminants VIU researchers are striving for faster, better and more economical mass spectrometry methods to measure environmental and biological samples in the field to help protect the environment and human life. Thanks to a $487,314 research infrastructure grant from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the BC Knowledge Development Fund, Dr. Chris Gill and Dr. Erik Krogh, VIU Chemistry Professors and Co-Directors of the Applied Environmental Research Laboratories (AERL), are one step closer on their journey. Thermo Fisher Scientific also provided an in-kind donation. The money and donation helped VIU acquire an Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer System made by Thermo Fisher Scientific, the first high-resolution mass spectrometry instrument of its kind available in the central Vancouver Island region for research and development. Acquiring this piece of equipment will allow them to develop faster, better and cheaper methods of analyzing complicated samples for trace contaminants and train the next generation of researchers to make challenging chemical measurements using direct mass spectrometry. The researchers’ long-term goals include developing next generation technologies, that in the future could be used to measure environmental, forensic and clinical samples in the field instead of having to send the samples to a lab and wait for results. “In the bigger picture, what we’re working toward are really ‘game-changing’ methods and techniques that shift the whole paradigm of how we get accurate chemical measurements done in a hurry. This can make a big difference, for example, in the clinical setting or at a contaminated site,” says Krogh.

VIU’s Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer System made by Thermo Fisher Scientific.

The Orbitrap Mass Spectrometer system provides excellent mass resolution, which allows researchers to easily identify and measure closely related molecules in complex mixtures. “With this high-precision data, we can start to answer different questions like what are the other things in complicated samples that might be influencing our measurements?” says Gill. “What are the interferences we see? It could be an environmental sample. It could be a drug sample. It could be any complicated real-world sample we need to know more about.” Gill says this research can help develop better tools for use in clinical diagnostics, harm reduction drug checking, responding to environmental issues and assisting first responders. 

Dr. Chris Gill

Dr. Erik Krogh

VIU Chemistry Professor and Co-Director of the AERL

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Integrated sciences, technology and environment

FORESTRY PROFESSOR

Wins Scientific Achievement Award Bill Beese, a retired VIU Forestry Department Professor and Forest Ecologist, received the Canadian Forest Scientific Achievement Award from the Canadian Institute of Forestry/Institut forestier du Canada (CIF-IFC). The award recognizes “individuals who have made innovative and outstanding achievements in forestry research in Canada.” Beese has made significant contributions to forest research in British Columbia and abroad, including his “landmark work implementing the retention silviculture system,” according to CIF-IFC. Retention is an approach to forest harvesting where the trees are left for the long term for their wildlife and biodiversity benefits. “I was thrilled,” says Beese about receiving the award. “Anytime you are recognized by your peers for making a difference it is very satisfying. It’s humbling to have people feel that way about the things I’ve done over the years.” Beese has served on numerous advisory committees on research, old growth forests and ecosystem-based management, including an international science panel for Forestry Tasmania. He has co-authored numerous research papers. “Bill has an international reputation for practical implementation of innovative forestry and is very deserving of this prestigious award,” says Mark Pearson, Executive Director of CIF-IFC, in a media release. Beese has more than 30 years of experience on the BC coast in research, environmental consulting and policy development for several forest companies — most recently as Forest Ecologist for Western Forest Products in Campbell River. He is a Registered Professional Forester with a Master’s degree in Forest Ecology from the University of British Columbia.

“Anytime you are recognized by your peers for making a difference is very satisfying. It's humbling to have people feel that way about things I've done over the years.” Bill Beese Retired VIU Forestry Department Professor

He has also received BC Forest Professional magazine’s Best Article in 2008, the Ecological Society of America’s Corporate Award in 2001 and Coastal Silviculturist of the Year in 2000. 

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Integrated sciences, technology and environment

Are Wolverines on Vancouver Island

a Distinct Subspecies?

Photo: Damian Power

Scientists and conservationists have been questioning for decades whether Vancouver Island wolverines are a distinct subspecies from those found on the mainland in North America.

Resolving the question now allows for potential conservation efforts to relocate mainland wolverines to Vancouver Island. However, reintroducing wolverines to the Island could result in other consequences to biodiversity.

Now there is an answer thanks to DNA analysis conducted by researchers Dr. Jamie Gorrell, a VIU Biology Professor, and Evan Hessels, a VIU alum.

“While wolverines from the mainland could be reintroduced to Vancouver Island, this could be dangerous for the survival of the Vancouver Island marmot, which is the most critically endangered mammal in Canada,” says Gorrell.

“To determine the genetic difference between Vancouver Island and mainland wolverines; we collected tissue samples from known Vancouver Island wolverine specimens in museum collections across North America,” says Hessels. “DNA was extracted from these samples and then compared to that of wolverines from the mainland to determine if any major differences could be found between the populations.” The DNA comparisons showed that the genetic difference was very small and not enough to consider wolverines on Vancouver Island a unique subspecies. Why was the answer to this question so critical? Wolverine populations have been declining in BC and the Vancouver Island wolverine, Gulo gulo vancouverensis, is red listed by the BC Government, which means the species is considered threatened or at risk of being lost to extinction. The last confirmed sighting of a wolverine on Vancouver Island was in 1992. “While losing wolverines from Vancouver Island is bad news for the conservation of biodiversity, the extinction of a unique subspecies means losing something that can never be replaced,” says Gorrell.

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Hessels and Gorrell present their findings in an article, “Characterizing the elusive Vancouver Island wolverine, Gulo gulo vancouverensis, using historical DNA,” which was co-authored by Eric Lofroth from Boreas Ecological consulting, and Rich Weir from the BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy. The article was published in the Journal of Mammalogy on January 31, 2021. Hessels completed his DNA analysis as part of his fourth-year undergraduate research project in April 2019. He is also the recipient of a VIU REACH Award, which provides students with a stipend to help them complete their own independent research project under the mentorship of a VIU faculty member. This project was funded by a VIU Inquiry Grant and a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant, awarded to Gorrell. 

Integrated sciences, technology and environment

Researchers Examining Genetics

of Canada Lynx

“While losing wolverines from Vancouver Island is bad news for the conservation of biodiversity, the extinction of a unique subspecies means losing something that can never be replaced.” Dr. Jamie Gorrell VIU Biology Professor

The lynx-hare predator-prey cycle that has existed for thousands of years in North America is increasingly under threat from climate change. The lynx relies almost exclusively on snowshoe hare for food; as the hare populations rise and fall over a roughly 10-year cycle, lynx populations follow suit. As snowshoe hare populations decline some lynx change their behaviour and begin to travel long distances in search of food. To understand how this cycle, which helps maintain the biodiversity of more than a dozen species in the boreal forest, could be impacted by climate change, Dr. Jamie Gorrell, a VIU Biology Professor, and Dr. Evan Hersh, a VIU Post-Doctoral Fellow, are studying the genetics of Canada lynx. Hersh is using genomic analyses and bioinformatics to analyze DNA samples. The genetic information will help researchers and conservationists understand lynx movements and connectivity among populations to identify potential habitat corridors that are essential to ensuring lynx populations remain genetically diverse. Gorrell and Hersh will be completing their research over the next two years thanks to an Accelerate Fellowship grant for $90,000 awarded jointly from Mitacs and Bill Harrower, principal biologist at High-Country Wildlife. 

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Integrated sciences, technology and environment

Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria is Becoming a Global Problem Biology professor is researching how common antibiotic-resistant genes are among bacteria in urban environments.

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Integrated sciences, technology and environment

Antibiotic resistance in bacteria is a worldwide problem and where previously these bacteria were more commonly found in hospitals, they can now be found in everything from the food we consume to the soil beneath our feet, says Dr. Mercedes Hernandez, a VIU Biology Professor. “This is not something to be scared of. It doesn’t mean that you need to get paranoid,” says Hernandez, adding that people can take steps to help control the spread of antibiotic resistance, which includes not taking antibiotics if they don’t need them. Hernandez first started looking for Staphylococcus aureus carrying the Methicillinresistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) gene in 2002. Then in 2012 she started collaborating with Dr. John Amaral, a VIU Biology Professor, who passed away in the fall of 2019, and they extended the search to include other antibiotic-resistant genes.

The researchers detected a variety of antibiotic-resistant bacterial genes in Nanaimo sewage samples, soil samples from public parks, trails and farmland in the Nanaimo region. Some of the research examined samples for the Extended Spectrum B-lactamase (ESBLs) genes, which give bacteria resistance to many different antibiotics. One of the research projects with VIU student Andre Gauvin involves testing kitchen sponges for the presence of both ESBLs and the MecA gene, which is typically associated with Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus bacteria. Hernandez and her student researchers use a molecular technique to identify the antibiotic-resistant genes in bacteria. It’s a safe method because researchers don’t have to grow the bacteria in the lab, which would require stringent biohazard controls.

“This is not something to be scared of. It doesn’t mean that you need to get paranoid.”

Overuse of antibiotics causes a selection pressure on bacteria that favours survival of antibiotic-resistant strains. And, bacteria can acquire DNA from other bacteria, says Hernandez. As long as antibiotics are being released into the environment, the antibiotic-resistant genes will be maintained in bacteria. Hernandez says some scientists believe that if antibiotic use decreases then there will be less bacteria carrying the antibiotic-resistant genes because they will no longer need them to survive. “With lower selective pressure of antibiotics in the environment, there is less reason for bacteria to hold on to these extra genes. Unless they’re needed, it’s a burden to keep these genes, and there is an opportunity for bacteria that aren’t resistant to proliferate and compete more efficiently,” says Hernandez. 

Dr. Mercedes Hernandez VIU Biology Professor

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Integrated sciences, technology and environment

Following the Pollinators Examining the eco-evolutionary process of bog orchids.

Bog orchids are hybridizing naturally in the wild even though there are multiple barriers that should prevent this process from occurring, says Dr. Jasmine Janes, a VIU Biology Professor, who is researching the phenomenon. A hybrid is the result of cross pollination between two different species or varieties, which creates a new plant with different qualities and traits. “According to various species concepts, hybridization shouldn’t be happening, or it should be very rare,” explains Janes. “Orchids often have very specific pollinators – one type of pollinator is suited to one type of orchid so it should only pollinate that particular species.” Janes’ research could help in developing tailored management and conservation efforts for terrestrial orchids, which are considered sensitive species because of their relationships with both insects and fungi. It will also allow scientists to better understand the process of evolution – where new species arise – and how the addition and/or loss of a species can impact ecosystems. For example, hybrids are usually a mixture of traits from their parents. Those parents attract certain pollinators and the hybrid may be better or worse at attracting those pollinators, which could result in ecosystem-level changes because of the new “player” in the system. Janes is studying bog orchids to determine how the barriers to reproduction between species are being bypassed at each stage, such as tracking pollinators and the beneficial relationships with different fungal species. She’ll use camera equipment to monitor the species and is using different coloured dyes, injected into the pollen sacks, to help determine how far pollinators move pollen and how often it is moved to a different orchid species. Janes was awarded a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant and will receive $28,000 a year over five years to help fund her research. “These awards are considered the gold standard in Canada when you’re doing scientific research, and without the financial support of NSERC, I wouldn’t be able undertake this project,” says Janes. 

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“According to various species concepts, hybridization shouldn’t be happening, or it should be very rare.” Dr. Jasmine Janes VIU Biology Professor

Health, resilience and well-being

Video Game Cultivates Resilience VIU researcher creating prototype game to help firefighters cope with trauma experienced on the job. Dr. Leigh Blaney is branching out into the world of video game development. With the help of a BC SUPPORT Unit grant of $10,000, Blaney, a VIU Health and Human Services Professor, and her research partner Robert Fell, a volunteer firefighter and owner of tech company HYPERSURGE, are developing a prototype firefighter resilience education video game called Firefighter Edge that can be used in resilience training worldwide. For many first responders, the cumulative exposure to trauma can overwhelm their coping skills, triggering a mental health crisis. Drawing on more than 25 years of experience working in critical incident stress management with firefighters, Blaney has co-created a resilience education program aimed at helping volunteer firefighters in BC learn different ways of thinking about and reacting to anxiety-causing situations and how to cultivate their personal resilience before they are involved in a disturbing incident. The in-person training program was rolled out in 2018 and showed positive results. The patient-oriented Research-to-Action grant will fund the development of the prototype game, which will then be trialed by fire service partners on southern Vancouver Island. “It’s a really unique way of delivering education that we have talked about for well over a year,” says Blaney. “It was Rob’s idea to create the game. He gave me access to a game he developed for the Ministry of Defense in the United Kingdom, and after playing it for two hours I was fully engaged in it, and I am not a gamer. The process of knowledge and skill development as you work through these games is very interesting and convinced me this could be a useful tool. The firefighters we’ve talked to about the game are also super excited about it.”

“The process of knowledge and skill development as you work through these games is very interesting and convinced me this could be a useful tool.” Dr. Leigh Blaney VIU Health and Human Services Professor

The BC SUPPORT Unit Vancouver Island Centre connects researchers with patients and families living in the area served by Island Health and offers services to support and increase Patient-Oriented Research (POR). POR is part of Canada’s Strategy for Patient-Oriented Research led by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. If the game proves successful, Blaney and Fell want to launch it nationally and internationally, if they can secure financial support. 

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Health, resilience and well-being

The Role Leisure Plays VIU professor assesses leisure in the time of a pandemic.

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Health, resilience and well-being The urgent need to stop people from gathering in close proximity to one another to slow the spread of the COVID-19 virus took away or severely restricted most forms of leisure activities outside the home during the pandemic. We asked VIU Recreation and Tourism Management Professor Joanne Schroeder, Co-Director of the VIU World Leisure Centre of Excellence and the first female chair of the World Leisure Organization (WLO) Board of Directors, why leisure is important and how the global pandemic is changing our perception of the role leisure plays in our lives.

What is leisure? “The World Leisure Organization defines it as a central force that enhances the human condition,” says Schroeder. “There are many activities that fall under the umbrella of leisure: sport, recreation, tourism, travel, arts and culture, dining out, reading, shopping or play. It’s this concept of the freedom that people have to choose to participate or pursue activities of interest to them or that give them pleasure.”

Post-pandemic perspectives Formed in 1952, the World Leisure Organization is a non-profit, non-governmental body of individuals and organizations from all parts of the world that promotes leisure as integral to social, cultural, economic and sustainable environmental development. Schroeder says the COVID-19 virus has created further opportunities for introspection on the way we spend our free time and perhaps insight on the way forward in a post-pandemic future. In her role as chair of the WLO board, she hopes to elevate the conversation of leisure across the globe. Schroeder examines how the pandemic has impacted leisure in the research paper, Thinking about leisure during a global pandemic, which was published in the World Leisure Journal in September, 2020. The paper was co-written by Drs. Suzanne de la Barre, Garrett Stone and Janet McKeown, VIU Recreation and Tourism Management Professors, and was submitted by the VIU World Leisure Centre of Excellence. 

On a global scale, there continues to be inequities in access to leisure activities for all people, and government and non-government agencies continue to search for a solution. “The reason why there is a World Leisure Organization that has consultative status to the United Nations is because the world acknowledges we are at a critical point,” says Schroeder. “Countries with a better socioeconomic status see leisure as a critical aspect of enhancing society. Yet in many areas of the world, pursuit of leisure is only for the affluent while many workers are employed at little more than subsistence wages.”

How has leisure evolved during the pandemic? “At the root of it is community. When we come together as a group, we are stronger as individuals,” says Schroeder. “We do things like eat together, walk in parks together, play together and socialize together. Those are all an aspect of leisure and when we remove those, we can see a huge impact on our health and well-being.” Historically, people often think of physical buildings, whether they are private or public, as the places and spaces where we engage in leisure. “But the reality is leisure activities moved outside of those facilities and I believe that it is going to be emphasized even more as we come out of the pandemic,” says Schroeder.

“When we come together as a group, we are stronger as individuals. We do things like eat together, walk in parks together, play together and socialize together. Those are all an aspect of leisure and when we remove those, we can see a huge impact on our health and well-being.” Joanne Schroeder VIU Recreation and Tourism Management Professor

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Health, resilience and well-being

Exploring Changing Attitudes Towards

Childbirth

Building on a decade of work on the histories of women's health, bodies and pain, Dr. Whitney Wood’s current research project explores changing attitudes towards childbirth in mid-to-late 20th century Canada. Beginning in the 1930s, and especially in the postwar decades, a growing number of Canadians began seeking out what they perceived as a new and less medicalized way to give birth – one with decreased interventions, particularly the use of anesthesia, that enabled the labouring mother to be awake and alert at the moment of delivery. “My first major project focused on the medicalization of childbirth and the growing use of obstetric anaesthesia during the late-19th and early-20th century, a key period of Canadian medical history and the professionalization of obstetrics,” says Wood, VIU’s Canada Research Chair in the Historical Dimensions of Women's Health. “Looking at the pushback against this medicalization, and the growth of a distinct natural childbirth movement in 20th century Canada, was a logical outgrowth of this.” Wood has found that early natural childbirth often included several medical interventions, demonstrating how the use of the word “natural” – in reference to women's bodies, birth experiences and motherhood – is a slippery and malleable term, filled with different meanings in different contexts. These varying definitions factor into her research.

Policy makers, health practitioners, academic researchers and women as medical consumers stand to benefit from Wood’s latest research, funded by the Canada Research Chairs Program. Wood’s published findings include an article on women's experiences of anaesthetization without consent in the leading international journal, Social History of Medicine, and a book chapter on Canadian involvement in the international natural childbirth movement in Undiplomatic History: Rethinking Canada in the World (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2020). Her next piece, exploring women's emotional experiences of pride following the "achievement" of natural birth, or shame surrounding a "failed" natural birth, will appear in the edited collection, Feeling Feminism: Activism, Affect, and Canada’s Second Wave, forthcoming from the University of British Columbia Press. 

“My research fundamentally aims to help us understand why certain groups of women come to have the choices they have, or, more troublingly, why many women continue to lack access to certain care options, when it comes to giving birth in 21st century Canada,” says Wood. Throughout her project, Wood, along with the support of VIU undergraduate students who work as research assistants, has been analyzing medical journals, the archival records of physicians, natural childbirth promoters and feminist organizations, and newspaper archives. Research also involves pouring over digitized back issues of Chatelaine and the Ladies Home Journal, included in the Women's Magazine Archive, which reveal how medical experts and women themselves understood pregnancy and childbirth during the period under study.

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Dr. Whitney Wood Canada Research Chair in the Historical Dimensions of Women’s Health

Health, resilience and well-being

Scholar Sheds Light on the Need to

Broaden Social Work Education Dr. Jeanette Schmid, a Professor of Social Work at VIU, wants social work education and practice in Canada to be meaningful to the communities it serves. She hopes her research – Pulling Together the Threads: Current Understandings of Contextualized Social Work Education – done in partnership with the Centre for Social Development in Africa; Marina Morgenshtern, Trent University; and Yasmin Turton, University of Johannesburg; will start the conversation about harnessing alternative social work models that are responsive to different perspectives and ways of knowing and being. In a Canadian context, this entails learning from Indigenous and racialized communities about how they identify, approach and solve issues facing the community and moving forward in a manner that is meaningful to that community and doesn’t cause harm. “Social workers are often labelled as those people who’ve done harm in the community by imposing their helpful approaches and ignoring people’s traditional ways of solving problems,” says Schmid. “We hope to offer insights on how those inferences have arisen and how we can work towards a social transformation that is meaningful to local populations, wherever you are in the world.”

“This means decolonizing the classroom and helping students recognize historical and contemporary oppression and respect for community expertise,” adds Schmid. “Only then will we ensure our future social work practitioners are able to engage in a meaningful, relevant and respectful manner in all contexts.” 

“This means decolonizing the

Schmid says when social workers impose their methods, without taking into account cultural approaches, it creates a “power dynamic where we assert our expertise and, in the process, rob the voices and experience of the people we are working with.”

classroom and helping students

Schmid says to establish contextualized social work education, it’s crucial that educators begin to curate local knowledge and other ways of knowing and make that available to students so they can better serve their communities.

respect for community expertise.

She says gains have been made in Canada. Indigenous social work scholars are making their perspectives known, but Schmid believes there is significantly more work to be done when it comes to teaching social work in a contextualized way.

respectful manner in all contexts.”

recognize historical and contemporary oppression and Only then will we engage in a meaningful, relevant and

Dr. Jeanette Schmid VIU Social Work Professor

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Health, resilience and well-being

VIU Psychologist Investigates

Hospital Design Elements to Improve Employee Well-Being

Researchers surveying Island Health employees working in Cowichan District Hospital.

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Health, resilience and well-being VIU Psychology Professor Dr. Lindsay McCunn is working with Island Health on a research project that could help the hospital replacement planning team consider which design features to incorporate into the new Cowichan District Hospital, which is expected to open in 2026. The research project is a long-term commitment that invited employees working at the current hospital to participate in a survey to determine which architectural elements and design features they associate with aspects of employee satisfaction, well-being, productivity and more. After the new hospital is built, employees will be surveyed again to measure the effect of included architectural features. “Providing safe, high-quality care for patients is our top priority,” says Deanna Fourt, Director of Sustainability and Business Continuity for Island Health. “Creating a positive working environment is one of the many ways we can support staff to maintain their safety and well-being at work, and improve the hospital experience for all. We are pleased to be partnering with Lindsay, and look forward to the opportunity to incorporate her leading-edge research into this exciting capital project.” This research capitalizes on the rare opportunity of being able to ask employees questions prior to construction. McCunn, who specializes in environmental psychology – a relatively new sub-field of psychology that examines the transactions between individuals and their physical settings, says it’s unique to have a study underway this far in advance to get a picture of what design elements resonate with users. McCunn, along with three undergraduate research assistants in her Environmental Psychology Research Lab, has recently surveyed employees at the existing Cowichan District Hospital to determine current levels of the staff’s feeling of commitment to the organization, perceived productivity, well-being, and their proenvironmental attitudes and behaviours within their workplace. Staff were also asked to describe what physical features in the hospital contribute to their sense of engagement and reduced stress on the job. “Often, research that connects an environment to behaviours is done retroactively and building users are asked how they feel about working in a setting after it has been designed. But that kind of research relies on people’s memories, which can include errors and biases. The study with Island Health has a better methodology that allows us to measure how staff feel in both buildings, with less reliance on memory, because we are surveying them before and after they move into the new hospital,” says McCunn. The survey asked employees questions about what physical features make a difference in their work satisfaction and also examines how people perceive environmental features that offer a sense of privacy, social interaction, social cohesion, safety and security, air quality, lighting,

and so on. Findings from the survey will be shared with the Island Health project team to enhance the team’s understanding of what features are important to staff for environmental sustainability. “We understand a lot about how we interact with each other socially in psychology but sometimes it’s more difficult to understand what attributes of a physical environment contribute to those relationships and the feeling you have in a place,” says McCunn. Fourt says there are numerous environmental elements taken into account when designing a new hospital, including targeting LEED® (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Gold Certification. Many elements of the LEED® Gold Certification aim to improve the well-being and experience for the people inside the building. Some of the features that directly affect staff are storage and collection of recyclables, indoor air quality, places of respite and access to daylight. Another element that might also be important is just having a pleasant place to take a break outside. Outside the scope of McCunn’s research project, Island Health will undertake a process to ensure patients and family caregivers have the opportunity to provide input into many important aspects of the new hospital. “We want to make sure employees have a number of spaces that they can access to find some respite, privacy and a place to feel restored,” says McCunn. “That happens with things like biophilic design – where natural patterns and organic shapes and nature-based attributes – come in.” Natural design elements can have restorative effects on people’s attention and mood, she adds. McCunn received a VIU Explore Grant and an Innovate Grant to undertake this work. 

Dr. Lindsay McCunn VIU Psychology Professor

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Healing Emotional Wounds Unresolved trauma and anxiety can swirl inside a person’s mind like storm clouds, weighing them down and darkening their orientation to themselves and to the world.

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Health, resilience and well-being

Thanks to a resilience-focused, psychedelic-assisted mental health therapy program, people suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and mental health complications are getting help. “It is healing people who didn’t think they could be healed,” says Dr. Shannon Dames, a VIU Nursing Professor, who developed the program along with her multidisciplinary team. Dames and her team have developed a program that delivers cutting-edge treatment to health-care providers suffering from PTSD and treatment-resistant mental health complications such as depression, anxiety, trauma and emotional exhaustion. By age 40, 50% of the population will have or have had a mental illness, according to the Canadian Mental Health Association. Dames says health-care professionals are at a greater risk of experiencing psychological stress due to their traumaladen careers. “Rates of depression and PTSD were already high amongst front-line caregivers and international trends are showing us that the COVID-19 pandemic is contributing to widespread emotional distress for those on the front lines,” she says.

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Health, resilience and well-being The program’s first 12-week quality improvement trial,

currently the only legal medicine that produces psychedelic

conducted in collaboration with Island Health, has yielded

effects when administered at specific dose ranges.

remarkable results.

“The fact that Shannon received this prestigious award

“Our evaluation results show significant improvements.

recognizes the exceptionally innovative research that her

Of the 16 participants in the first cohort, 11 screened

team is doing and the potential impact for health outcomes

positive for PTSD. All of the PTSD patients screened

in BC,” says Dr. Nicole Vaugeois, Associate Vice-President

negative upon program completion, which is unheard of,”

of Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity at VIU.

says Dames.

The project’s foundation is a resilience-building program

Additionally, out of 13 participants who also screened

called Roots to Thrive, co-created by Dames with

positive for generalized anxiety, 62% left screening

contributions from numerous academics and health

negative, and 48% had significant clinical improvements.

professionals. The evidence-informed communities of

Of the 13 who screened positive for depression, 100% saw

practice program aims to enhance mindfulness and

significant improvements in their scores. At the one-month

self-compassion to reduce stress and has resulted in

follow up, seven patients were in remission and six

significant positive wellness impacts for participants.

patients showed a reduction in symptoms from moderate

Psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy is integrated into

or severe to mild.

the program as a tool to address trauma, relax defenses,

To continue this promising research, Dames was awarded

promote connection and facilitate insight.

$450,000 over five years from the Michael Smith

The research team is currently onboarding the fourth

Foundation for Health Research and the Lotte & John

cohort of participants in the Roots To Thrive – Ketamine

Hecht Memorial Foundation. The funding will allow her to

Assisted Therapy treatment program. Long-term goals

focus 75% of her time over the next five years to continue

include creating an accredited psychedelic-assisted

her research and improve the program.

therapy training certificate program, which will be added

The Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research is

to the VIU curriculum.

BC’s health research funding agency. The long-term

Dames previously received a $50,000 Canadian Institutes

Professional-Investigator awards support health

of Health Research (CIHR) Knowledge Synthesis grant in

professionals who are actively involved in patient care

2020 to support development of the program. The CIHR

to conduct and apply research relevant to health

grant was part of the Government of Canada’s rapid

and/or the health system.

research response to COVID-19 and aimed to address and

“I am delighted at the support this initiative is receiving,”

improve mental health outcomes during the pandemic

says Dames. “This award is a gift that will allow me the time to really focus on expanding access to these innovative and evidence-based therapies, which are sorely needed

response and beyond. She also received a $30,000 grant from a private philanthropist and matching funds from VIU’s Regional Initiatives Fund. 

during this global health crisis.” The project is supported by a multidisciplinary team of health and research professionals and agencies, including the BC SUPPORT Unit Vancouver Island Centre, an initiative that supports patient-oriented research in the region; Island Health clinicians; VIU researchers; the University of Victoria; and the University of British Columbia. Dames is also collaborating with Island Health’s Research and Capacity Building department and the Ministry of Health’s Innovation Hub to develop and imbed the first publicly offered program in Canada, combining resilience-based communities of practice with ketamine-assisted therapy. Ketamine is commonly used

“It is healing people who didn't think they could be healed.”

by health-care professionals in a variety of medical settings, including for treating depression. It is also

Dr. Shannon Dames VIU Nursing Professor

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Resilience of island, coastal and rural regions

Building Prosperity

for People and the Planet VIU advancing Sustainable Development Goals at institution. In 2018, VIU’s Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute (MABRRI), in collaboration with the President’s Office, initiated a research project to examine what VIU was doing to meet the United Nations’ 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). A list of recommendations was created to direct the University’s efforts to continue to meet the goals in the future. The project included community engagement events, consulting faculty and employees, and analyzing how other universities in North America were approaching SDGs. One of the ways VIU is working toward the goals is by reducing the poverty cycle with access to education through global engagement events, the Tuition Waiver Program and EleV, a partnership with the Mastercard Foundation that expands initiatives to remove educational barriers for Indigenous youth. These initiatives align with Goal 1: No Poverty; Goal 4: Quality Education; and Goal 10: Reduced Inequalities. VIU received $100,000 from the Government of Canada’s Sustainable Development Goals Funding Program, which is part of Moving Forward Together – Canada’s 2030 Agenda National Strategy. The funding will allow MABRRI to continue promoting and advancing the SDGs at VIU, enhance multistakeholder efforts by promoting partnerships and bridging efforts across sectors, and foster and integrate traditional and local knowledge. MABRRI will host training and engagement events for VIU students and local community organizations and develop a video series in partnership with the Swivel Project to highlight VIU’s initiatives. Additionally, a regional symposium for Vancouver Island community planners will be hosted in Fall 2021. “I’m delighted that we are able to continue the work that we started, looking at the role of universities in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals,” says Dr. Pam Shaw, Director of MABRRI and VIU’s Master of Community Planning Program. “It’s important for VIU as an institution and an entity, but also because we’re contributing to Canada’s commitment to achieving the SDGs.” 

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Cultural heritage and creative expression

COMMUNITY VIU’s Sebastian Abboud and Dr. Sonnet L’Abbé both had work commissioned for the REIMAGINE Nanaimo campaign. The campaign invited people to add their voice to the conversation about what kind of city they’d like Nanaimo to be in 20 years and beyond. When VIU Graphic Design Professor Sebastian Abboud and his wife, Maxine, had twins in 2020, it changed his priorities and made him think about the kind of world he wanted his children to grow up in. It’s one of the reasons he chose to participate in the City of Nanaimo’s REIMAGINE Nanaimo campaign. The campaign invited people to add their voice to the conversation about what kind of city they’d like Nanaimo to be in 20 years and beyond. Another motivation for contributing to the campaign is Abboud’s sense of connection to the community, which he says is stronger in Nanaimo than other places he lived in the past such as Vancouver. Abboud’s piece, “Looking Forward”, was one of three works commissioned by the City of Nanaimo’s Culture & Events team for the campaign. “Once I moved to Nanaimo, I felt a really strong connection to what was happening,” says Abboud. “I started to plan creative events around town, and I found that every time I tried to organize something, everyone was really responsive and receptive to my ideas, which was amazing. I immediately felt like part of the community.”

Sebastian Abboud VIU Graphic Design Professor

“Looking Forward” depicts several topics Abboud would like to see prioritized for the future of Nanaimo, including affordable housing, active transportation, education, arts and culture, and building strong and safe communities. Abboud says the COVID-19 pandemic has stressed the importance of many of these issues, especially affordable housing.

with COVID and just the rising cost of housing ownership and rentals in Nanaimo, it’s just putting the pinch on a lot of people. I see it all the time in this neighbourhood. I see it right outside my window. My wife and I have been fortunate enough that we can own a house in Nanaimo, so I think we feel really privileged. We must find ways to build these communities for a wide range of

“I think it is very apparent that there is a massive divide between the economic classes. We need to focus on housing solutions for everyone,” he says. “I think especially

economic backgrounds.” 

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Cultural heritage and creative expression

VISION VIU Creative Writing and Journalism Professor Dr. Sonnet L’Abbé envisions a diverse and inclusive future for Nanaimo. She shared that hope through her song “Nazaneen: A Song for Nanaimo,” – a fictitious letter to a friend called Nazaneen, a Black woman considering moving to Nanaimo with her sons. The song was one of three works commissioned for the REIMAGINE Nanaimo campaign. “I tried to write a song that would help my town see itself through the eyes of one of its own Black residents,” says L’Abbé. “When I was considering moving to Nanaimo to work at VIU, I didn’t have a contact to ask about the Black, Indigenous and People of Colour community.

“I did know people in Vancouver who had grown up here, and they warned me I might find it … challenging. If we’re looking to Nanaimo’s future, I wanted us all to imagine a future where more Black families move here, and think about how much we actually welcome that.” L’Abbé was also motivated to write the song because of events in the summer of 2020, including the murder of George Floyd and anti-Black racism. “After George Floyd was murdered, my need for community, and a whole bunch of people’s need for community, skyrocketed,” says L’Abbé. “I was confronted with how few people I was in touch with here in Nanaimo, how few Black people, how few professionals of colour, I could talk to in these moments.” This motivated L'Abbé to co-organize the June 2020 Black Lives Matter march in Nanaimo. “It was my own response to mine and other people’s sense of not being connected. The local Black population is small, and the urgency of the moment didn’t seem to be quite felt by Nanaimo – as I was feeling it, anyway,” says L’Abbé. “Coming together was really important to me. It showed visibility and asserted that Black Lives Matter. It asserted that our experiences are important, our voices are important, and there were calls for sustained attention to Black lives and valuing Black lives and experiences.” She said the Black Lives Matter march was also an opportunity for people in Nanaimo who share those values to come together, which was “heartening” to see.

Dr. Sonnet L’Abbé VIU Creative Writing and Journalism Professor

“All those experiences this summer gave me a lot to think about in terms of what I’d like to see for Nanaimo’s future and inviting more people, more diversity into town seems very straightforward.” 

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Cultural heritage and creative expression

Researchers Developing a Better User Interface

for Historical Archive

Photos: Canadian Letters and Images Project

Researchers at VIU’s MeTA Digital Humanities Lab are using advanced computer software to help map large quantities of historical data contained in The Canadian Letters and Images Project (CLIP) so users can find information more easily.

Lane, Wood and Davies received $149,895 from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and the BC Knowledge Development Fund for their project, Macroanalysis/Big Data Machine Reading Tools and Microanalysis/Digital Text Analysis Tools for Open Access Research.

The Canadian Letters and Images Project is an online archive of Canadian war experiences, from all periods of Canada’s past, and contains letters, diaries, photographs and other related materials. The collection offers insight into the lives of ordinary individuals during wartime.

The MeTA Digital Humanities Lab is using machine reading tools in this project, to annotate and map large quantities of data. The lab is also using other software that can analyze the Canadian letters in ways that reveal new relationships, connections and ideas that function across the collection as a whole. For example, Wood hopes to use the newly analyzed CLIP data to explore gendered experiences of health care, illness and injury at the First World War battlefront. 

The archive could also contain other valuable information that would give researchers insight into historical perspectives on gender issues, health care and more, but finding that information in the vast collection is challenging. Currently users can only search the database by using simple keyword searches or by examining one letter or piece of material at a time on the website. Dr. Richard Lane, Director of VIU’s MeTA Digital Humanities Lab; Dr. Whitney Wood, Canada Research Chair in Historical Dimensions of Women’s Health; and Dr. Stephen Davies, Director of the Canadian Letters and Images Project, are working together to develop a better user interface for the archive. The project uses advanced software to map the vast amounts of data in the collection to gain a better understanding of the information in the online archive. “Using digital humanities software, we are bringing together exciting new advances in literary and historical studies to enhance a nationally and internationally significant online archive,” says Lane.

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Dr. Richard Lane Director of VIU’s MeTA Digital Humanities Lab

Cultural heritage and creative expression

Indigenous Youth Exploring Issues Through

VIU Art-Based Literary Project A team of VIU community-engaged researchers worked with Indigenous youth on a project that is empowering them to explore important issues and share knowledge with the wider community through an artistic work. The youth are students at Tsawalk Learning Centre, a community-based learning program for students in Grades 8-12 that has Indigenous ways of knowing and learning integrated into the curriculum. The aim of the project is to use art as a conduit for self-care, relationship building, language learning and as an avenue to communicate with the public. It is part of the work Dr. Amanda Wager, VIU’s Canada Research Chair in Community-Engaged Research, is exploring with the team at her research centre called arc: A Centre for Art, Research and Community.

“The youth are learning integral skills and practical methods to visually express the concern they have for themselves, each other and their greater community,” says Thiessen. “This work teaches them that their voice is valid and it should be heard. I believe that learning to think critically, creatively and developing one’s imagination are essential skills when figuring out life’s challenges. I hope the youth continue to thrive in their questioning and creativity.” The project was funded by a $20,000 Convene Grant from the Vancouver Foundation and a $10,000 ArtStarts Grant. 

“Art is like a catalyst. It’s a way to transfer information and is an accessible way for people to get information and build relationships,” says Wager. “It’s important that we know what the young people in our city want to explore. I want community members to listen to our young people. They have so much insight into things we would never think of.” The youth focused on digital art as the artists were teaching remotely and showing the youth how to use video editing, animation and a digital design app on an iPad. The youth choose a medium and research topic that is meaningful to them and create a digital art piece that conveys that subject to the public.

Becky Thiessen VIU arc Research Centre Coordinator

The late Elder Sally Williams and current Elders-in-Training, Quuia (Greg) Charleson and Bex Manson led weekly sessions with a sharing circle. As well, they have supported the youth by helping them in choosing words and phrases to add to their projects from the local languages of Hul’q’umin’um’, Nuu-chah-nulth and Kwak’wala. Becky Thiessen, the arc Research Centre Coordinator, says the community-engaged research Wager’s team conducted with the Tsawalk Learning Centre is about having open discussions and building relationships and trust among everyone.

Dr. Amanda Wager Canada Research Chair in Community-Engaged Research

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Creating Change VIU developing Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan.

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Equity, diversity and social justice Equity, Diversity and Inclusion lies at the heart of VIU’s vision for the community. VIU has signed Universities Canada’s “Inclusive Excellence Principles,” which is based on the values of openness, fairness and tolerance, and made the commitment to reflect these values in approaches to teaching, research and community engagement. In keeping with these commitments, the University has been consulting members of the VIU community over the past few years to create an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action (EDIA) Plan to help guide efforts at the University. “We’re in the process of identifying what goals, objectives and actions are needed, going forward, to respond to what we have heard. We need to ask how can we do better, what does success look like, how will we measure those outcomes, and how can we continue this process going forward?” says Monica Kay, retired Director of VIU's Diversity, Equality and Human Rights Office. This work has been supported by an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Capacity Building Grant, which was awarded in 2019 – a joint initiative of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council; the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council; and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, collectively known as the Tri-Agencies. The grant allowed VIU to recruit an EDI advisor, a policy analyst and post-doctoral fellow to conduct this important work.

The action planning phase includes: • Consideration of institutional systems, policies, resources and structures; • Building greater awareness and capacity related to equity, diversity and inclusion overall; • Specific strategies to enhance equity and diversity; and • Strategies to create and deepen the lived experience of belonging among all our campus community members. “We are reflecting on what people have told us and continue to tell us about their experience of equity, diversity and inclusion on our campuses. That includes traditional dimensions of diversity, but also intersectional experiences, and the fundamental sense of belonging that goes beyond specific traditional categories of perspective,” says Kay. Besides the federally designated groups (persons with disabilities, women, Indigenous peoples and racialized persons), VIU is also collecting data to get a sense of people’s perception and experience of EDI work at the institution.

In 2020, VIU received an additional $50,000 Inclusion Grant from the Tri-Agencies to address systemic barriers to equity, diversity and inclusion in VIU polices, processes and structures to respond to requirements tied to the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) Program. The aim of the grant was to help institutions establish equity and diversity targets to ensure that women, Indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities and members of visible minorities participate in the program.

“The survey and consultation also asked people to talk about their sense of belonging. We want and need to go beyond diversity in the sense of representation numerically, but also understand peoples’ subjective experiences. We asked what will contribute to all members of the VIU community experiencing a sense of meaningful inclusion at the University, create a community where all members see themselves reflected in how we live, work and learn on our campuses,” says Kay.

With this grant support, during 2019 and early 2020, VIU conducted a comprehensive environmental scan that included consultations and surveys with VIU community members. It provided a snapshot of our community’s current experience of equity, diversity and inclusion. The results have been summarized and are available at research.viu.ca/ equity-diversity-and-inclusion/action.

VIU is currently bringing in and creating resources related to topics such as Anti-Racism Response Training, allyship, and ways to address the impacts of privilege and implicit bias in recruitment and generally. Multiple agencies are also contributing to the growing body of equity-related initiatives, such as the Positive Space Alliance, the Anti-Racism Working Group and the Universal Access Committee. 

After completing the environmental scan, VIU began developing an inaugural, institution-wide Equity, Diversity & Inclusion Action Plan. The plan is committed to meeting all CRC requirements, and is also derived from feedback from the VIU community obtained during the survey, and consultation and ongoing discussions with the EDIA Working Group and President’s Committee on Diversity, Equity and Human Rights.

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Equity, diversity and social justice

VIU Hosts EDI Symposium

VIU hosted 13 post-secondary institutions from across Canada in March 2021 for a two-day symposium to exchange ideas and best practices for equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) action planning. VIU’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Symposium was a venue for post-secondary institutions to collaborate and share research-based best practices, learn how to build capacity, gain understanding of the legal and human rights aspects of EDI and more. The symposium featured keynote speaker Dr. Denise O’Neil Green who highlighted how EDI principles have historically been at the margins of Canada’s post-secondary education sector. Dr. Amanda Wager, VIU’s Canada Research Chair in Community-Engaged Research, is Project Director for the $23,594 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Institutional Connection Grant, which funded the symposium. The event laid the foundation for an EDI community of practice among the participating universities so that relationships and conversations could continue after the symposium. “To continue the relationships and conversations which began at the symposium, we created an online space using Microsoft Teams where institutions can share resources such as training materials and scholarly literature. Participating universities developing their action plans will be able to upload their drafts to this collaboration site to get feedback from the community of practice,” says Dr. Tehmina Khwaja, VIU’s Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Post-Doctoral Fellow. 

Dr. Tehmina Khwaja VIU’s Equity Diversity and Inclusion Post-Doctoral Fellow

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Equity, diversity and social justice

VIU Professor Appointed to Reference Group for

Review of Indigenous Research

Dr. Georgina Martin, a VIU Indigenous/Xwulmuxw Studies Professor, has been elected to a national group for the culturally appropriate review of Indigenous research and is the sole BC representative. Eighteen individuals were selected for the Tri-Agency reference group to provide advice and guidance on the “development and implementation of culturally appropriate review approaches and practices for research conducted by and with First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples.” The Tri-Agencies is comprised of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research; the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

o al Po

int S tudios

“There needs to be a shift in working with Indigenous communities so that they’re feeling like researchers are conducting research with them, not about them. It’s about being highly respectful and working alongside the community,” says Martin, adding that it’s important to go into Indigenous communities with a “good heart and a good mind” with the aim to support, understand what communities want and give back.

She said the reference group is addressing the need for a shift in working with Indigenous communities and building relationships of mutual respect.

“This is helping them start a new direction to support Indigenous research and research training. I think it’s pretty amazing to have been selected as the only representative from BC,” says Martin, adding that because of how research was conducted in the past there are feelings of fear and mistrust of researchers and research. “Historically, researchers would go into a community and take the information they needed. They wouldn’t give anything back to the community and would use the information for their own advancement or advancing the needs of their organization.”

“This is helping start a new direction to support Indigenous research and research training.”

Dr. Georgina Martin VIU Indigenous/Xwulmuxw Studies Professor

Martin says establishing relationships of respect, reciprocity and responsibility when working with Indigenous communities and understanding the issues and concerns is integral. It’s a perspective Martin brings to her own community-based research. She says growing up in her home community of T’exelc has grounded her understanding of the issues and concerns at a community level. 

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VANCOUVER ISLAND UNIVERSITY

2020 Research Award Recipients

VIU launched the annual Provost’s Awards for Outstanding Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity in 2018 to publicly recognize the efforts by VIU faculty to support the University’s core commitment to excellence and community engagement.

The Provost Award Recipients for Outstanding Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity are: Undergraduate Research Mentor Dr. Linda Shea | Faculty of Health and Human Services Shea has been teaching in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program since 1997. She is passionate about creating learning spaces that promote self-knowing, curiosity and critical inquiry as foundations for excellence in clinical practice and scholarship. Shea believes that a strong foundation in critical inquiry will equip students to engage their curiosity, follow their passions and creatively respond to emerging trends in health care through scholarship and practice.

Graduate Research Mentor Award Mary O'Neill | Faculty of Education O’Neill has been a member of VIU's Faculty of Education since 1991. She currently serves as Program Coordinator for the department’s Online Learning & Teaching Graduate Diploma and acts as the liaison for program graduates laddering into the Master’s of Education – Leadership Degree. She has supervised numerous graduate student major projects and has been a key innovator in online teaching both at the post-secondary level, as well as at the K-12 level through her mentorship.

Early Career Research Excellence Award Dr. Jasmine Janes | Faculty of Science and Technology Janes, a Biology Professor, is a recipient of collaborative research grants from the BC Ministry of Agriculture and Genome BC to study novel tools to prevent diseases in oysters. Her research combines ecological, molecular and genomic approaches, to answer fundamental questions in evolutionary ecology. Most recently, Janes was awarded a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant to study the co-evolutionary interactions between fungi, orchids and insect pollinators.

Dr. Lindsay McCunn | Faculty of Social Sciences McCunn is a Professor of Psychology and the Director of VIU’s Environmental Psychology Research Lab. She chairs the environmental psychology section of the Canadian Psychological Association and is an Associate Editor of the premier journal in her field — the Journal of Environmental Psychology. She is also the Commissioning Editor of the journal Cities and Health. Her research in applied psychology has been published in a number of interdisciplinary journals.

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Dr. Shannon Dames | Faculty of Health and Human Services Dames, a Bachelor of Science in Nursing Professor, has experience in emergency medicine, forensic nursing and multiple public health programs from front-line through management. In 2020-21, she was awarded a Canadian Institutes of Health Research grant and other funding and is working with six agencies in BC, multiple practitioners and policy makers to develop and study the combination of resilience development and psychedelic-assisted therapies, delivered within a novel and innovative outpatient mental health model.

Knowledge Mobilization Award Antje Bitterberg | Faculty of Health and Human Services Bitterberg, an Early Childhood Education and Care Program Professor, is committed to creating respectful and democratic practices and has extended her role to include working as a pedagogist in early years settings. As a pedagogist, she works alongside children, educators, students and families by contributing to ongoing projects and bringing the BC Early Learning Framework to life. This role is funded by the Ministry of Children and Family Development.

Cheryl Cameron | Faculty of Health and Human Services Cameron brings a deep appreciation for the arts and thoughtful eye to her work as practicum coordinator with the Early Childhood Education and Care Program, as Atelierista at Lexie's Little Bears Child Care and a faculty pedagogist in early years settings in the Cowichan Valley. Inspired by the BC Early Learning Framework, she connects with communities of practice through reflective thinking, active dialogue and grappling with the complexities of pedagogical choice.

Dean's Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity Award Dr. Monica Soth | Faculty of Health and Human Services Soth is an experienced researcher, curriculum consultant, administrator and educator. Soth joined the VIU Dental Hygiene program in 2007 and has served as an educator, clinic lead and program chair. She gives back to the profession through service on many provincial, national, and international committees and regulatory organizations and has presented at provincial and international conferences.

Dr. Mark Williams | Faculty of Social Sciences Williams, a Political Studies Professor, is an accomplished scholar and educator. His academic book on the subject of foreign economic policy of Indonesia was short-listed for the Weller Prize with the British Columbia Political Science Association. He is faculty advisor to VIU’s Model United Nations club and an award-winning teacher who was featured in Shaw TV’s Teachers Above and Beyond Series.

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Regional Initiatives Fund

51 Projects

118

Community Partners

$2.4 Million Total Leveraged Funding

380

Students Engaged For more info about RIF visit: research.viu.ca/regional-initiatives-fund

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VIU has a unique mandate to serve the Island and Coastal region. The Regional Initiatives Fund (RIF) was a bold experiment undertaken in partnership between VIU, the Province of British Columbia and the Real Estate Foundation of BC to enable community-university collaborations on applied research. The RIF supported communities in the region to collaborate with VIU faculty to undertake projects through meaningful student involvement in community-based applied research that directly responded to community priorities.

Since the fund was announced in March 2017, more than 51 applied research projects have been undertaken involving the participation of 118 community groups and the training of 380 VIU students, leveraging $2,434,496 in cash and in-kind funding. Projects range from evaluating the economic impact of the local artisan economy to exploring the potential of biodiesel; supporting the development of community; tourism and open space plans; monitoring changes in fish habitat and air quality; and more.

This research has enabled a wide range of community entities to benefit from the funding, expertise and labour available at VIU. The insights gained have provided our partners opportunities to make informed decisions on a number of pressing social, economic and environmental issues in our region.

Faculty have had the opportunity to build capacity in community engaged and applied research, forge new relationships within the region and mentor students in meaningful research training opportunities. They have also benefitted by having an opportunity to manage larger pots of funding, increasing their competitiveness for external grants. Our students have had valuable exposure to real-world problems faced by organizations in the region and have worked alongside them to co-create knowledge to address them. They have also benefitted from valuable mentorship by faculty members leading the work.

Together, we have proven that this “made at VIU” model for community engaged and applied research works. On February 18 VIU held the Collaborative Applied Research Symposium (CARES) to celebrate the knowledge that emerged and to thank our community partners and funders for their willingness to collaborate with VIU on the RIF. The symposium was attended by more than 70 participants throughout the day and featured presentations, panel discussions and Pecha Kucha videos about projects supported through the RIF. 

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CREATE 2021

Virtual, Innovative, Unbelievable - VIU! CREATE 2021 was successfully held entirely online. One hundred and fifty students from seven faculties shared their scholarly, research and creative projects. CREATE co-hosted the first Anti-Racism Arts Festival where more than 20 students shared powerful words, images and film. Below are some student project highlights and reflections of the event. “I have always been interested in the ways that food and drink, especially in a ritualistic context, facilitate human connection. In the Viking age, beer is an excellent example of embodied material culture that was valued as an everyday drink, but also worked as a tool of commensality and ritual. It was important to me to think creatively and to use a tactile approach to understand this vessel, so I attempted to craft a replica with birch bark that I personally harvested from recently fallen birch trees in Cowichan Valley. This experiment led me to consider how traditional knowledge involving the creation of similar vessels would be passed on generationally.”

Lisa Kremer, VIU Anthropology student

Student Creative Activity Seen Kashmir Lesnick-Petrovicz | Max Capacity Most seats were empty on this return ferry from a popular tourist destination in Ontario. It depicts a COVID summer – vacant seats, people staying home.

Shelby McLean | Finding Light In A Pandemic Without romanticizing it, it’s been a year of mastering the art of “wasting” time; a year of holding loved ones closer to the heart instead of the arms; a year of personalizing how a classroom looks outside the classroom; a year of discovering the little things aren’t so little in a pandemic.

Student Research Seen Samuelle Simard-Provençal | Yellow-rumped Warbler I collected fly parasites from live and beautiful birds, just like this stunning male. All birds were caught with the proper animal handling permits and highly trained staff.

Clark, Gledhill, Tippett, Bell and Girdler | Invisible Walls Images of racially restrictive covenants are pieced together in this photograph to address the historical aspects of racism in community planning and governance, as well as the legacy they have left behind.

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VANCOUVER ISLAND UNIVERSITY

REACH Awards

VIU’s REACH Awards financially support undergraduate and graduate students to conduct their own original research under the mentorship of a faculty member. This year 15 awards of $3,000 were given out. Ten were awarded to undergraduates and five to graduate students.

The following students are recipients of the 2020-21 REACH Awards: McIntyre (Mac) Barrera | Genetic characterization of helminth parasites in the Vancouver Island marmot with faculty mentor Dr. Jamie Gorrell. Taelor Zarkovic | Passive diffusion reagent addition for no-dilution electrospray ionization enhancement with faculty mentor Dr. Chris Gill. Kevin Gourlay | Endoparasites of the Vancouver Island marmot (marmota vancouverensis): diversity, prevalence, intensity, and seasonal variation with faculty mentor Dr. Jamie Gorrell. Kelvin Hua | Effects of temperature, density and feeding rate on growth rates of white sturgeon with faculty mentor Dr. Dan Baker. Natasha Ladouceur | Business barriers when employing people with disabilities with faculty mentor Dr. Elizabeth McLin.

Cuong Nguyen

Caitlin Leachman | Self-sabotaging behaviours in romantic relationships: The relationship with self-esteem and anxiety with faculty mentor Dr. Melanie O’Neill. Christopher Shanks | Transcriptomic assessment of the effects of sub-lethal doses of naphthenic acids on drosophila melanogaster development by MinION Mk1C RNA-Seq with faculty mentor Dr. Joslynn Affleck. Deja Symington | How COVID-19 and the transition to a hybrid learning model is impacting members of the LGBT2S+ community at Vancouver Island University with faculty mentor Dr. Laura Suski. Genevieve van der Voort | Examining diurnal and nocturnal pollinators of platanthera dilatata and P. stricta using video monitoring with faculty mentor Dr. Jasmine Janes;

Deja Symington

Marissa Wright-LaGreca | The use of selective breeding to understand the genetic underpinnings of resiliency to ocean acidification in the Pacific oyster (Crassostrea gigas) with faculty mentor Dr. Tim Green. Melissa Lyon | A path to inclusion – disability awareness course for educators with faculty mentor Dr. Bob Esliger. Cuong Nguyen | Settlement experiences for immigrant children: Vietnamese parents perspectives on inclusive education with faculty mentor Dr. Amanda Wager;

Genevieve van der Voort

SonTung Nguyen | Sex segregation and the participation of transgender adults in recreational sport with faculty mentor Dr. Suzanne de la Barre. Joanna Pyke | Could an assessment framework be created to judge the value of digital platforms for the continuing professional development of physicians in Canada? with faculty mentor Julia Hengstler. Monir Shahzeidi | Leisure and quality of life of refugee people: A comparative study with faculty mentor Dr. Garrett Stone. 2 0 2 0 -2 1 VI U Re se a rch H ighlights Re por t

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VANCOUVER ISLAND UNIVERSITY

Major Graduate Awards In 2020-21 six VIU students received British Columbia Graduate Scholarships (BCGS) and three students received Canada Graduate Scholarship – Master’s Program Awards (CGS-M). The BCGS awards are made possible by funding provided the Government of British Columbia and are valued at $15,000 each. The CGS-M awards are made possible by joint funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council; Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada; and Canadian Institutes of Health Research and are valued at $17,500 each.

Recipients for the British Columbia Graduate Scholarship are:

Lliam Broderick Master of Arts in Sustainable Leisure Management

Julie Bull Master of Community Planning

Ben Chief Master of Business Administration

Melanie McDonald Master of Business Administration

Monir Shahzeidi Master of Arts in Sustainable Leisure Management

Kimberly Watson Master of Education in Special Education

Recipients for the Canada Graduate Scholarship are:

Colin Pybus

Master of Education in Leadership Lillian Morton | Faculty of Education

Kira Gill-Maher Master of Community Planning

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Ariel Verhoeks Master of Geographic Information System Applications

VANCOUVER ISLAND UNIVERSITY

Undergraduate Student Research Awards Each award financially supports undergraduate students to work on a faculty-based research project for the summer. The Undergraduate Student Research Awards (USRA) are made possible by funding provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Marissa Wright-LaGreca

The following students are recipients of USRA: William Lattanzio-Battle | Direct mass spectrometry measurements by condensed phase membrane introduction mass spectrometry-liquid electron ionization utilizing in situ liquid reagent chemical ionization, mentored by Dr. Chris Gill. Joseph McAllister | A new high-throughput genotyping assay for norovirus in oysters, mentored by Dr. Tim Green. Marissa Wright-LaGreca | Genetic adaption of Pacific oysters to ocean acidification and disease, mentored by Dr. Tim Green. Lucas Abruzzi | Temperature tolerance and pathogen vulnerability of early life history fishes, mentored by Dr. Dan Baker. Mac Barrera | Genetic diversity of Jalisco crocodiles, mentored by Dr. Jamie Gorrell. Kelvin Hua | Temperature tolerance and pathogen vulnerability of early life history fishes, mentored by Dr. Dan Baker. Joshua Jai | Direct mass spectrometry for process monitoring of trace contaminants from oil spills, mentored by Dr. Erik Krogh. Moritz Plendl | Direct mass spectrometry for harm reduction drug checking, mentored by Dr. Chris Gill. Taelor Zarkovic | Direct mass spectrometry ionization enhancement strategies, mentored by Dr. Chris Gill. Misha Zvekic | Direct mass spectrometry for analysis of trace contaminants in biological samples, mentored by Dr. Erik Krogh.

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Vancouver Island University

KEY FUNDING SOURCES Vancouver Island University faculty and students could not participate as actively as we do in research and scholarly activity without the support of our research grant funding agencies. We would like to publicly thank and acknowledge their continued support. Below are some of the key groups that have funded projects in this fiscal year.

Recognition Guidelines Name

2 0 2 0 - 2 1 V I U Re s earc h Hi g hlPlease i g htsrefer Rep toort the Foundation ONLY in either of the following ways (i.e. NOT BC Real Estate Foundation): Real Estate Foundation of British Columbia OR Real Estate Foundation of BC

Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District

Nanaimo Hospitality Association

ArtStarts in Schools

Nanaimo Mountain Bike Club

BC Ministry of Forests, Lands,

Nanoose Economic Development Corporation

Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development BC Parks BC SUPPORT Unit, Vancouver Island Centre

Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE)Canadian Mountain Network

Canadian Commission for UNESCO

NutritionLink Services Society

City of Nanaimo

Regional District of Nanaimo

City of Port Alberni

Saint John's Legacy Foundation

Cowichan Housing Association

Sitka Foundation

District of Lantzville

The Partnership for Water Sustainability in BC

ECO Canada

Thermo Fisher Scientific

Grieg Seafood BC Ltd.

Tri-Agency Institutional Programs Secretariat

The Hamber Foundation

Tseshaht First Nation

Indigenous Services Canada

Tula Foundation

Island Health

Vancouver Foundation

Kenneth M. Molson Foundation

World Wildlife Fund Canada

MOWI Canada West

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900 Fifth St. Nanaimo, BC, Canada | Building 305 (Library), Room 446 Main Office FOR GENERAL INQUIRIES: Phone 250.740.6324 | email research@viu.ca | website research.viu.ca

2020-21 VIU Research and Creative Activity Highlights

Articles inside

Regional Initiatives Fund

Student Research Awards

VIU Professor Appointed to Reference Group for Review of Indigenous Research

2020 Research Award Recipients

Creating Change

Researcher Developing a Better User Interface for Historical Archive

Indigenous Youth Exploring Issues through VIU Art-Based Literacy Project

VIU Hosts EDI Symposium

Community Vision

Forestry Professor Wins Scientific Achievement Award

The Role Leisure Plays

Following the Pollinators

Video Game Cultivates Resilience

Exploring Changing Attitudes Toward Childbirth

Scholar Sheds Light on the Need to Broaden Social Work Education

Are Wolverines on Vancouver Island a Distinct Subspecies?

Chemists Developing “Game-Changing” Methods to Measure Contaminants