2021-22 Research Highlights Report

WELCOME

from Dr. Deborah Saucier, VIU President and Vice-Chancellor, and Dr. Nicole L. Vaugeois, Associate Vice-President, Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity

It gives us great pleasure to share the 2021-22 Research and Creative Activity Highlights report for Vancouver Island University (VIU).

The 2021-22 year was one of significant growth for scholarship, research and creative activity (SRCA) at VIU with the launch of our Transforming learning through knowledge creation 2022-27 plan. This plan aligns with VIU’s Strategic Plan: People, Place, Potential and it will enable our institution to continue the impressive track record established between 2017 and 2022. VIU continues to focus on creating new opportunities for our students and employees to engage in, and learn from, SRCA experiences. We continue to focus on highlighting our reputation as an institution through the numerous and impactful contributions of new knowledge. As we profile this work, the expertise within VIU is increasingly sought by more community partners, government bodies and external academic partners who wish to collaborate with and support our work. Going forward, our plan aims to expand this access to opportunities for all who wish to engage in research and creative activities at VIU, and continue to build individual and institutional capacity for inclusive excellence. A key ingredient in our success is our focus on developing student and faculty capacity to engage in scholarship, research and creative activities. We strive to provide all students with opportunities to engage early, and often. Building on our track record of excellence in undergraduate research, in 2022 we announced a new Office of Graduate Studies. This office will enable us to expand the services and supports needed by our growing graduate student population. Over the past year we have become a member of the Western Canada Deans of Graduate Studies and we were approved as a full member of the Canadian Association of Graduate Studies. Membership with both bodies will enable us to benefit from networks and resources that will help us enhance graduate student experiences. In 2021, VIU released our Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan. Goal 6 of the plan, “Embrace EDI best practices in VIU’s scholarship, research and creative activity,” will enable us to incorporate best practices to ensure inclusive excellence in all scholarship, research and creative activities at VIU. Aided by the insights that we gained in the consultation process of this plan, we are committed to addressing barriers that equity-deserving faculty and students encounter at our institution. Most importantly, we acknowledge deep gratitude for our faculty who continue to embark on exciting new research and creative activity pursuits while creating transformational learning experiences for our students. Thank you to our diverse community, industry, and funding partners for supporting and collaborating with VIU on research initiatives. Finally, congratulations to all VIU students who have deepened and enriched their learning experience by engaging in research and creative activity. We are incredibly proud of your accomplishments.

Contents

5 By the numbers: VIU research

6 Researching the work-life balance of employed parents during COVID-19

7 Portal magazine commits to showcasing under-represented voices

8 Investigating how women experienced trauma during the First World War

10 Anthropology student discovers two-million-year-old skull

12 Exploring the stories behind Nanaimo’s more unusual street names

13 Research infrastructure projects receive funding boost

14 Shining light on microplastic pollution

16 Revolutionizing scientific methods using direct mass spectrometry

17 What it’s like working as a post-doctoral fellow at VIU

18 Examining stress and resilience in firefighters’ romantic relationships

20 Award-winning researcher and neuroscientist joins VIU

21 How did COVID-19 affect recreational programming in the Yukon?

22 Creating innovative solutions for a sustainable seafood industry

25 VIU Canada Research Chair developing tools to inform forest recovery initiatives

26 Are microplastics impacting deep-sea organisms?

27 Taking action on sustainable development

28 When science gets extreme

30 Providing a supportive environment for Master of Education students

31 Q&A with Accounting Professor Chris Burnley

32 Program helps students transform business ideas into reality

33 Q&A with Political Studies Professor Mark Williams

34 2021 research award recipients

VIU establishes Office of Graduate Studies

Student research awards

Key funding sources

Volume 5 / 2021-22

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 Gillian Robinson, Director, Strategic Communications

EDITORIAL LIAISON

Roisin Mulligan, Research Development Manager

EDITOR

Rachel Stern, Communications Officer

Cover image:

VIU Culinary Arts students are gaining hands-on knowledge thanks to projects led by the Centre for Seafood Innovation. In addition to creating recipes with seafood ingredients, they are learning about oyster genetics research at the Deep Bay Marine Field Station and aspects of the seafood system. See story on page 22.

GRAPHIC DESIGN

Sheila Warren, Graphic Designer

WRITERS

Rachel Stern, Kendra Stiwich, Eric Zimmer, Jenn McGarrigle, Rachel Moll

CONTRIBUTORS

Gloria Bell, Island Expressions Photography

Research and Creative Activity Highlights

Health, resilience and well-being

Integrated sciences, technology and environment Teaching and learningResilience of island, coastal and rural regions

Innovation, entrepreneurship and social change

Equity, diversity and social justice

Cultural, heritage and creative expression RESEARCH STRENGTHS AND FOCUS AREAS

The VIU community acknowledges and thanks the Snuneymuxw, Quw’utsun, Tla’amin, Snaw-naw-as and Qualicum First Nation on whose traditional lands we teach, learn, research, live and share knowledge.

VIU Faculty of Management Professor Dr. Laura Gover is researching how employed Canadians with kids have been coping with work-family demands during the COVID-19 pandemic, with the goal of identifying why some working parents have reported lower levels of stress than others.

“Understanding the lived experience of these individuals and how they have coped will help us identify what’s working and what’s not,” says Gover. “This can then inform recommendations for families, employers and governments around how best to support this important contingent of the labour force.”

Gover received a $50,204 grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to support the research. She says receiving the grant demonstrates that others “recognize the value and importance of this research about how employed parents are coping with pandemic-induced stressors and changes to work-life arrangements.”

She received the grant along with two co-applicants: Michael Halinski from Carleton University and Linda Duxbury from Ryerson University.

The overall goal of the research is to identify why some working parents are reporting lower levels of stress than others, as well as answer two key questions: How do employed parents cope effectively with the stressors they encounter because of the pandemic? What impacts do other factors such as job, gender, supports and government policies have on the effectiveness of various coping strategies?

The research builds on the group’s 2021 COVID-19 Employee Well-Being survey, which garnered 20,000 responses. Through a select sample of survey respondents, Gover and her colleagues seek to answer the questions driving their research.

At this stage of the research, Gover says she’s already discovered many employed parents can see benefits related to the changes to work and family life that have been brought on by the pandemic.

The research confirmed that it is hard to be a both a parent and an employee. Trying to navigate work and family responsibilities is a major stressor for many employed Canadians.

Gover and her colleague are planning knowledge sharing activities for fall 2022 and into spring 2023. 

Researching the work-life balance of employed parents during COVID-19

“Understanding the lived experience of these individuals and how they have coped will help us identify what’s working and what’s not. This can then inform recommendations for families, employers and governments around how best to support this important contingent of the labour force.”

Dr. Laura Gover

VIU Faculty of Management Professor

Portal magazine commits to showcasing under-represented voices

In 2021, Portal magazine created an inclusivity statement and an annual Portfolio Spotlight section highlighting more diverse cultural perspectives.

Portal is VIU’s nationally distributed student-run literary magazine and is published each April.

“There was a concerted effort to address today’s cultural moment with the greatest respect for the Black Lives Matter movement and all anti-racist initiatives. We didn’t want to just pay lip service to these ideas, but rather to put them into practice,” says Joy Gugeler, Portal’s Publisher and a VIU Creative Writing and Journalism Professor. “We are trying to reach every population on all campuses to welcome them into the pages of Portal, not just as contributors, but as members of the class and masthead.”

The Arts and Humanities’ Decolonization and Anti-Racism Committee (DAARC) formed in March 2021. It was Gender Studies Professor Vicki Nygard’s initiative along with professors from other departments. The inclusivity statement resulted from that committee.

Kali Moreno, DAARC Research Assistant and a VIU Bachelor of Arts student, found diversity and inclusivity statements from other universities and identified potential models for Arts and Humanities departments to inspire customized approaches.

Moreno says these are important to establish student and faculty expectations regarding equality and respect for diverse backgrounds and experiences at the institution.

“Some inclusivity statements appear performative without being supported by action,” says Moreno. “Portal’s statement is a good step away from this because it includes direct commitments to support Black, Indigenous and People of Colour (BIPOC) and other marginalized groups in the creative writing community, which I hope will encourage institutional change and make it easier for BIPOC to bring their own experiences to their work and study at VIU.”

Gugeler says the Portfolio Spotlight section will commission the work of two or three BIPOC students annually and will deliberately seek out challenging points of view.

In 2022, it featured the work of Indigenous (Skwxwú7mesh Úxwumixw - Squamish Nation) student Susan Garcia and Zeel Desai, a student from the Rabari tribe in the Kutch district of the Gujarat state in western India.

“We wanted to communicate to all readers and writers that the magazine is a welcoming and safe space for content about their own cultural experience, their countries of origin, and for the broadest range of perspectives along the ability and gender spectrum,” says Gugeler. To view the inclusivity statement visit portalmagazine.ca. 

Joy Gugeler Portal's Publisher and VIU Creative Writing and Journalism Professor

Kali Moreno

Decolonization and Anti-Racism Committee Research Assistant

Investigating how women experienced trauma during the First World War

“Historical scholars admit it is difficult to explore gender studies during the First World War since many women didn’t speak of the war once it ended and/or they returned home,” says Cossey-Sutton. “During and post-First World War, women were often forgotten about in discussions about their trauma and their experiences of war. This made my paper more difficult to write, but also that much more important to write about. I ended up focusing my thesis around using letter writing as a window into understanding psychological and physical trauma and war.”

Cossey-Sutton graduated from VIU with a Bachelor of Education in June 2022. She conducted the research while attending VIU with financial support from a Mitacs Research Training Award, and matching funds from the Heritage Management Centre. A primary part of Cossey-Sutton’s research was surveying resources from the Canadian Letters and Images Project (CLIP) and developing her own research questions relating to women and trauma during the First World War.

“The result was an impressive piece of original historical research – something that we might typically expect to see at the graduate level,” says Dr. Whitney Wood, Canada Research Chair in the Historical Dimensions of Women’s Health and a VIU History Professor, who co-supervised Cossey-Sutton’s research. “Mitacs awards offer students valuable opportunities to gain experience in hands-on research, and for students in the humanities, these opportunities can be few and far between.”

She sought to understand and recognize the role of women during the war, both at home and on the frontlines, and the gender experience through connection and communication during wartime. Her research revealed that the traumatic experiences of female workers, both as nurses and nursing aids, were overlooked because they were not soldiers.

“Women on the frontlines danced intimately with the line of war, where they experienced physical, emotional and sexual traumas every day, yet were dismissed by male doctors,” she says.

A gap in knowledge of how women experienced trauma during the First World War motivated Danielle Cossey-Sutton to delve further to see what she could find out.

Photo courtesy of Canadian Letters and Images Project

“CLIP provided the opportunity to hear the voice of women in a time where women weren’t really part of society outside the home.”

One thing that Cossey-Sutton observed was how the need for human connection is no different than our needs today. “Society has learned, especially during the pandemic, how important it is to remain connected to our families and friends,” she says. “Life didn’t stop during wartime; it was simply reinvented. People used letter writing to make sense of their experiences; they wrote to each other to work through their traumatic experiences and maintain relation ships outside of the war. Like today’s texting and emails, there is an intimacy with writing. Writing provided an outlet of normalcy and ensured that relationships were protected and preserved.”

Dr. Stephen Davies, Project Director of CLIP, who co-super vised her research, says Cossey-Sutton did a remarkable job of putting together a complex research project such as this.

“The depth of research, and the organization and analysis of that research to create a final paper, was one of the best examples of undergraduate research that I have seen,” he says. “While the letters of CLIP have been used to examine numerous aspects of the Canadian wartime experience, they have never been used to look specifically at the female experience. I was impressed with what Danielle was able to pull from the collections, not simply from female letters but also the letters of soldiers.”

Cossey-Sutton believes that understanding the effects of trauma, mental illness and addiction gives not only historians, but also educators, psychologists, sociologists and political scientists the opportunity to engage with humanity on an entirely new level.

“Humanity is messy and complicated and to move forward and be better, we must address the past to learn how we can support the future,” she says. 

Video memorial remembers local fallen soldiers

For the past four years, VIU has teamed up with community partners to acknowledge Nanaimo soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice during the First and Second World War.

Around Remembrance Day each year, the Nanaimo Remembers project displays the names of more than 200 soldiers in prominent locations across the city as well as online on VIU’s YouTube and social media channels. The names were obtained from the Dallas Square Cenotaph in downtown Nanaimo and a special section highlights the contributions of local Indigenous soldiers, thanks to research conducted by VIU Elder-in-Residence C-tasi:a - Geraldine Manson.

The project was spearheaded by VIU’s Communications and External Affairs and Brand and Marketing teams in collaboration with the University’s Canadian Letters and Images Project and Nanaimo Community Archives.

“Life didn’t stop during wartime; it was simply reinvented. People used letter writing to make sense of their experiences; they wrote to each other to work through their traumatic experiences and maintain relationships outside of the war.”

Danielle Cossey-Sutton VIU alum, Bachelor of Education ’22

Anthropology student discovers two-million-year-old skull

Samantha Good unearthed skull at the Drimolen Palaeocave System

Samantha Good graduated from VIU with an accomplishment few anthropologists achieve in their lifetime – unearthing a two-million-year-old skull belonging to an early human ancestor.

Good, who graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, major in Anthropology in June 2021, discovered the fossil, one of the best-preserved Paranthropus robustus specimens known to science, while she was attending the Drimolen Field School of Palaeoanthropology and Geoarchaeology in 2018. The excavation site was at the Drimolen Palaeocave System within the Cradle of Humankind, located northwest of Johannesburg, South Africa.

“It was all chance,” says Good. “My designated square was in an elevated alcove behind a wall of breccia, a type of conglomerate rock known for being fossil bearing. I was excavating at the exact right time because as the breccia

decalcifies, the fossils become surrounded by loose sediment rather than encased in rock.”

To get to her excavation section, nicknamed The Fridge because it was so cold due to the shade, Good had to crawl up a rock face. She spent several days without discovering a single fossil and field school organizers offered to move her because the site appeared sterile, but Good loved the solitude and wanted to continue working it.

Then all of a sudden Good saw a canine. She knew the canine belonged to a primate, but didn’t know if it was a hominin, a group consisting of modern humans.

“Then there were two molars that were clearly attached to a maxilla [the bone that forms the upper jaw] and I knew this was something really special. I called someone over and my suspicions were confirmed,” says Good. “It’s really hard not to sound like a cliché when talking about finding it – touching a

piece of humanity’s collective history. It’s like what you think, but no one tells you that it is also terrifying and there’s an adrenaline rush.”

The skull was fragile and in danger of falling apart so to remove it from the ground they had to use paraloid, an adhesive agent that dries clear and is often used in archaeological reconstruction. After it was glued together the field school team brought it back to camp and PhD student Jesse Martin, who specializes in cranial morphology and reconstruction and was also taking part in the field school, painstakingly removed the remaining sediment and put it together.

“I was allowed to stay at camp for a couple of days after the excavation and help him with that, which is the greatest anatomy lesson you’ll ever get,” says Good.

Good was asked if she wanted to name the skull, categorized as DNH 155, after anyone. Since she found it on Father’s Day she dedicated the skull to her father, Ian. She was included in most of the process of excavating and assembling the skull, which Good says is a rare opportunity for an undergraduate student.

Good says one interesting fact about the skull was that the nasolacrimal ducts, also known as tear ducts, were preserved, which is rare.

“It implies that Paranthropus robustus could cry, which is incredibly cool and humanizing,” says Good.

In addition to finding the fossil, Good was a contributing author on a research paper published in November 2020 in Nature Portfolio called Drimolen cranium DNH 155 documents microevloution in an early hominin species. Good is currently evaluating her options and plans to pursue a master’s degree in the future. 

“It’s really hard not to sound like a cliché when talking about finding it – touching a piece of humanity’s collective history. It’s like what you think, but no one tells you that it is also terrifying and there’s an adrenaline rush.”

Samantha Good VIU alum, Bachelor of Arts ’21

Photos courtesy of Samantha Good

Exploring the stories behind Nanaimo’s more unusual street names

Nanaimo is home to many streets with less-than-common names, such as Dingle Bingle Hill Road and Bergen Op Zoom Drive.

Between January and April, VIU students in two upper-level history courses researched the intriguing stories of how these roads acquired their names and historical events that have taken place on them. The students created an exhibit sharing this research, which was on display in the Nanaimo Museum’s Community Gallery until the end of June.

“Working to create this exhibit, I have grown to love a part of the city I grew up in which I had never loved before,” says Santiago Dominguez, a fourth-year history student. “There is an element of Nanaimo pride that comes with our strange and curious history with road names that not all cities share.”

Students in Dr. Katharine Rollwagen’s Public History course and Dr. Kelly Black’s History of Vancouver Island course spent the entire Spring Semester working collaboratively on The Word on the Street: Roads that Built Nanaimo.

The students noticed how many street names tie Nanaimo to other parts of the world. Bergen Op Zoom for example, is a town in the Netherlands and the site of a Canadian War Cemetery where hundreds of Canadian soldiers who died in the battle of Scheldt in 1944 are buried. Other street names, like Bing Kee Street and Labieux Road, bear the names of early settlers from China and Belgium. Mah Bing Kee was originally from Guangzhou, China, and owned several local businesses in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries. Leopold Labiaux arrived in Wellington in 1908 and worked as a miner, farmer and baker during his life.

This is not the first time VIU students have created an exhibit for the Nanaimo Museum. In 2018, Rollwagen’s Public History class created an exhibit called The Forgotten Flu, which told the story of the Spanish flu pandemic and its effect on Nanaimo.

“We enjoy working with VIU history students!” says Aimee Greenaway, Curator at the Nanaimo Museum. “They are enthusiastic and their Community Gallery exhibit presented interesting perspectives on local history.” 

“There is an element of Nanaimo pride that comes with our strange and curious history with road names that not all cities share.”

Santiago Dominguez VIU history student

Photo courtesy of VIU Archives

Research infrastructure projects receive funding boost

In 2021, VIU received funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and the BC Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF) to support two faculty-driven research infrastructure projects.

Drs. Jasmine Janes and Jamie Gorrell received $284,868 in CFI and BCKDF grants. Drs. Lindsay McCunn, Pam Shaw and Farhad Moghimehfar received $118,858. The contribution by CFI was made through its John R. Evans Leaders Fund.

“Both of these projects are excellent examples of the regional, community-based, Indigenous-informed, transdisciplinary research that is a strength and priority of VIU,” says Dr. Nicole Vaugeois, VIU’s Associate Vice-President of Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity. “VIU is very pleased to receive this funding to equip our researchers with the tools and resources they need to engage in important research projects in our region in ways that will generate broad-based impacts to society.”

The VIU research projects are:

Tri-kingdom eco-evolutionary dynamics and implications for conservation

This research explores eco-evolutionary dynamics from a unique tri-kingdom (animal-plant-microbe/fungi) lens to inform the management and conservation of species in sensitive alpine environments on Vancouver Island.

Janes and Gorrell will use evolutionary genetics with behavioural, population and community ecology, to understand species interactions and adaptations within bog orchid systems and the endangered Vancouver Island marmot. This research is integral to our understanding of the resilience of these species and mountain communities in general.

The View from 2117: Human Actions, Consequences and Perspectives on Mountain Regions

This project examines human and ecological impacts over time in the UNESCO-designated Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region (MABR) on Vancouver Island. Its key focus is on Indigenous governance and application of Indigenous-led approaches to the human/nature connection in these fragile mountain environments. McCunn is examining the psychological relationships that people have with nature in the MABR from a sense of place perspective. Shaw will look at the ways that individual and collective behaviour, population growth, regulatory regimes and societal changes have affected and will affect First Nations, mountain communities and mountain environments over the next century. Moghimehfar will investigate mountain community disaster resiliency in the context of wildlfire events and the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. The results will inform a game theory framework that will be useful to inform tourism resilience and recovery planning. 

Drs. Jasmine Janes and Jamie Gorrell

Drs. Lindsay McCunn, Pam Shaw and Farhad Moghimehfar

Shining light on microplastic pollution

Royal Society of Chemistry publishes VIU alum’s research paper

Microplastics are everywhere – in the oceans, rivers and the air you breathe – and are being ingested by various animals and other organisms. And while microplastics are already problematic on their own, they can also absorb toxins and other harmful chemical pollutants in the environment.

“Because microplastics are so small there is a potential that they could affect us all. There is a lot of concern about how microplastics and the chemicals added to them could potentially interfere with our biological and environmental functions. It’s not a problem we want to stay in the dark about,” says Misha Zvekic, who graduated last year from VIU with a Bachelor of Science, double major in Chemistry and Biology.

Zvekic has been investigating microplastics as an undergraduate researcher at VIU since 2018 and is currently completing a master’s degree in Chemistry at the University of Victoria and conducting research at VIU’s Applied Environmental Research Laboratories. Zvekic is the lead author of the research paper Characterizing photochemical ageing process of microplastic materials using multivariate analysis of infrared spectra, published by the Royal Society of Chemistry. The paper was co-authored by Drs. Larissa Richards, Christine Tong and Erik Krogh, in VIU’s Chemistry department. The paper is based on the undergraduate research Zvekic undertook at VIU. “It feels great to finally get it published because some of this work is from the first chemistry project that I worked on at VIU with the help of a VIU REACH Award,” Zvekic says.

Zvekic’s research investigated how exposure to sunlight changes the surface properties of plastics. In addition to causing them to break down into smaller pieces, Zvekic says when plastics are exposed to sunlight it changes their chemical structure which affects how they interact with other pollutants.

Organisms can potentially eat these plastics and be exposed to whatever other pollutants the plastic might have picked up along the way. Zvekic generated a unique data set by exposing several common plastics to both natural and artificial light for up to six months to examine the differences.

“We were able to compare lab-based experiments to real-world weathering in a way that hasn’t been done before,” Zvekic says. “This comparison can help researchers understand how plastics change in the environment. I am working on a second paper now where we study the interaction of plastics with chemical contaminants in water. Thanks to the work we just published, we have a better understanding of how these weathering processes affect the fate and distribution of other contaminants in the environment.”

Zvekic is currently completing their master’s research with Krogh, funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

“Misha spearheaded several interesting projects as an undergraduate student at VIU. Their academic pursuits in biology and chemistry provided an excellent foundation for this work. It is a rare accomplishment for an undergraduate student to be lead author on a scientific paper,” Krogh says. During their time studying at VIU, Zvekic acquired numerous research awards and recognition including the VIU REACH Award, the NSERC Undergraduate Student Research Award three years in a row, and an NSERC Canada Graduate Scholarships – Master's program.

Zvekic was also among the first cohort of students to graduate from VIU’s Major in Chemistry degree, which has a unique focus on biological and environmental chemistry. 

“Because microplastics are so small there is a potential that they could affect us all. There is a lot of concern about how microplastics and the chemicals added to them could potentially interfere with our biological and environmental functions. It’s not a problem we want to stay in the dark about.”

Misha Zvekic VIU alum, Bachelor of Science ’21

Revolutionizing scientific methods using direct mass spectrometry

For two decades, Dr. Chris Gill and his research team have been revolutionizing scientific methods using direct mass spectrometry – an analytical technique that is used to rapidly measure the chemical makeup of substances.

Gill, Co-Director of VIU’s Applied Environmental Research Laboratories and a Chemistry Professor, aims to develop measurement methods that are faster, better and cheaper, and that can be done anywhere, not just in labs. Gill is working on next-generation approaches to reduce chemical measurement workflows.

“What might take an hour or hours to do once a sample gets to the lab would only take a minute or two and be done on-site at the time the sample is collected,” says Gill.

Direct mass spectrometry has applications in situations and settings such as chemical spills, doctor’s offices, roadside DUI screening and more. Gill and his research team have demonstrated how it can be used to save lives with HarmCheck, a technology developed at VIU that allows for rapid and cost-effective drug checking at harm reduction sites.

“In the early days, we were trendsetters in terms of taking mass spectrometry measurements into the field; very few people had done that,” says Gill. “It’s becoming more common now, in part because of people’s interest, and in part because people are realizing they could do it. We led that charge.”

Gill received a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Discovery Grant to continue building on his research. He’ll receive $240,000 over five years to aid in his investigations.

“The short-term goal is to make these new methods work, and the only way to do that is to compare them to existing methods. The mid- to long-term goals are to see these strategies done on-site, while simultaneously proving they work as well, or better, than existing chemical analysis methods,” says Gill, adding that the longer-term goal is to adapt these methods for use with smaller, more portable, and maybe even hand-held direct mass spectrometry systems. 

“In the early days, we were trendsetters in terms of taking mass spectrometry measurements into the field; very few people had done that.”

Dr. Chris Gill

VIU Chemistry Professor and Co-Director of the AERL

Photo courtesy of Chris Gill

What it's like working as a post-doctoral fellow at VIU Dr. Karissa Patton shares her story

Dr. Karissa Patton’s journey as a historian of gender, health and activism began as an undergrad student when she learned that contraception was criminalized in Canada and other countries in the past.

“I was a young woman and I just took for granted that I had access to birth control,” says Patton. “I wanted to learn more about activism around birth control and reproductive rights.”

Patton now works as a post-doctoral fellow at Vancouver Island University under the mentorship of Dr. Whitney Wood, VIU’s Canada Research Chair in the Historical Dimensions of Women’s Health. Working under the mentorship of Wood has been an amazing experience, says Patton.

“She is a fantastic mentor and has a lot of connections,” she says. “She’s ambitious, creative and has exciting visions for her future research. It’s inspiring working with her and collaborating on some of this research.”

Patton completed a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts in history at the University of Lethbridge and a PhD in History at the University of Saskatchewan. She is currently conducting both independent and collaborative research during her time at VIU and is working on writing a book based on her PhD research. For her independent research project, Patton is examining archival material and doing interviews with activists who were involved in an Indigenous women’s organization in Alberta in the 1970s.

She is also working with Wood to examine feminist health and feminist activism from the 1970s to 1990s. She is working with organizations such as the Vancouver Women’s Health Collective. This builds on her PhD research where she examined birth control centres in southern Alberta in the 1970s. 

Canadian Institutes of Health Research Funding

VIU is part of two Indigenous-led teams that received Canadian Institutes of Health Research Indigenous Gender and Wellness Team Grants.

Objectives of the grant include knowledge creation and raising awareness of how Coast Salish lands and language engender identity in a healthy way.

The Elders’ teachings in this area, which ground health and well-being in land and language, support new ideas in health care education and program delivery. Community-based activities, including youth and Elders working together, demonstrate the Indigenous Knowledge guiding wellness.

Elders from the Halalt, Lyackson and Penelakut First Nation are working with Dr. Laurie Meijer-Drees, a VIU Indigenous/Xwulmuxw Studies Professor. The project Engendering a Healthy Indigenous Identity: Focusing on Who We Are, Not What We Are received $464,154.

Patricia Johnston, a VIU Adjunct Professor in the Faculty of Social Work, received $500,000 for the project

Dr. Karissa Patton VIU Post-Doctoral Fellow

Iligiingniq: Inuit Perinatal Health & Wellness Project in Arviat, Nunavut. The three-year project aims to create knowledge concerning gender and perinatal wellness and facilitate knowledge-sharing activities that amplify Inuit cultural practices and build upon existing capacity in the community. The goal is “to hire Inuit to train Inuit perinatal support workers within the community,” Johnston says.

Examining stress and resilience in firefighters’ romantic relationships

Whether it’s work-related stress, a family issue, financial worries or an unexpected challenge, all romantic relationships have their ups and downs.

And while much has been written about relationship challenges in general, Emmerson Pollard decided to tackle the less-discussed topic of resilience in the romantic relationships of firefighters. Pollard completed her work as an undergraduate researcher at VIU and graduated in June 2022 with a Bachelor of Arts, Honours in Psychology.

In her first 24 hours of recruiting with the criteria that participants had to be over 19, Canadian and “actively serving” at a fire department in Canada, she already had 170 participants. In total, 265 firefighters took part.

The goal was to bring attention to the importance of interpersonal support and resilience in these particular relationships, “not only because it hasn’t been done before, but also because divorce rates in firefighters are high.” As some participants weren’t in relationships, she also sought to “get a picture of resilience in firefighters who don’t have that sort of intervention.”

Participants were asked to complete two to three online questionnaires, and those in a romantic relationship completed the Couples Satisfaction Index, which measures the satisfaction of one member in a romantic relationship. All participants completed the resilience scale, which measures an individual's perception of their own resilience, and the Perceived Stress Scale, which measures an individual’s perception of stress.

Pollard also collaborated with VIU’s Resilience Research Lab and two firefighters to develop five open-ended questions. She came to a series of conclusions based on her results:

• There was no difference in resilience and perceived stress scores between firefighters in romantic relationships and firefighters not in romantic relationships. This may indicate that support does not necessarily have to come from a romantic partner.

• As relationship satisfaction scores increased, resilience scores increased and perceived stress scores decreased. Similarly, as resilience scores for participants increased, perceived stress scores decreased.

• The potential for a romantic relationship to facilitate resilience and negate stress in the sample population depended on the positive and negative interactions that were taking place between each specific couple.

Pollard says the results have educational value for firefighters as they navigate their high-stress occupations. It can provide insight into how firefighters may use their romantic relationship as a coping resource with work-related stress, and how firefighters’ romantic partners can be supportive of their partner in coping with work-related stress.

She added that fire departments should ensure they provide adequate training and resources for firefighters that foster occupational competence and a healthy workplace culture.

While this project was ultimately for firefighters, Pollard says it also provides her with a foundation to work off as a researcher. And because so little research on this topic currently exists, “it’s something that we can pursue further on a bigger scale and work off of in the future.” 

Improving treatments for people with traumatic brain injuries is the focus of an award-winning researcher who joined VIU in 2022.

Dr. Sandy Shultz is a Professor in the Faculty of Health and Human Services and VIU’s first recipient of the Health Research BC Scholar Award.

“This award demonstrates VIU’s capability and commitment to lead research efforts that will result in meaningful outcomes to both local and global communities,” says Shultz. “It would not have been possible without the tremendous support from the VIU research office team, as well as our partners at the Nanaimo Brain Injury Society, Island Health and BC Support.”

The award is $90,000 per year for five years.

Originally from Saskatchewan, Shultz obtained his undergrad at the University of Saskatchewan before completing his master’s degree and PhD at the University of Western Ontario. He then moved to the University of Melbourne for post-doctoral training, where he obtained several grants from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council. Then, in 2018, he started his own lab at Monash University focusing on improving treatment for traumatic brain injury – work he will continue at VIU.

“My lab at VIU has a particular focus on brain injury that occurs as a result of intimate partner violence,” he says. “Unfortunately, this is a very common problem around the world and has only grown worse during COVID-19 due to lockdowns. Even though survivors of intimate partner violence often report symptoms of a brain injury, it is rarely screened or detected.”

Shultz’s research aims to identify new and reliable methods to detect brain injury in these situations, as well as develop interventions that will improve recovery.

His connection to VIU harkens back to his time at the University of Saskatchewan, where he had the opportunity to do research in Dr. Deborah Saucier’s lab, VIU’s President and Vice-Chancellor.

“We’ve kept in contact over the years and through this connection, I began having conversations with VIU’s AVP of research to AVP of Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity, as well as the deans of Health and Human Services and Social Sciences,” says Shultz, adding that VIU seemed like a good fit, prompting his decision to apply for the award.

“I’m looking forward to continuing to work within VIU’s growing research community.” 

Award-winning researcher and neuroscientist joins VIU

“My lab at VIU has a particular focus on brain injury that occurs as a result of intimate partner violence. Unfortunately, this is a very common problem around the world and has only grown worse during COVID-19 due to lockdowns.”

Dr. Sandy Shultz VIU Health and Human Services Professor

How did COVID-19 affect recreational programming in the Yukon?

How COVID-19 impacted people in rural and remote communities, and the role that recreation can play in pandemic recovery, are the focus of research being conducted by VIU Recreation and Tourism Management Professor Dr. Aggie Weighill and the Leisure Matters VIU research team.

The project, a partnership between the World Leisure Centre of Excellence (WLCE) at VIU and the Recreation and Parks Association of the Yukon (RPAY), was funded by the Yukon Government’s COVID Recovery Research Program. The need for the research was identified from another joint project, the 2021 Yukon Health Living Study.

Bachelor of Tourism Management students Spencer Godlonton and Amber Underwood assisted Weighill to collect data. The team was joined by Roger Bower of RPAY, who assisted with community engagement and shared information about the numerous training and funding opportunities the association offers.

“The research will have a direct and immediate impact on rural and remote recreation in the Yukon,” says Bower. “We will be able to take the information that Dr. Weighill and her team collect and use it to share our best practices in supporting folks providing recreation to their communities.”

The team visited Pelly Crossing, a Selkirk First Nation community of less than 400 residents with several recreation facilities. They also travelled the Alaska Highway to Beaver Creek, a community of around 100 residents with several recreation facilities, although most require significant repairs.

The team shared preliminary results with the communities and Yukon Government’s Sport and Recreation Branch. Staff of the branch are currently assisting local recreation coordinators to develop community-specific recreation plans using a process described in the Yukon Community Recreation Planning Toolkit.

“Preliminary results also show that on-the-land activities are likely more important for recovery than traditional sports and recreation activities. We need to expand our views on recreation and physical activity if we want locals to benefit,” says Weighill.

Funding for this project includes $71,500 from the Government of the Yukon with an additional $8,950 of direct and in-kind expenses being contributed by RPAY. WLCE is contracted by RPAY in the amount of $63,548.

Summary results will be presented at RPAY’s 2022 Recreation Gathering in October, and a final report is due to the Government of the Yukon in early 2023. 

resilience and well-being

Dr. Aggie Weighill

VIU Recreational and Tourism Professor

Creating innovative solutions for a sustainable seafood industry

VIU’s Centre for Seafood Innovation (CSI) is addressing the future of aquaculture through public education and community engagement initiatives.

These initiatives create dialogue and build a mutual understanding between researchers, students, industry, funders and the public about how education plays a crucial role in the future of the BC seafood industry. In 2021-22, the centre celebrated its grand opening with the Oyster Challenge event and hosted a learning series called Let’s Talk Seafood and eat it too.

“I am very pleased with what CSI accomplished in its first year of operation,” says Debra Hellbach, Manager of CSI.

“Through Let’s Talk Seafood we have set the stage for collaborations across faculties while providing a platform for public education and experiential learning.”

The Oyster Challenge was held in November 2021 at VIU’s Deep Bay Marine Field Station. It was the culmination of a semester-long innovation challenge by VIU Culinary Arts students. During the semester the students learned about oyster genetics research at Deep Bay and aspects of the seafood system, including challenges faced by industry. They also learned about novel processes to address labour shortages such as high-pressure processing and creating new products suitable for Feed BC institutional partners to increase consumption of BC seafood.

Resilience of island, coastal and rural regions

Resilience of island, coastal and rural regions

During the event, the students put their cooking skills to the test and competed to see who could create the best dish with oysters “shucked” with a high-pressure process as the star ingredient. The goal was to create recipes that could be served in BC institutions.

The students worked in the centre’s commercial-grade teaching kitchen, located at Deep Bay. The winning recipe was chosen by a panel of judges. Lana Popham, BC Minister of Agriculture and Food, attended as a judge.

Ty Tich Tran, a Culinary Arts program student, won the competition and received the People’s Choice Award for his steamed oyster roll with smoked oyster salad dressing recipe.

“I love working on seafood products. By having a good foundation of knowledge about these industries, I believe there will be lots of opportunity for me in my future career,” says Tran.

Olivia Alexander, the centre’s Research and Community Project Coordinator, says one of the culinary students told her the event opened his eyes about opportunities in the seafood industry.

“He has set his sights on working in food trading now. This broadened perspective was exactly the result we were hoping to achieve,” she says.

The Let’s Talk Seafood education series brought together VIU researchers, students, industry and community members to learn about seafood research over a home-style seafood lunch.

“Let’s Talk Seafood is about ‘breaking shells’ (breaking bread) together to break down barriers and build connections,” says Hellbach. “It has been scientifically proven that eating together builds trust and relationships. The centre acted as a gathering place for all involved.”

She says the future of coastal economic development hinges on the aquaculture industry. Deep Bay sits at the heart of BC’s aquaculture industry and the “research activities here focus on the future of shellfish as it is threatened by climate change,” says Hellbach.

Let’s Talk Seafood consisted of five sessions. Hellbach says the sessions were only made possible thanks to the support of researchers, instructors and students.

“Let’s Talk Seafood events are ‘on brand’ with VIU's Strategic Plan – People, Place, Potential,” says Hellbach. “They were designed to welcome a diverse group of people, position VIU as the region’s hub for seafood-related research and expertise, and to provide career-building experiences.”

Partners and funders for the Oyster Challenge included the Culinary Arts department; Deep Bay Marine Field Station; VIU’s Innovative Education Support Fund and VIURAC Engage Grant; and the Ministry of Agriculture and Food.

Additionally, this project has been funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Innovative Work-Integrated Learning Program and CEWIL Canada’s iHub.

Funders for Let’s Talk Seafood and eat it too include Mac’s Oysters, Sea Forest, West Coast Wild Scallops, and Omega Pacific.

Funded through the Ministry of Agriculture and Food, the centre works on projects addressing existing and future challenges in the seafood industry. Through collaboration, CSI harnesses existing and emerging expertise, infrastructure and programs for research, public education and commercialization activities in the seafood sector.

The centre seeks to collaborate with VIU instructors, researchers and students to provide research and education opportunities.

Learn more at research.viu.ca/centre-seafood-innovation. 

Olivia Alexander CSI Research and Community Project Coordinator

“Through Let's Talk Seafood we have set the stage for collaborations across faculties while providing a platform for public education and public learning.”

Debra Hellbach Manager of Centre for Seafood Innovation

VIU Canada Research Chair developing tools to inform forest recovery initiatives

Dr. Sean Sloan joined VIU in the summer of 2021 as the Canada Research Chair in the Human Dimensions of Sustainability and Resilience.

“I’m honoured and excited by the opportunity that being the research chair affords me to pursue my research in its fullness,” says Sloan.

Sloan will build on VIU’s expertise in forest management and wildfire dynamics. He’ll launch a program that examines forest renewal and burning across diverse landscapes, focusing on the Global South, which includes the regions of Latin America, Asia, Africa and Oceania.

Sloan’s research aims to reveal the dynamics of reforestation and wildfires and how they arise from ongoing transitions to the environment, including new trends in land use and forest management. He is examining where these occur, how they emerge out of earlier decisions and why they occur.

He’ll also revise understandings of global forest change by using satellite images of the Earth to make observations and examine forest recovery trajectories following from changing land use and forest management practices over recent decades. His research is expected to inform various international initiatives seeking to mitigate climate change. Some of these include pursuing forest restoration.

Sloan is recognized as a leader in land-change science relating to the human dimensions of reforestation and wildfire dynamics. He’s authored some 70 research articles in leading journals, such Global Environmental Change, produced 37 conference papers and has received numerous accolades.

“We’re very pleased to have Dr. Sloan join VIU as our Canada Research Chair,” says Dr. Nicole Vaugeois, Associate Vice-President Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity. “VIU is committed to supporting sustainability and Dr. Sloan's work will enable us to contribute critical new knowledge to understand reforestation, conservation and development planning and wildfire dynamics."

Sloan received his PhD in Geography from the University of Melbourne, Australia, while holding a Research Fellowship with the Organization of American States at The Smithsonian Tropical Research Institute, Panama. He also served as a Senior Post-doctoral Research Fellow at The Centre for Tropical Environment and Sustainability Science at James Cook University, Australia, and was a Visiting Research Fellow at The Australia National University and The Centre for International Forestry Research, Indonesia. 

Dr. Sean Sloan Canada Research Chair in the Human Dimensions of Sustainability and Resilience

Resilience of island, coastal and

Are microplastics impacting deep-sea organisms?

Plastic pollution is reaching the deepest depths of the ocean and the impact of these contaminants on marine life that live in these high-pressure environments is unknown.

Dr. Heather Wiebe, a VIU Chemistry Professor, is investigating the ability of deep-sea organisms to metabolize these pollutants and wants to shed light on how these organisms cope and survive in high-pressure environments.

“Human pollution, like microplastics, is now reaching the lowest levels of the ocean. The deep ocean is a very different environment from what you or I experience.

For one thing, the pressure down there can reach up to a thousand times what it is at sea level,” says Wiebe, adding that pollution is an additional stress on these organisms.

Wiebe is interested in studying the proteins that are involved in breaking down plastics inside the body to see if there is a cause for concern and whether or not these organisms can digest and cope with these added pollutants in their environment.

She specializes in computational chemistry, which is a branch of chemistry that uses computer simulations to solve chemical problems. She’ll run simulations to examine the biochemistry of organisms and how their molecules work inside their bodies, particularly how their proteins respond to pressure.

Her research will compare proteins from organisms that live in shallow water to those that live in deep water. She says proteins have very specific three-dimensional structures and applying pressure to the proteins of marine life that live in normal pressure environments will squish them down and unfold them.

Understanding how these proteins work can help scientists design pressure-resistant proteins which can have useful industrial applications, such as in food processing and the pasteurization process.

Wiebe received a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant, $120,000 over five years, and a $12,500 NSERC Discovery Launch Supplement to help pursue her research.

VIU chemistry student Jocelyn Maguire worked as a research assistant on the project in the summer of 2021. She conducted simulations comparing the proteins of deep-sea organisms and shallow-water organisms.

“This gave me the opportunity to learn about protein simulations and work with computers in a way that I wouldn’t get to in a typical chemistry class,” says Maguire. “Doing summer research experience provided me with context of where my studies could take me.” 

Resilience of island, coastal and rural regions

“Human pollution, like microplatics, is now reaching the lowest levels of the ocean.”

Dr. Heather Wiebe VIU Chemistry Professor

Taking action on sustainable development

Eradicating poverty. Ending hunger. Tackling climate change. It can seem overwhelming for the average organization or individual to make an impact.

The United Nations has created a blueprint that aims to address these challenges – the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). And while it is important for countries, governments and large-scale corporations to address the goals, it is equally important for individuals, community groups and local organizations to take action, says Courtney Vaugeois, Assistant Research and Community Engagement Coordinator for VIU’s Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region Research Institute (MABRRI).

“We know the power that individuals and community groups have to make change,” says Vaugeois. “We want to support them and give them information about the SDGs to help them take action locally and contribute to the larger global framework.”

To help local organizations, the research institute hosted free online SDG Training Sessions for groups and organizations within communities surrounding VIU campuses, which included Nanaimo, Duncan, Parksville and Powell River in the fall of 2021. The sessions introduced the goals and provided information about how organizations and groups can implement them at the local level.

The training sessions, part of VIU’s Universities and the SDGs project, were funded in part by the Government of Canada’s Sustainable Development Goals Funding Program. 

Citizen scientists help collect biodiversity data

The Mount Arrowsmith Biosphere Region (MABR) hosts its annual BioBlitz event in April each year. The BioBlitz relies on citizen scientists to collect information on flora and fauna species.

Courtney Vaugeois

MABRRI Assistant Research and Community Engagement Coordinator

“We couldn’t do this work without the help of citizen scientists and volunteers,” says Mandy Hobkirk, MABR Coordinator, adding that with community participation, more information can be gathered compared to sending out one research team.

In 2022, participants used the iNaturalist app to make their observations within the boundaries of the biosphere. The information gives a snapshot of the biodiversity of an area. This data contributes to baseline information, which researchers can use to identify trends and see a bigger picture over time.

Resilience of island, coastal and rural regions

When science gets extreme

Series of videos showcase daring and exciting physics and chemistry experiments

A show that has been getting kids excited about science for more than a decade went virtual in 2021 – and caught hundreds of elementary school-aged children up in a challenge that saw 11 lucky classrooms win science supplies.

Every spring, VIU Physics Professor Ray Penner and his colleagues host Extreme Science, a show that combines physics and chemistry with entertainment in a series of awe-inspiring experiments. Searching for a way to continue the show during the pandemic, Penner teamed up with VIU’s Brand and Marketing and Advancement departments to put together a series of videos that were shown in classrooms, with sponsors contributing enough money to buy science gear for 11 participating classrooms who submitted an answer to the riddle they were asked to solve.

From breaking a concrete block on Penner while he lies on a bed of nails, to an explanation of chaos theory using a double

pendulum, to using sound waves to break glass, to what happens when you decide to snack on a graham cracker dipped in liquid nitrogen, each video explains the science behind the experiments Penner and his team perform.

“My main goal is to show students that science is cool – it’s why a lot of us are in it,” says Penner. “I want to get them not only excited about science, but also inspired to think about careers as scientists.”

Each video includes hidden letters to find and when class rooms participating in the spring 2021 challenge collected the letters from all 10, they were asked to unscramble them to reveal a quote from a famous scientist.

“The uptake was so much bigger than we ever imagined – we had more than 4,700 students from 190 classrooms participating from the four school districts that feed into VIU campuses,” says Penner. “As the teachers were sending in

answers, they were providing anecdotes about how much their students were enjoying the videos, and how the experiments were inspiring them to continue studying science.”

Each elementary school that unscrambled the quote correctly was entered into a draw to win $1,000 worth of science supplies, courtesy of VIU’s community partners: Coastal Community Credit Union and the Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of BC, along with Herold Engineering, Lewkowich Engineering, SMCN Consulting, McElhanney, Tetra Tech, Rocky Point Engineering, RB Engineering, and Kool and Child.

One of the lucky winners of the challenge was Sterling Jamont’s Grade 7 classroom at Bayview Elementary School in Nanaimo.

“It means we are going to get to do some really cool, hands-on science experiments – this is a real game-changer for us,” she says. “We’re going to buy some supplies we can share amongst the intermediate grades. My class loved the videos – my students looked forward to watching them every day. The challenge was a good reminder to always stay curious.” 

Watch Extreme Science on the Community Classroom website

The Extreme Science video series was uploaded to VIU’s Community Classroom website at viu.ca/community-classroom. VIU faculty, students and alumni share their expertise, knowledge and passions with the broader community.

On the Community Classroom site, we invite you into our labs, offices, homes, research facilities and all the places – high and low, microscopic and wide open – where we’re doing our field work to give you the chance to explore, discover and change the world alongside us.

On the Extreme Science post, all of the videos still include the letters that, when unscrambled, form a quote from a famous scientist. If you solve the riddle, let us know by emailing the answer to students@viu.ca.

“My main goal is to show students that science is cool – it’s why a lot of us are in it. I want to get them not only excited about science, but also inspired to think about careers as scientists.”

Raymond Penner VIU Physics Professor

Providing a supportive environment for Master of Education students

The Master’s of Education (MEd) Research Conference was created in the spring of 2012 as an opportunity for second-year MEd students to present their thesis work in progress to first-year students who were in the midst of designing their thesis or project work.

Many are working as teachers and engage in action research to improve their practice, others design projects that will make a contribution to their profession. They all have lots to learn from each other. What started as a research methods course activity for one cohort of graduate students has become a faculty-wide event for 250 graduate students in the Faculty of Education.

This year, the 11th annual MEd conference was held on March 5, 2022. Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic the event was held online for the second year in a row, with both asynchronous and synchronous presentation options. In total, there were 78 presenters; 33 prepared asynchronous presentations (three-minute videos, posters or blog posts) that were hosted on a VIU Blog between February 28 and March 5, and 45 presented synchronously (10-minute talks, panel presentations or sharing at a roundtable) on March 5.

The event was supported by 20 faculty members who moderated synchronous sessions. The sessions were attended by 250 attendees who pre-registered and chose the sessions they were interested in. For the week before the synchronous events, attendees engaged with asynchronous presentations by commenting on the blog posts.

“We’ve found that by providing online and asynchronous presentation options, many more students were able to participate,” says Dr. Rachel Moll, Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education and conference organizer.

The event normally opens with a keynote address.

This year’s keynote speaker was Robert Mahikwa, a Vanier Scholar, PhD student and a VIU Indigenous Education Navigator (on leave) who spoke about how Indigenous perspectives can inform the journey of being and becoming a researcher. The goal of the keynote address is to both inspire and inform graduate students, no matter where they are in their journey.

Knowledge mobilization is a critical part of the graduate student experience. The MEd Research Conference offers students a supported and welcoming environment to share their work, completed or in progress, and is an opportunity for students to mentor each other in research.

Participating in the MEd conference has led to an increase in graduate student participation in VIU’s CREATE Conference and the western regional Three-Minute Thesis (3MT) Competition. In the future, conference organizers will build on what was learned from pivoting online to develop a hybrid format so that the event can continue to be inclusive for our part-time, full-time, local and distance students.

“By shifting online the event has grown from 150 participants to 250, but if it is possible for the event to grow larger, a future goal would be to combine with other programs at VIU to become more multi-disciplinary and to showcase graduate student research at VIU,” says Moll. 

Research conference allows students to present their thesis work

Dr. Rachel Moll Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education

with Accounting Professor Chris Burnley Q &A

Accounting Professor Chris Burnley says there’s a certain perspective that comes from “teaching hundreds of accounting classes and seminars.”

It’s this perspective that helped Burnley, who has taught at VIU for 22 years, author and publish a third edition of his accounting textbook. His first two books, Understanding Financial Accounting and Financial Accounting: Tools for Business Decision-Making, are in use at more than 60 post-secondary institutions across Canada.

Tell us about this third edition of Understanding Financial Accounting?

The initial inspiration for the text was a desire to teach with a book that provided a better understanding of the context for the material they were learning in their introductory financial accounting course. The book was published in December 2021 and is structured around a series of core questions as opposed to broader learning objectives typical of textbooks. The book reflects the way that I have taught the material during my time at VIU.

How does this book differ from previous editions?

The biggest changes would be the emphasis on sustainability and data analytics. The book includes a series of new climate change impact features – the first in any Canadian introductory accounting text. These provide an opportunity for students to connect climate change with the financial reporting they are learning about in the introductory accounting courses. The book also reflects changes that are taking place in the business world, including buy now-pay later, share buybacks, the increased significance of biological and intangible assets and so forth. Of course, a substantial amount of new problem material was added, which is critical for both students and faculty.

Your two previous books are currently being used at more than 60 post-secondary institutions across Canada. What does having this sort of impact mean to you?

The books have really opened up a bigger world for me and I’m grateful for that. They allow me to play a small part in the education of tens of thousands of students each year, far beyond the reach I would normally have in my role at VIU. It is a privilege to do this. I also really value the opportunity to connect with fellow faculty across the country who are using the books with their classes. The accounting education community is fairly small and I continue to learn from our discussions, and this input helps me shape the books. 

Chris Burnley

VIU Accounting Professor

Program helps students transform business ideas into reality

VIU’s Cooperative Entrepreneur Training Program (CETP) offers students with disabilities or those who have faced employment barriers the opportunity to learn essential entrepreneurship skills.

Geneva Biggers started a custom pillow design business and Kendyl Perry launched a photography and merchandise venture.

Biggers’ journey to entrepreneurship began when she decided to seek out a Black-owned business to support. She found a New York-based business that sold specialty fabric. At first, she didn’t have a plan for the fabric, but soon decided it would make great pillows, and the idea of starting a business entered her mind.

At the same time, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, her mental health and the fact that she lives on disability with her 76-year-old mother and 19-year-old daughter, Biggers was worried about what the future might hold for her and her family.

She sought help from her employment counsellor, who suggested VIU’s CETP Program.

“The program sounded perfect – and it is. I had no idea how much I would learn about business and myself,” she says.

Perry enrolled because she wanted to learn the right business terminology and take the next step to grow her business.

"The program is an eye-opener on what being an entrepreneur is actually like and what owning a small business is all about,” says Perry.

Since its inception in 2018, the program has been fully funded by the Ministry of Advanced Education and Skills Training, resulting in no program costs for eligible students. This year, for the first time, each student was matched with a mentor for the entire length of the program and received $1,500 in start-up funding from Co-operative Education and Work-Integrated Learning Canada.

The 30-week, full-time program is a safe place for students to transform their ideas into reality and it will continue to be offered online to maintain accessibility across BC, says instructor Amy Woermke.

“Entrepreneurship is a long-standing means for persons with diverse abilities to make a life for themselves and contribute to their communities," says Woermke. Courses include a combination of business strategy, financial literacy, marketing and mentoring. The program went online out of necessity amid the pandemic but it soon became clear that a virtual classroom opened up the program to students provincewide. As a result, the program saw all of its seats filled for the first time with students from across BC –students like Biggers, who lives in Mission, and Perry, who lives in Kamloops. 

“The program sounded perfect — and it is. I had no idea how much I would learn about business and myself.”

Kendyl Perry Cooperative Entrepreneur Training Program student

with Political Studies Professor Mark Williams

Three years ago, VIU Political Studies Professor and Department Chair Dr. Mark Williams began working on concepts and themes for what would ultimately become his new book.

Williams, the author of The Politics of the Asia-Pacific: Triumphs, Challenges, and Threats, says the process involved developing a vision for the book, reaching out to experts and putting forward his proposal for a manuscript, which was then peer-reviewed. All that work has paid off, and his new book has now been published by the University of Toronto Press.

Where did the idea to write this book come from?

There were two sources of inspiration. The first came from teaching The Politics of Asia at VIU. I previously relied on an assortment of articles and chapters from a range of books to form a reading list because there were no books that presented anything close to a comprehensive overview of the major political issues of the Asia-Pacific. The second came from my attempts to incorporate classroom simulations in a number of the courses that I teach in political studies and global studies.

What was the process of writing this book like?

I started working on the book’s concepts and themes three years ago. Once I developed a vision, I began to reach out to experts. I put together a manuscript proposal that was reviewed by the editorial board at the University of Toronto Press (UTP), followed by an anonymous peer-review. After we got the approvals and I received a contract for the book, my contributors and I started writing. We finished the first draft and it went for blind peer-review and a review with political science faculty at the University of Toronto. A number of ideas emerged after this review, and I worked on these revisions before sending the book for a final peer review. Once everybody was happy with it, we undertook copy editing, typesetting, and selecting the maps and figures that are used in the book.

What do you think is the biggest takeaway from this book?

The Asia-Pacific region is in the process of shaping the world order in the present and in the coming decades. Students will be well-served to understand the region’s triumphs, challenges and threats.

How does it feel to have this book published?

I feel proud to have this book published with the UTP. It has been my pleasure to work with my esteemed contributors, which include two VIU Geography Professors, Dr. Matthew Bowes and Dr. Jeff Lewis, and four former VIU students who co-authored chapters with me. 

Dr. Mark Williams VIU Political Studies Professor

Innovation, entrepreneurship and socia changeTeaching and learning

2021 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 and to support the university’s core commitment to excellence and community engagement.

The Provost Award Recipients for Outstanding Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity are:

Deans’ Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity Award and the Collaborative Research Award

Dr. Spencer Russell | Faculty of Science and Technology

Winner of two research awards, Russell, a Department of Fisheries and Aquaculture Professor and an expert in fish pathology and immunology, is researching Tenacibaculum bacteria, the cause of mouth rot in salmon, which results in significant economic loss for the aquaculture industry. Russell’s long-term goal is to develop a vaccine that can be used in preventive strategies to reduce reliance on antibiotics to control outbreaks.

Collaborative Research Award

Alison Taplay | Faculty of Health and Human Services

Taplay has served as an Educational Assistant and Community Support program instructor at the Powell River campus since 2009. She has developed and expanded employer and community partnerships to ensure rich and engaging student experiences and is committed to addressing full participation of students who lack a voice by identifying the necessary changes in procedures and policy.

Graduate Research Mentor Award

Mark Holland | Faculty of Social Sciences

Holland is driven by a deep commitment to ensure the next generation of planners are appropriately educated to be effective in their calling to create better communities. His focus is on student success, and he strives to ensure students have the best possible education.

Dr. Sean Toal | Faculty of Education

Toal is a Faculty of Education Professor who teaches in the Master of Education in Educational Leadership (MEDL) program and serves as the faculty Field Experience Coordinator in undergraduate programs. He started working with graduate students in 2015, teaching a variety of courses within MEDL, supervising many theses, and serving on the VIU Research Ethics Board.

Undergraduate Research Mentor Award

Dr. Timothy Green, | Faculty of Science and Technology Green, the Canada Research Chair in Shellfish Health and Genomics, is an internationally recognized expert in shellfish aquaculture. Green has supervised numerous undergraduate research projects and several of his mentees, inspired by these early career experiences, have continued onto research positions in graduate school or governmental agencies.

Deans’ Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity Award

Carla Tilley | Faculty of Health and Human Services

Tilley is an experienced critical care nurse, researcher, mentor and colleague in the Bachelor of Science in Nursing program. Her research identifies the gaps in policy, support and programs for internationally educated nurses, which is critical for the workforce development of registered nurses across BC.

Dr. Marian Riedel | Faculty of Educatio n Riedel joined the Faculty of Education in 2011 and is currently Chair of Graduate Programs and teaches in both undergraduate and graduate programs. Her current research explores K-12 experiences of rapidly transitioning to alternate delivery during the onset of the COVID 19 global pandemic.

Dr. Sally Vinden | Faculty of Trades and Applied Technology

Vinden has demonstrated an enthusiasm for supporting best practices in trades education at home and internationally. She is a lifelong learner, earning a PhD in Curriculum and Implementation Theory. As a curriculum, teaching and learning specialist she comes to this work as practitioner and scholar and is constantly seeking out opportunities to learn, discover, and lend her ideas to move projects and people forward. She is collaborative and innovative in her pedagogical designs.

Co-recipients: Dr. Sylvie Lafrenière | Centre for Innovation and Excellence in Learning Dr. Gillian Anderson | Faculty of Social Science s Lafrenière and Anderson are accomplished researchers and educators within the Department of Sociology and are strong contributors to a vibrant learning environment. Their collaborative research project, The Burden of Care: Exploring the Gendered Impact(s) of COVID-19 on Mothers’ Caring Labour, will be vitally important to post-pandemic social and community planning. This research project responds to a pressing need to document and analyze the gendered impacts of COVID-19. Their research makes a significant contribution to the larger sociological analysis of work and gender, and offers some fascinating commentary on the gendered nature of care. 

VIU establishes Office of Graduate Studies

VIU is a leader in providing innovative, high-calibre graduate programs. Over the past decade, VIU has invested in the growth and development of graduate programs and currently have almost 1,000 students enrolled in masters, graduate diploma and certificate programs in education, planning, management and geographic information systems applications. VIU ranks fifth for the number of graduate students among BC universities, higher than two of the research universities.

The institution is deeply committed to the success of graduate students and as programs have evolved VIU has become aware of the need to enhance services and supports. Success in graduate education depends on strong and collaborative partnerships with the academic programs that deliver the curriculum and supervision as well as other administrative units that support health and well-being, professional development opportunities, research ethics approvals and funding.

To support this collaboration, in 2022 VIU established a new Office of Graduate Studies (OGS) located in the Scholarship, Research and Creative Activity division. The OGS is the central administrative support unit at VIU for graduate students enrolled in graduate certificates, diplomas and master's degree programs. It will enable VIU to provide supports for graduate students at all stages of their programs, from admissions and orientation to progress and completion, and beyond. Through VIU’s network of academic and service unit partners, the new office will support graduate enrolment management, student services and skills training, faculty supervisor training and supports, administration of graduate student funding and awards, timely completion of graduate programs, and preparation for life and success after graduate school.

VIU was approved as an institutional member of the Canadian Association of Graduate Studies (CAGS). Founded in 1962, the association promotes graduate education and university research through meetings,

publications and advocacy. VIU joins 57 other Canadian universities with graduate programs in CAGS as well as the three federal research-granting agencies and other institutions and organizations with an interest in graduate studies.

VIU was also recently approved to join the Western Canadian Deans of Graduate Studies and signed the Western Deans Agreement which enables reciprocal enrichment of graduate programs throughout Western Canada.

Acceptance as a member of these two organizations recognizes VIU’s role in graduate education in Canada and will provide the university with tools and resources to enhance the services and supports VIU provides to graduate students.

Kendra Stiwich was hired as the Director of Graduate Studies and Student Research.

“I am looking forward to supporting our graduate programs and graduate students in this role,” says Stiwich. “The whole VIU graduate community is fantastic! I love the energy, passion and innovative thinking emanating from the programs and students.” 

Kendra Stiwich Director of Graduate Studies and Student Research

Alum takes students under her wing

VIU alum Samuelle Simard-Provençal led a bird banding demonstration in September 2021 to allow girls and Indigenous youth to learn about biological sciences and the different career paths they can pursue.

“It’s an opportunity for young scientists to explore different avenues of biology and get a chance to try something different than what’s normally done in science class in high school,” says Simard-Provençal.

Students from Nanaimo District Secondary School learned about local bird species during the demonstration and how to hold, band and release birds properly. Simard-Provençal, who graduated in 2021 with a Bachelor of Science, major in Biology and minor in Math, conducted the workshop thanks to a Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada Student Ambassador grant. The grant allows post-secondary students to act as mentors and share their love of science or engineering with youth from under-represented and disadvantaged groups in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Simard-Provençal says when she enrolled in VIU’s Biology program she didn’t know what career paths were possible, but chose the discipline because she loved animals and being outside. She learned about bird banding when Dr. Eric Demers, a VIU Biology Professor and Co-Chair of the Biology Department, visited one of her first-year courses and discussed volunteer bird banding opportunities. Simard-Provençal signed up and on her first day she banded and released a Rufous hummingbird.

“It was a mind-blowing experience. I was addicted instantly. This was an entirely different kind of ecology I had never been exposed to, getting to hold wild, beautiful and colourful animals,” says Simard-Provencal, adding that this was a hands-on field experience she didn’t know she would have access to as a first-year student. “There is so much more that you can learn from a bird when you are holding it right there in your hand.” Simard-Provençal received a VIU REACH Award and the Senior Women Academic Administration of Canada 2020 Student Leadership Award. 

“It's an opportunity for young scientists to explore different avenues of biology and get a chance to try something different than what’s normally done in science class in high school.”

Samuelle Simard-Provençal

VIU alum, Bachelor of Science ’21

Student research awards

CREATE 2022

CREATE 2022 successfully navigated the hybrid delivery model and hosted both virtual and face-to-face venues. The 300 participants showcased 190 projects and shared their scholarly, research and creative activity at 16 different events.

CREATE is an annual celebration of student scholarship, research and creative activity where students can share their accomplishments with peers, faculty and the public. Below are some student project highlights and reflections.

Co-Curricular Record reflection and recognition

More than 70 Co-Curricular Record submissions were made by students, allowing them to reflect on their learning from various perspectives. Alicia Vanin received the Collaboration Award.

“Once we were able to humanize each other and lean into our unique talents, we could synthesize an inclusive and shared framework under which the best aspects of our different disciplines could come together,” says Vanin.

Film fest

The 2022 film fest was titled The Long and the Shorts of It. The winner of the best short film was Michael Duddy for his film Invisible, which focuses on the effects of rheumatoid arthritis and what it means to have an invisible disability.

Three Minute Thesis®

The 3MT® challenges graduate students to present their thesis in three minutes. The 2022 VIU champion was Hannah Dudney, Master of Arts in Sustainable Leisure Management, who described her thesis Park Crowding: More Than an Inconvenience. Dudney went on to represent VIU at the regional finals in Winnipeg, Man., where she detailed how she is exploring the perspectives of park crowding specifically for people with mobility-related disabilities.

Positive Space

A strong thematic thread was a focus on gender and gender-related topics. Priya Thiara and Monique Joseph received the CREATE Positive Space Award sponsored by the Positive Space Alliance for their project: Routes, roots, resilience and restoration of Two-Spirit people in North America. “[Priya and Monique] really pulled us in with their work, their engagement and their passion. We were all really impressed with their use of materials and how they incorporated them. They were very knowledgeable and well researched.” – Adjudicator comments

Climate action

CREATE and the President’s Task Force on Climate Action co-sponsored a number of activities and recognitions including the CREATE Some O2 Challenge where students came together, got their hands dirty and engaged with filling planter boxes at the Nanaimo campus with both flowering and edible plants. 

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.

The following students are recipients of the 2021-22 REACH Awards:

Hailey Arneson | Associations between social media and depression: The roles of social anxiety, self-esteem, and social media fatigue, mentored by Dr. Melanie O’Neill.

Ally Badger | Habitat use and movement of coastal cutthroat trout, Oncorhynchus clarkii clarkii in Shelly Creek, Parksville, BC, mentored by Dr. Eric Demers.

Shawn Berry | Community perceptions of supportive housing in Nanaimo, mentored by Dr. Lauren Mayes.

Saphire Foster | Personality characteristics of monogamous relationships, mentored by Dr. Cameron Gordon.

Lisa Kremer | From farming to feasting: How the "Lady of Guano" became a tool of the Inka Empire, mentored by Dr. Marie Hopwood.

Jenna McColman | Helminth parasite infracommunities and dietary analysis of the western toad, Anaxyrus boreas, and the Pacific tree frog, Pseudacris regilla, from south-eastern Vancouver Island, BC, mentored by Dr. Tim Goater.

Emmerson Pollard | A love-heat relationship: An analysis of relationship satisfaction, stress, and resilience in firefighters, mentored by Caroline Burnley and Ruth Kirson.

Kassandra Robicheau | The power to revolutionize the real: Revolutionary Girl Utena and lacanian psychoanalysis, mentored by Dr. Daniel Burgoyne.

Dasha Russell | Who has the right to feel safe? Gender and safety within an urban environment, mentored by Bruce McGuigan.

Taylor Shorting | Antecedents of children's place attachment toward foster homes, mentored by Dr. Lindsay McCunn.

Sarah Foulkes | Planning for sustainable seaweed aquaculture on the east coast of central Vancouver Island, mentored by Dr. Pam Shaw.

Leah Hough | Descriptions of friendship in the inclusive classroom, mentored by Dr. Mary Ann Richards.

Gursharan Kaur | Women leadership in higher education in India: Perceptions, barriers and success factors, mentored by Dr. Rachel Moll.

Robyn White | Mean girls in the digital age: Practical approaches to preventing and managing relational aggression among adolescent girls, mentored by Dr. Wendy Simms.

Lihui (Cindy) Wu | Chinese square dance: An analysis of its fast growth with the constraint-effects-mitigation model, mentored by Dr. Farhad Moghimehfar. 

Lihui (Cindy) Wu

Sarah Foulkes

VANCOUVER ISLAND UNIVERSITY

Major Graduate Award Winners

In 2021-22, four VIU students received British Columbia Graduate Scholarships (BCGS) and two students received Canadian Graduate Scholarships – Master's program (CGS-M) awards.

The BCGS awards are made possible by funding provided by 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, also known collectively as the Tri-Agencies, and are valued at $17,500 each.

Lillian Morton | Faculty of Education

Recipients for the British Columbia Graduate Scholarships are:

Recipients for the Canada Graduate Scholarships are:

Rachel Hendersen Master of Arts in Sustainable Leisure Management

Skye Bell Master of Community Planning

Kayla Foss Master of Geographic Information System Applications

Brad Vince Master of Community Planning

Julie Bull Master of Community Planning

Julia Tippett Master of Community Planning

awards

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 via funding provided by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada.

The following students are recipients of USRA:

William Lattanzio-Battle | Rapid measurement of UV filters in natural waters and aquatic organisms using condensed phase membrane introduction mass spectrometry with a liquid electron ionization source, mentored by Dr. Chris Gill.

Korrina Gilchrist | Western painted turtle microbiome: characterization, succession and acquisition, mentored by Dr. Andrew Loudon.

Marissa Wright-LaGreca | Genetic selection of Japanese scallops to develop a high-yielding strain, mentored by Dr. Timothy Green.

Lucas Abruzzi | Optimizing paper spray mass spectrometry for the determination of cyanotoxins in water samples, mentored by Dr. Chris Gill.

Haley Andersen | Monitoring success of captive bred Vancouver Island marmots (Marmota vancouverensis) following release into natural population using radio telemetry ground observations, mentored by Dr. Jamie Gorrell.

Angelina Jaeger | Characterizing atmospheric contaminants sorbed on fine particulate matter using paper spray mass spectrometry, mentored by Dr. Erik Krogh.

Eden Rowe | Analysis on the behaviour of the captive-bred Vancouver Island marmot (Marmota vancouverensis) and its interaction with the wild population, mentored by Dr. Jamie Gorrell.

Genevieve van der Voort | Mycorrhizal associations of Platanthera dilatata and P. stricta, mentored by Dr. Jasmine Janes.

Taelor Zarkovic | A fast method for atypical antipsychotics analysis by paper spray mass spectrometry, mentored by Dr. Chris Gill. 

Haley Andersen

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. Here are some of the key groups that have funded projects in this fiscal year.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada

Alberni-Clayoquot Regional District

Barkley Project Group

BC Conservation Foundation

BC Innovation Council

BC Knowledge Development Fund

BC Ministry of Advanced Education, Skills and Training

BC Ministry of Agriculture and Food

BC Ministry of Health

BC Ministry of Land, Water and Resource Stewardship and BC Ministry of Forests formally known as the BC Ministry of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development

BC Parks

BC Support Unit Vancouver Island Centre

BioTalent Canada

Boys & Girls Club of Central Vancouver Island

Campbell River & District Chamber of Commerce

Canadian Biosphere Reserves Association CEWIL Canada

City of Port Alberni

Comox Valley Regional District Colleges and Institutes Canada Co-operative Education & Work-Integrated Learning Innovation Hub Council for the Advancement of Native Development Officers

Cowichan Sportsplex Crossroads International District of Lantzville Employment and Social Development Canada Environment and Climate Change Canada Environmental Careers Organization Canada Fisheries and Oceans Canada Genome BC

Gitksan Watershed Authorities Greater Vancouver Water District Growing Opportunities Farm Community Co-operative The Hamber Foundation High-Country Consulting Ltd. Hoovest Enterprises Corp.

Island Health Islands Trust Council

Jim and Janice Parker Foundation Inc.

K’ómoks First Nation

Moose Hide Campaign Development Society

Mowi Canada West

Nanaimo Association for Community Living Greater Nanaimo Chamber of Commerce Nanoose Economic Development Corporation

National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council Networks of Centres of Excellence of Canada New Digital Research Infrastructure Organization NutritionLink Services Society

One Cup AI Oregon State University Pacific Salmon Foundation Partnership for Water Sustainability in British Columbia

Recreation and Parks Association of the Yukon Regional District of Nanaimo Sage Initiative

SFU – BCcampus Shred Capital Sitka Foundation

Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History

The Saint John's Legacy Foundation STEM ACES Education Inc.

Sustainable Capacity Foundation That Planted Life ThermoFisher Scientific Inc. Tourism Nanaimo Town of Qualicum Beach Tula Foundation

University of Northern British Columbia University of Waterloo Urban Systems

Vancouver Foundation Wei Wai Kum First Nation Wiser Projects Inc. WorkSafeBC World Wildlife Fund Canada