Â鶹´«Ã½ÍøÕ¾

The Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) announced recipients of the latest Partnership Engage Grants competition, including a total of $73,782 awarded to three Â鶹´«Ã½ÍøÕ¾ researchers. 

Partnership Engage Grants (PEG) provide short-term and timely support for partnered research activities between researchers and single partner organizations from the public, private or non-profit sector.  

Supporting informal caregivers through hospital-at-home programs 

Geneviève Arsenault-Lapierre, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Family Medicine, is partnering with Proche aidance Québec on a project that seeks to better understand the diverse experiences of informal caregivers supporting loved ones receiving hospital-at-home (HaH) care, a model that allows patients to receive hospital-level treatment in their own homes. As Quebec moves toward expanding HaH through several pilot projects, the research aims to ensure that the specific needs of different caregiver populations are meaningfully integrated into the model’s deployment. 

Using a participatory approach, the project will bring together informal caregivers, community partners, and HaH practitioners through a series of focus groups. By examining how social, cultural, family, and economic factors shape caregivers’ experiences, the project will identify gaps in current support practices to improve them. The findings will help inform more equitable, inclusive, and sustainable HaH care while supporting Proche aidance Québec’s advocacy efforts on behalf of caregivers across the province. 

Examining the cultural impact of Montreal’s Centaur Theatre 

Erin Hurley, Professor in the Department of English, will lead a project exploring the rich history and cultural significance of Montreal’s Centaur Theatre as it approaches its 60th anniversary in 2028. As both a producing house, that creates original productions, and a presenting house, that provides its stages to other companies, Centaur has played a central role in Quebec’s English-language theatre (ELTQ) and Montreal’s broader cultural ecosystem. Despite its long-standing prominence and extensive archives, the theatre has never been the subject of sustained research. 

Hurley’s project will examine how Centaur has reflected, shaped, and sustained a minority-language cultural community while engaging majority-language audiences essential to its survival. The study aims to increase scholarly and public understanding of Centaur’s activities and of ELTQ as a cultural sector. The creation of a digital web archive will highlight the theatre’s significance and support its strategic positioning in a competitive, post-pandemic arts landscape. The project will produce transferable programming models for other minority-language and intercultural theatres across Canada. Anniversary-season programming and future curatorial choices will also be informed by project outputs.   

Co-constructing pedagogical transformation in India 

India faces a growing skills gap, leaving millions of students unprepared for life after schooling and meaningful work. Traditional approaches such as technical training programs often confine youth to task-specific or precarious jobs. Transforming learning across a large education system, however, is a complex challenge. 

Joseph Levitan, Associate Professor in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education and Associate Dean of the Faculty of Education, is partnering with Udhyam Learning Foundation—a leading Indian non-profit that has collaborated with the State of Uttarakhand—to implement a novel program focused on developing competencies for meaningful lives and work. Central to the program is teacher capacity building, a foundational component of sustainable educational change.    

Using Participatory Action Research, the team will co-create knowledge with teachers, community members, and policymakers to develop sustainable systems that support pedagogical transformation. The findings will shed light on teacher experiences, professional identities, and the practical challenges of implementing innovation-focused education in the Global South. By understanding and addressing these dynamics, the project aims to inform policy and practice in India and provide lessons for other regions seeking to transform teaching and learning.