Federal funding will help enable researchers at Seneca Polytechnic to investigate potential solutions for issues around food insecurity, gender-based violence and textile waste.
Three projects from the Seneca Centre for Health and Social Innovation are receiving nearly $1.2 million in cash and in-kind commitments from the College and Community Social Innovation Fund (CCSIF), administered by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).
"The collaborative projects funded by these grants will ultimately help address serious matters that affect every part of Canada, and we are grateful for the continued support of NSERC and our other funding partners," said Ben Rogers, Dean, Seneca Applied Research. "Receiving approvals for three projects in the same year reflects a great recognition of the value that our applied research activity provides for students, faculty, industry partners and our wider community."
"The federal research funding agencies and the Canada Foundation for Innovation are proud to stand by the brilliant minds that have cemented Canada's reputation as a global leader in research," said Alejandro Adam, President, NSERC and Chair, Canada Research Coordinating Committee. "Today's announcement further demonstrates Canada's unwavering commitment toward its thriving research ecosystem. Through scholarships and fellowships for the next generation of scientists and engineers, research grants for excellence in social sciences and humanities, and funding to ensure researchers at colleges and universities have access to cutting-edge facilities and tools, these investments will support the pursuit of ideas and innovations that will offer social, economic and environmental benefits for Canadians."
The projects include partnerships with:
- Counterpoint Counselling and Education Co-operative and York Region Centre for Community Safety to interview survivors of gender-based violence to better understand high-risk behaviours that may lead to abuse
- Fashion Takes Action to build on Seneca research into textile waste by creating a digital platform that will connect clothing manufacturers and recycling companies, allowing them to more easily create circular economies
- Just Vertical to monitor hydroponic vertical gardens at eight field sites in the Greater Toronto Area and northern British Columbia to learn more about their potential use in communal living settings as a means of addressing food insecurity
CCSIF supports community innovation projects undertaken by academic researchers and their partners in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors. Its grants are managed by NSERC, in collaboration with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences Humanities Research Council of Canada.
Established in 2022, the Seneca Centre for Health and Social Innovation directly connects community partners with students and faculty to develop, enhance and validate innovations that lead to better health and social outcomes in communities.
