CAPILANO UNIVERSITY
CapU awarded federal research grant to support research-creation in early childhood education

Capilano University (CapU) is pleased to announce it has been awarded an Insight grant of $300,000 from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

The three-year grant supports early childhood educators, students and faculty in pursuing important research in their field. The initiative will create new understandings of research-creation as a research approach and ecology of practice in early childhood education, investigate the role of the atelierista, and develop the potential of the early childhood art studio.

Leading the initiative are CapU faculty Sylvia Kind as principal investigator and Tatiana Zakharova-Goodman as co-lead, in collaboration with University of Calgary researcher Alexandra Berry and McMaster University researcher Stephanie Springgay, also as co-leads.

"This prestigious grant recognizes the field-leading research and scholarship taking place in our Early Childhood Care and Education department under the leadership of Sylvia Kind and will support significant new advancements in the field," said Brad Martin, dean, Faculty of Education, Health & Human Development.

The research takes place in four locations: Capilano University Children's Centre, Fulmer Family Children's Centre, Britannia Childcare on East 7th in Vancouver, and the Re-Imagine Centre in Calgary.

The recently opened Fulmer Family Children's Centre and the Capilano University Children's Centre are not-for-profit childcare centres operated by CapU on its main campus in North Vancouver and licensed by the province. With a combined capacity of 143 children from birth to kindergarten, the centres are academic laboratories supporting course curriculum and experiential, practice-based classroom learning for the University's Department of Early Childhood Care and Education students.

CapU offers diploma and degree programs in early childhood care and education and is internationally recognized for its innovative teaching and research in the field. 

SSHRC is Canada's major federal agency responsible for funding post-secondary research and training in the social sciences and humanities. Insight grants are open to both emerging and established scholars and support research initiatives of two to five years.