The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) has granted over $3.35 million in fellowships and scholarships to 96 Queen’s graduate students and post-doctoral trainees.

The SSHRC is a board appointed by the federal government to embody the interests of the academic, public and private sectors. The board members’ role is to ensure that the needs of Canadians are met through grants and fellowship programs.

The competition for the SSHRC grant is highly competitive, as it distributes approximately $340 million annually to fund over 8,400 research projects.

Brenda Brouwer, vice-provost and dean of the School of Graduate Studies, told the Journal via email that Queen’s success highlights its students’ potential.

“The success of our graduate students and trainees in this competition speaks to their excellence, their academic accomplishments to date and their extraordinary research potential,” Brouwer said.

“The results of the competition are a reflection of the research intensity that Queen’s prides itself on — it is an excellent achievement and testament to the scholarship of our research trainees.”

These fellowships are granted in order to help support emerging researchers and leaders to develop academically, according to the SSHRC website. The SSHRC grant recipients from Queen’s are conducting research on an array of topics including bullying, social anxiety and eating alone.

“The scope of projects is incredible from a Psychoanalytic investigation of religiously motivated violence to Fiscal policy in the financial crisis and the aftermath to studying the Effects of multimedia instruction and active learning classrooms on learning quality,” Brouwer said.

Queen’s saw 44 Joseph Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship — Master’s Program winners, 21 Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarships Program — Doctoral Scholarship winners, 27 SSHRC Doctoral Fellowships Program winners and four SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellows.

“[Queen’s is] among 5 Ontario universities that each received more than 90 awards,” Brouwer said.

Brouwer added that there’s been an improvement in Queen’s performance.

“Last year Queen’s received 78 SSHRC CGSM, CGSD, Doctoral Fellowships and Post-doctoral fellowships and this year we received 92, we are very pleased with the results,” she said.