Each student will receive $50,000 per year for up to three years to pursue research that will lead to the growth of the global knowledge base.

"York University continues to attract graduates who are leaders in their field and whose research contributes to Canada's competitiveness on the world stage,” said York President and Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri. “The federal government's Vanier scholarship program helps position Canada as a global centre for higher learning."

The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship program is designed to support doctoral students who demonstrate leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies in the social sciences and humanities, natural sciences and engineering.

The scholarships are administered through Canada’s three federal granting agencies, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC).

The following York students were selected from 166 other recipients:

Kristine Fitzgerald from York’s Faculty of Health will investigate racial bias in the Canadian courtroom, particularly in cases with Aboriginal defendants.

Issac Osuoka from the Faculty of Environmental Studies will investigate how the development of formal civil society, through the mushrooming of the non-governmental organization sector, has failed to resolve the contradictions between state and communities in fossil fuel-producing countries in the global south, particularly the Gulf of Guinea.

Lisa Romano-Dwyer from the Faculty of Education will research the ways education in general, and the humanities in particular, ‘cultivate humanity’ as a possible response to resolving school violence. 

Kaley Roosen from the Faculty of Health will study the placebo response to enhance our understanding of context effects and individual difference factors that influence placebo analgesia with the goal of aiding future research involving the administration of pain-reducing drugs.

Rob Stansel from the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies will examine merchant communities and the criminal law in London from 1750 to 1830.  In the context of the present economic crisis, Stansel will investigate how legal institutions and ideologies shaped the expanding global economy of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Samantha Yamada from the Faculty of Health will explore an interactive partnership model as a more effective way to bridge research and practice in the field of child and adolescent mental health.

For more information on the Vanier graduate scholarships, visit www.vanier.gc.ca.

York University is the leading interdisciplinary research and teaching university in Canada. York offers a modern, academic experience at the undergraduate and graduate level in Toronto, Canada’s most international city. The third largest university in the country, York is host to a dynamic academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as more than 200,000 alumni worldwide. York’s 11 faculties and 26 research centres conduct ambitious, groundbreaking research that is interdisciplinary, cutting across traditional academic boundaries. This distinctive and collaborative approach is preparing students for the future and bringing fresh insights and solutions to real-world challenges. York University is an autonomous, not-for-profit corporation.

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