ECU Researchers Lead, Collaborate on Projects Totalling More Than $6.3M

Faculty researchers at Emily Carr University of Art + Design (ECU) are leading or collaborating on research projects which have been awarded funding totalling more than $6.3 million.

Spanning disciplines, geographies and institutions, more than a dozen projects will bring a total of nearly $600,000 in direct funding to ECU through the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) College and Community Innovation program, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s (SSHRC) Insight Grants, Insight Development Grants and Partnership Grants.

“At ECU, our commitment to practice-based research means our faculty and students generate knowledge by making, creating prototypes, artworks and designs that open new possibilities for crucial sectors ranging from Indigenous initiatives, immersive technologies and material innovation to social justice, ecological sustainability and the built environment,” says Justin Langlois, ECU’s Associate Vice-President of Research + Dean of Graduate Studies.

“ECU researchers spark cultural dialogue and contribute in enduring and invaluable ways to urgent issues at a global scale. These exceptional practitioners are also mentoring tomorrow’s leaders at the highest level, providing a world-class example of what can be accomplished through forward-thinking collaboration.”

National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) College and Community Innovation Program

Five projects were recently awarded ECU’s Mobilize Grants worth more than $93,000, for a total of 12 projects to date. An upcoming information session will be scheduled in Fall, 2025, to provide more details for the public and ECU community.

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Peter Bussigel was awarded $10,000 for CDMLA Research-Creation: Reanimating the Archive.

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Keith Doyle was awarded $21,000 for Material Matters: Texture Lab – Material and Visual Poetics of LDM Technologies in Architectural Product.

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Laura Kozak was awarded $21,686 for Water Equity and Reconciliation Lab: Integrating a One Water Approach in the City of Vancouver’s Water Management Work.

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Daphne Plessner was awarded $15,391 for Near Dwellers as Indwellers: Exploring New Approaches to Co-habiting with Wildlife in Urban Spaces.

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Daniel Wildberger was awarded $25,000 for Birdseed: Animating Bird Behaviours to Enhance Immersion in Nature-Based XR Games, with Cemre Demiralp named as co-applicant.

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

Insight Development Grants

• Nick Conbere was awarded $74,973 for the two-year project Drawing Ecologies: Toward an Ethics of Care for the Urban Tree Canopy, with Cameron Cartiere and Mimi Gellman named as co-applicants and co-investigators.

• Hélène Day Fraser was named as co-applicant on a University-of-Toronto-led grant worth $74,930 for the two-year project Meaningful Production: Muskox Wool in Nunavik.

• Hélène Day Fraser was also named as co-investigator on a $284,505 grant for a project led by Simon Fraser University titled Moving Matter: Organic Encounters.

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Sunny Nestler was awarded $74,897 for the two-year project Saltwater City: Shaping Diasporic Spaces Through Immersive Media and Extended Reality, with Janet Wang named as co-applicant and co-investigator.

Insight Grants

• Ruth Beer was awarded $368,337 for the four-year project Land, Sea, Sky: Digital Infrastructure and Transition in Northern Landscapes and Communities. Lindsay McIntyre was named as co-investigator, while ECU alum Jeneen Frei Njootli was named as collaborator. Project funding will be partly directed toward the recruitment of 16 student research assistants over the life of the project.

• Laura Kozak was named as co-investigator on When Strong Currents Meet: Swimming in the Waters of Transformative Social Innovation Pedagogies, a project led by the University of British Columbia. Over the course of the four-year project, funds from its $393,150 total award will be transferred to ECU to support student research assistants and other project costs.

Partnership Grants

• Mark Igloliorte was added as a co-investigator on a University-of-Winnipeg-led grant totalling $2,500,000 for the four-year project The Space Between Us: Col(lab)orations Within Indigenous, Circumpolar and Pacific Places Through Digital Media Design. $50,000 in grant funds will be transferred to ECU to support artists’ residencies, workshops, student support and travel.

• Éléonore Goldberg was added as a co-investigator on the University-of-Victoria-led grant totalling $2,499,998 for the seven-year project Visual Storytelling and Graphic Art in Genocide and Human Rights Education.