Nourishing community & connection 5€¦ · community & connection 13 Amplifying Indigenous...

Committed to community

RESEARCH AND GRADUATE STUDIES 2018–2019RESEARCH AND GRADUATE STUDIES 2018–2019

Nourishing community & connection 5

Amplifying Indigenous research 13 Local research, local solutions 7

2 Thompson Rivers University Research and Graduate Studies | Annual Report 2018-2019

Message from the Associate Vice-President, Research and Graduate StudiesAs an open access research university, TRU boasts a comprehensive set of assets—including trades training, Open Learning, TRU World, career and vocational laddering opportunities, and outstanding faculty in all the traditional academic areas. Research, broadly defined, is central to our mission, ensuring local and regional relevance, a commitment to community engagement, a continued leadership role in scholarship with impact nationally and internationally—while, at the same time, positioning the successful alignment of research growth within TRU’s foundational goal of supporting student success.

Toward these ends, we are intent on demonstrating national leadership in providing equitable access to undergraduate research experiences for our students. True high impact learning means research-informed learning. During the last year, TRU received a commendation from the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities for our innovative integration of student research training. In addition, and notably, our Indigenous scholarship training program, the Knowledge Makers, won national recognition by receiving the Alan Blizzard Award; and TRU Professor Donald Lawrence was recognized internationally by the Council on Undergraduate Research as the top humanities undergraduate research mentor in North America.

We are equally proud of our work with local community research partners, particularly the United Way, the City of Kamloops, and Kamloops Innovation in developing the Xchange Lab as a new social innovation hub. In the spirit of inter-institutional collaboration, we have sought to extend our reach by developing our research coalition with the University of British Columbia, Okanagan (UBCO) and the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC). Together we have formed complementary research partnerships with our host cities, seeking to address issues of common concern by developing research capacity with a regional lens in natural disaster management, including flood/fire/drought prediction and response, interface fuel management, evacuation management, snowpack monitoring, community health and ecosystem impacts; rural and regional health (including mental health), the opioid crisis, and food security; social innovation and development, early childhood education, place promotion and tourism development; and a host of problems related to homelessness and affordable housing.

TRU aspires toward a civically engaged approach to research and research training, seeking maximum impact on quality of life, culture, environmental sustainability, public health, and economic prosperity for our local and regional communities.

This annual report is offered as a reflection on and a celebration of the last 12 months—on how the research efforts and accomplishments of our faculty, students, and community research partners are continuing to make a difference locally, regionally, nationally and globally.

TRU | RESEARCH

Dr. Will Garrett-Petts, Associate Vice-President of Research and Graduate Studies.

3

COMMIT TED TO COMMUNIT Y

FEATURE STORIES CONTENTS

Message from the Associate Vice-President, Research and Graduate Studies ...................................................2

The hype about hypergraphs ...................................................... 4

Indigenous experiences of dementia ...................................... 4

Nourishing community & connection .................................... 5

Local research for local solutions: Surviving breast cancer in Kamloops ..................................... 7

A community enriched & informed by research ............... 8

Food security, national park research added to Network .............................................................................. 9

Research supports children living with HIV ....................... 9

Studying health supports for Syrian refugees ................. 10

The science behind exercise and aging ................................. 10

The lives of rural older men ........................................................ 11

Improving access to justice .......................................................... 11

How well do skilled immigrants adapt? ................................ 11

Using seaweed to combat climate change ............................12

Amplifying Indigenous research ..............................................13

Echolocation a deep dive into the heart ...............................14

Navigating the complexities of non-profit and charity law...................................................................................14

Collaborating to find solutions .................................................15

Better tasting beer? It’s all in the genome ............................15

Mapping the evolution of genomes ........................................16

Making knowledge ...........................................................................17

World class research ........................................................................19

Healing through everyday acts of kinship .........................20

Coteaching for STEM professional learning ......................20

The art of science ..............................................................................21

Canada’s inequitable parental leave policies ..................... 22

Gatecrasher a “tiny miracle” ...................................................... 23

Unique glimpse into Russian history .................................... 23

17 Making knowledge

5

Nourishing community & connection

13 Amplifying Indigenous research

Thompson Rivers University sits on the traditional and unceded lands of the Tk’emlups te Secwepemc within Secwepemc’ulucw, the traditional territory of the Secwepemc people.


Office of Research and Graduate StudiesThompson Rivers University 805 TRU Way, Kamloops, BC V2C 0C8

tru.ca/researchDr. Will Garrett-Petts, Associate Vice-President

Troy Fuller, Director

Dr. Lincoln Smith, Director, Research Partnerships & Enterprise Creation

Sukh Heer Matonovich, Associate Director, Student Research & Public Enagement

Thompson Rivers University is grateful for the support it receives from the Research Support Fund. The Fund provides a portion of the costs associated with managing the research funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

© 2019 | Printed in Canada Produced by:

Thompson Rivers University Print Services Return undeliverable Canadian addresses to:TRU Research & Graduate Studies 805 TRU Way | CT 225 Kamloops, BC V2C 0C8

Dr. Anita Sharma, Manager, Research Services

Dr. Megan Prins, Research Grants Development Officer

Alana Lemke, Divisional Assistant

Dominique Hazel, Coordinator, Student Research & Public Engagement

Danna Bach, Communications

Debbie Krebs, Ethics & Compliance

WRITER & EDITORDanna Bach

LAYOUT & DESIGN Julie Hall

TRU | RESEARCH

Indigenous experiences of dementiaWhen studies exploring Indigenous people and dementia first surfaced in the 1990s, it was thought, at that time, Indigenous communities were at a reduced risk.

Today scholars know that is not the case, and that the risks of dementia correspond to social determinants of health, including income, education, employment, food security or insecurity, housing, gender, race and Indigenous status. For her new book, Indigenous Peoples and Dementia: New Understandings of Memory Loss and Memory Care, Dr. Wendy Hulko sought out authors who could contribute to a fulsome understanding of Indigenous experiences of dementia and dementia care - both locally and globally.

Hulko and her co-editors Danielle Wilson (formerly of Interior Health) and Dr. Jean Balestrery invited researchers, practitioners, graduate students, and Elders to participate in this book. It includes Elders’ unique teaching stories that serve as models for how to address memory loss within Indigenous communities. The book provides examples of ways to incorporate Indigenous perspectives on care and prevention in both research and practice.

“All the contributors in this book are contributing to decolonization and reconciliation, and are conducting research that is collaborative, and based on community partnerships that focus on advancing cultural safety,” she said.

THE HYPE ABOUT HYPERGRAPHS

Graph theory is charting new territory as it is increasingly being used in life science, communication, artificial intelligence and computing science.

Dr. Qinglin (Roger) Yu, professor in the department of Mathematics and Statistics and the director of the Centre for Optimization and Data Science, digs deep into the uses of graphs and hypergraphs, studying their potential for applications in gene sequencing, communication security, social network and management science.

Studying the problem of matching extensions in graphs and hypergraphs, Yu expands knowledge on graph factors, subgraph extension and connections to other topics for research and training of highly qualified personnel.

Yu’s research will establish closer connections to other graph theory problems, and the project allows students to get involved in creating, and experiencing rigorous research.

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Nourishing community & connectionAn experience that only TRU can offer — that’s how Dr. Courtney Mason described a research project that saw horticulture students working with isolated Indigenous communities in Northern Ontario to learn about and address issues of food security.

So often, opportunities to engage in research are reserved for graduate students, or for students in traditional fields of the sciences, social sciences and humanities. But because TRU transitioned from a community college and vocational school, to an open access research university, its students are unique, and the skills they possess have significant value to community engaged researchers.

Mason, a Canada Research Chair in Rural Livelihoods and Sustainable Communities, is a co-investigator on a

SSHRC Insight Grant with the University of Ottawa’s Dr. Michael Robidoux and TRU’s Natalie Clark. Their project, “Fostering Land Based Food Initiatives as a Local Food Security Strategy in Northern Indigenous Communities,” examines grassroots community-based food initiatives in four First Nations and Métis communities in Northern Ontario and the Northwest Territories.

As part of the project, Mason and Robidoux were to recruit research assistants, but the students needed

specific skills that would enable them to go into the communities with sufficient practical expertise. Knowing this, and with the support of instructors in the two-year horticulture program, Mason walked a short distance from his office to the TRU greenhouses to speak with students and encourage them to consider this research experience as a practicum placement.

James Walkinshaw said he responded to Mason’s request before the end of his presentation. Shay Paul wasn’t far behind.



“I have witnessed issues with intergenerational trauma in my own community here in Kamloops, and what Courtney talked about with these projects spoke to me. I thought that maybe if I go out to Ontario and work in those communities, it might teach me a bit about myself and ways that I can help heal my own community,” said Paul, who is from the Tk’emlups First Nation.

The students were flown into the remote communities of Kasabonika Lake First Nation and Wapekeka First Nation— almost 600 kilometres Northwest of Thunder Bay, ON.

“This was such a huge opportunity to involve students who have the practical skills that the communities have requested. After listening to what communities have identified as localized needs, we knew that gardening and greenhouse development were very important due to pressing food access issues,” Mason said.

Walkinshaw was motivated to participate due to his own passion for growing food.

“Everyone should have access to good food. Period,” he said, adding that his experience in the communities was eye opening.

“It’s a tough go up there for sure, and I wish I could have done more. I wish I could have stayed the whole summer to see the first crop,” he said. Despite the practical challenges that result from being

so isolated, community members were warm and welcoming, and eager to work alongside the students.

The four legs of flights to this remote region of Ontario was only Paul’s second time on a plane, and while it was a big change from home and surprising in many ways, it also felt like home, too.

“The terrain reminded me of when I go hunting with my uncle, out where it’s isolated, out on the real land. It reminded me of the good parts of home,” she said.

Walkinshaw and Paul spent three weeks in the two communities working alongside Robidoux, where they focused on what Paul referred to as “off-the-grid gardening,” which implements recycling into the way people garden. Off-the-grid gardening requires you to look at tools, containers, and scraps in new ways to allow you to garden more efficiently. The researchers hosted workshops with children and adults, and helped to fix and repair community garden areas, including digging trenches for water drainage, and restructuring greenhouses.

“You don’t need a bunch of fancy expensive material flown in to garden in your home, and I believe that many

people were surprised about how accessible growing your own food actually can be,” Paul said.

“We also had the opportunity to engage with a lot of the children in those communities who became interested in what we were up to, and I believe that they will bring that home to their families and share what they learned, and they may even renew the spark of home gardening in the community.”

The experience was transformational for Paul, so much so that she has switched her area of study to social work, and intends to learn more about agricultural therapy and how home gardening impacts a person’s mental health.

This project is a clear example of one of TRU’s unique strengths, added Mason.

“Having students with this kind of knowledge was so important. Larger universities sometimes don’t have students like ours with the same skills and the same orientations. So, in this case, this is wonderful, and demonstrates that all programs have the potential to make important contributions, and that all students have the chance to be involved in community-based learning and research.”

TRU | RESEARCH

“Everyone should

have access to good

food. Period.”

“You don’t need a bunch of fancy expensive material

flown in to garden in your home, and I believe that

many people were surprised about how accessible

growing your own food actually can be.”

THE COMMUNIT YDespite some of the continent’s

highest rates of chronic disease

and food insecurity, many of

the First Nations peoples of

Northwestern Ontario

remain intimately tied to

their cultures, languages,

lands and ecosystems

THE CHALLENGEThe rural Indigenous

communities of the Nishanawbe

Aski region in Northwestern

Ontario face tremendous health

and food access concerns, in

part due to their isolation and

the limited health care services

available to them

7

Local research for local solutions: Surviving breast cancer in KamloopsWhat if it is possible to improve outcomes and patient experience for people with breast cancer, and what if it could be done while costing the health care system less?

Jennifer Edgecombe is a clinical exercise physiologist with the City of Kamloops whose clients live with chronic disease and have been prescribed exercise as part of their rehabilitation and/or disease management strategy.

Cancer, she said, is a common “co-morbidity,” meaning when new clients come into her program, they might have diabetes or heart disease and an additional diagnosis of cancer.

“I just haven’t seen the same level of support and care within our public medical system for people with cancer that I see with a lot of other chronic diseases,” Edgecombe said.

This knowledge has fueled her passion for finding ways to support those recovering from cancer in the community, and led her to TRU, where she joined forces with Dr. Ehsan Latif and Dr. Melba D’Souza to find answers.

Along with Dr. Todd Ring and Dr. Thinn Pwint from Royal Inland Hospital, this research team is working together on a project to assess the financial burden of acute oncology emergencies, versus preventive community care in the form of a supportive cancer care centre.

Latif, a professor of economics, is exploring the costs associated with caring for those undergoing cancer treatment in acute care facilities, specifically with regards to managing the side effects of cancer treatment. D’Souza, an assistant professor

in the School of Nursing, meanwhile, is assessing the breast cancer initiatives on patient-oriented outcomes and caring for patient engagement in research.

“I believe that surviving breast cancer treatment is the beginning of a lifelong healing process. Breast cancer survivors face physical, emotional, social, and financial concerns. They have to have a better transition to work, care for health concerns, engagement in healthy lifestyles, and reconnection with the new body image,” said D’Souza, adding that while the survival rates have dramatically increased through the years, with 87 per cent of women, and 79 per cent of men surviving for more than five years following diagnosis, challenges post-treatment still exist. “We’d like to develop a working model for patient engagement, care, and quality of life that mirrors the sociocultural lives of people in Kamloops,” she said, explaining that this research will drive a holistic and person-centred care approach.

Jennifer Edgecombe

“Change is often driven by patient

reported outcome measures, but we

have a finite number of dollars that

can be spent on healthcare, so if we

show how to better utilize those finite

dollars, we might see change.”


“Research can sometimes be a vehicle for change, and knowing this I approached TRU with this idea,” said Edgecombe, who is part of a non-profit organization called Give Cancer the Finger, which is raising funds for the development of a cancer supportive care centre.

“Change is often driven by patient reported outcome measures, but we have a finite number of dollars that can be spent on healthcare, so if we show how to better utilize those finite dollars, we might see change,” Edgecombe added.

Historically, the type of services offered by supportive care centre would have been provided in a family medical office, but due to a lack of general practitioners and an acute care system that is overburdened, the needs of patients are not being met, said Edgecombe. “We see this research as a way of decreasing the burden on our public health system.”

Bringing all these experts to the table to solve a community-based research question was facilitated through TRU’s new Health Research Cluster Fund, which works to align researchers, community groups, and Interior Health professionals to solve questions of immediate relevance to patients. Four other groups were also awarded funds through this unique program, developed in consultation with Interior Health, and founded on the notion that local research is necessary to develop local solutions.

A COMMUNIT Y ENRICHED & INFORMED BY RESEARCH

In 2016, TRU and the United Way Thompson Nicola Cariboo embarked on a partnership designed to facilitate the exchange of knowledge between faculty and student researchers and the community.

This year, TRU, the United Way, the City of Kamloops and Kamloops Innovation have launched the Xchange Lab, a social innovation hub co-located with the United Way. The Lab features shared workshop, meeting, event, and working space, as well as a university-community art gallery. It is designed to address the most pressing social issues including poverty, hunger, addiction, mental health, isolation, and homelessness together with all levels of government, the business sector, the health authority, non-profit and community organizations, university researchers and their students.

TRU has further committed to supporting community-based research through its Community-Driven Research Fund, which provides grants to researchers that have partnered with community groups, and creates opportunities for student to become involved in research.

To date 25 projects have been supported by this fund for an institutional commitment of more than $60,000.

Living healthy lessens the burden on our public health system

9


Food security, national park research added to NetworkDr. Courtney Mason has spent 15 years researching the histories of Canada’s national parks and the impacts that management strategies have on local Indigenous communities.

While studying the impacts on the Indigenous communities who were displaced in the formation of parks, the Canada Research Chair in Rural Livelihoods and Sustainable Communities also began examining food security.

Mason’s research programs unite in his new role as academic theme lead, member of the research management committee, and primary investigator of a project hosted by the Canadian Mountain Network (CMN), which is funded through the Government of Canada’s Networks of Centres of Excellence program.

The development of the Network coordinates Canada’s mountain research agenda, making it interdisciplinary and welcoming to non-academics; the goal is to improve outcomes and enable informed decision-making in an era of reconciliation.

“This is something that Indigenous perspectives and world views have championed for a long time,” says Mason. “This promotes a much more holistic way of looking at these challenges, which has not always been welcomed in some science and social science research.”

Research supports children living with HIVSchool children living with HIV in Northern Uganda face stigma that can lead to school dropout, depression, and thoughts of suicide.

This spring, thanks to a $600,000 Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Project Grant, Dr. Bonnie Fournier, associate professor in the School of Nursing, went to Uganda where she established relationships and met key stakeholders to raise awareness of her project that seeks to incorporate local cultural knowledge into the classroom to lessen the stigma of living with HIV.

The project is in partnership with the Tochi Youth Resource Centre, and involves 12 schools in the Omoro District of Northern Uganda.

This region is recovering from 25 years of civil war. In 2006, people began to return to their communities, but the transfer of local cultural knowledge from Elder to youth had been lost.

“The stigma around HIV is a human rights issue. It’s unfair, and it causes children to want to kill themselves, and to me that is a tragedy and that is something that calls to me,” Fournier said.

During the next four years Fournier and her team will help to bring Elders back into the classrooms to tell their folktales using art — drawing, painting, dance, and theatre.

“The stigma around HIV is a human rights issue. It’s unfair, and it causes children to want to kill themselves, and to me that is a tragedy and that is something that calls to me.”

Courtney Mason


“With this equipment, we will see how well arteries

dilate, or whether there is some dysfunction.”

The science behind exercise and agingThe Extracellular Vesicles and Endothelial Dynamics (EVED) Lab is a novel research facility in which whole body human physiology, human cell function and ‘omics’ approaches are applied to a cluster of projects that explore the impacts of exercise at the cellular level.

Under the direction of Dr. Mark Rakobowchuk, associate professor of biology, the lab houses the tools necessary to advance research that will give scientists and clinicians a better understanding of disease processes and responses to exercise and aging.

“At this stage, we know exercise works to improve health and performance, but we’re really now at the point where we’re figuring out what works best for an individual,” Rakobowchuk said.

The lab is equipped with a metabolic cart that enables precise measurements of exercise intensity and prescription. State-of-the-art ultrasound equipment will enable Rakobowchuk’s team to assess arterial stiffness and dilation, along with real-time high-resolution blood flow to muscles during exercise, and a flow cytometer can be used to identify rare blood cells like progenitor or blood stem cells.

“With this equipment, we will see how well arteries dilate, or whether there is some dysfunction. Dilation is poor in people who have blood vessel damage, which is one of the best predictors of cardiovascular disease.”

Mark Rakobowchuk

STUDYING HEALTH SUPPORTS FOR SYRIAN REFUGEES

Since 2015, British Columbia has welcomed over 4,000 Syrian refugees, three-quarters of whom are women and children.

Dr. Joyce O’Mahony, associate professor in the School of Nursing, and her research team seek to understand the social factors that support the well-being of Syrian refugee mothers, such as social support, gender issues, education, language and literacy needs, and broader factors of immigration policy and resettlement practices.

The investigation will uncover complexities and increase understanding of interrelated factors shaping the path of refugee mothers post-migration. This knowledge can improve social services and supports for Syrian mothers.

O’Mahony and her team will follow 50 mothers over 18 months, with their findings contributing to long-term goals of developing culturally appropriate support services for refugee mothers.

Joyce O’Mahony

TRU | RESEARCH

11

Improving access to justiceMental health courts were designed to improve access to justice for people with mental health and addiction issues, and Dr. Ruby Dhand’s research explores whether or not they’re effective.

“It’s challenging to hear the narratives of people who have lived experiences with mental health and addictions, as they often end up in the criminal justice system which is not appropriate. It’s very exciting for me to have these resources that will allow me to do the empirical and quantitative research about Canada’s mental health courts,” said Dhand, an associate professor of law who is

supported in her work by a SSHRC Insight Development Grant.

While mental health courts have become more common across Canada, with 22 nationwide, we still need greater insights as to what — if any — impacts they’re having on improving access to justice. The goal of her research is to prompt law reform and to inform policy recommendations.

“I’m very honoured and humbled to have the opportunity to do this work thanks to the SSHRC grant. I’m very passionate about mental health law, and especially about access to justice, and it’s very evident that people with mental health and addictions issues are often denied access to justice.”

Ruby Dhand

“I’m very honoured and humbled to have the opportunity

to do this work thanks to the SSHRC grant.”

The lives of rural older menLittle is known about older rural men’s experiences of aging or how they navigate the transitions and challenges of later life. A diverse group of social work researchers have developed a project to explore the role of social relationships in the lives of rural older Indigenous, immigrant, and gay/bisexual/transgender men.

This community-based participatory research project is led by TRU researchers Silvia Straka and Andrei Ouspenski, co-researcher Michael A. Hart from the University of Calgary, and Manitoba-based community researcher Albert McLeod, and will be supported by a Community Advisory Committee. The older men are active partners and co-researchers in the study.

Receiving cameras, the older men will take pictures representing their experiences of aging, with a focus on relational aspects. Photos will be shared within each group, with participants discussing and identifying common themes, and collectively creating an art installation and drafting a report aimed at policy-makers. By developing inclusive research that accurately reflects these experiences, the team hopes to open up new academic, community, and policy-based conversations with older men about their lives.

How well do skilled immigrants adapt?The Canadian knowledge economy depends on its ability to attract and retain highly-skilled immigrants, but how satisfied are these immigrants when they join Canadian knowledge economy job market?

Supported by a SSHRC Insight Development Grant, Dr. Muhammad Mohiuddin, associate professor of International Business, will explore the psychological, socio-cultural and organizational factors of cultural adaptation and job satisfaction among the highly-skilled, self-initiated expatriate immigrants in Canada.

Mohiuddin aims to develop an integrative model showing the relationships between the factors that lead to cultural adaptation, which in turn leads to individual satisfaction at work.

“This model will effectively help businesses, government organizations and the various professional associations to attract, recruit, nurture and retain highly skilled immigrant workers,” said Mohiuddin, who noted that several sectors will find this information valuable, including the Canadian high-tech sector, which has been severely affected by a shortage of skilled labour.



TRU | RESEARCH

John Church

Using seaweed to combat climate changeSince his arrival at TRU a decade ago, Dr. John Church has noted a rising sense of urgency related to developing novel solutions to combat climate change.

Ten years ago, the BC Regional Innovation Chair in Cattle Industry Sustainability understood that his research program would address sustainability on multiple levels — economic, environmental, and livestock — but what has become clear over the past several years is how rapidly the impacts of climate change have sharpened his focus.

“Whether we’re talking about wildfires impacting cattle from the smoke, or the loss of grasslands, or about how heatwaves and heat stress are impacting cattle, we know that changes are coming, and that has really pushed my research forward into projects that allow the industry to adapt,” he said.

One of his latest research projects targets climate change head on, and finds him working with cattle producers on Vancouver Island to integrate seaweed into cattle feed. This project uses invasive aquatic species, and shows

potential for significantly reducing the production of methane. Not only is the seaweed showing potential for reducing methane, Church’s earlier research with Dr. Kinglsey Donkor and Dr. Dipesh Prema, shows that it improves the omega 6/omega 3 ratio in the beef, making for a healthier product.

Scientists in Australia and California have recently been interested in the inclusion of some tropical seaweeds into cattle feed and the impact that diet has on the production of methane. That research is showing a methane reduction of up to 60 per cent in some cases, which is otherwise unheard of. The downside, however, is that the tropical seaweed must be supplemented with molasses as the cattle won’t consume it otherwise. In Church’s study of Vancouver Island cattle, the researchers are harvesting an invasive brown seaweed species, which the cattle are eating freely without palatability issues. Mitacs

provided funding to hire postdoctoral researcher Dr. Spencer Serin to conduct the fieldwork, while the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC has now provided funding to purchase a GreenFeed methane measurement system to quantify greenhouse gasses from individual animals.

“It is well understood that cattle are big producers of methane, so if we can reduce methane production by up to 60 per cent that’s a real game changer. It will allow us to sequester the rest and address climate change directly,” he said. “The potential for what we’ve got here is a little overwhelming. The consequences of unmitigated climate change is really bad for us, but if we start implementing these kinds of novel solutions, we have a chance.”

This decade spent at TRU has been characterized by rich collaboration, something Church said he didn’t plan for.

“This job has been a dream come true, and it wouldn’t have been possible without the tremendous

Continued on page 13;

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Rod McCormick (left)

Amplifying Indigenous researchFive years since he arrived at TRU, Dr. Rod McCormick says we have reached a near “critical mass” of Indigenous researchers, and they are being heard and having impact nationally and internationally.

The BC Regional Innovation Chair in Indigenous Health arrived at TRU from UBC in 2013, and says that his voice has been joined by many others, and this increased capacity in the form of both faculty and student researchers has been key to moving policy and programming forward.

Upon his arrival, McCormick’s goal was to develop a research centre designed to advance Indigenous community wellness by bringing together regional, national and international researchers to work in partnership with communities to address issues of immediate importance, something he achieved this summer when All My Relations received official centre status. Under his direction, the centre acts as a regional, national and international Indigenous family and community wellness research hub to identify, research and further advance and implement best practices

in Indigenous family and community health and healing.

“This centre is about creating a reawakening of traditional ways of healing, and facilitating health for Indigenous families and communities,” he said.

In order to amplify the Indigenous voice in research, McCormick has invested much of his time in capacity building at the local level, and in improving relationships at a federal level.

He has been invited to present twice to Parliament on Indigenous youth suicide prevention and on Indigenous health research, and co-led a national Indigenous health research advocacy group called Kahwatsire, which negotiated 12 successful Canada Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) policy changes, and he has been influential in the Indigenous relations policies of national organizations including the Mental Health Commission of Canada.

Locally, as a key mentor with the Knowledge Makers program, which is designed to create pathways for Indigenous undergraduate students to engage in research, McCormick

has guided students, and watched as they move forward to graduate school. Through this program, a “rich cadre” of Indigenous research assistants has been developed, he said.

“All of this sends a message that research can be grassroots, and anybody can be a researcher—we are all researchers. Our job is to help our communities analyze their knowledge and mobilize it.”

partnerships that I’ve been able to create here,” he said, noting that his research program has benefited from colleagues in chemistry, biology, physics, computing science, geography, economics and his home department natural resource science.

“I’ve also had amazing students that have helped me along the way, students who have surprised me at every turn, and brought an infectious enthusiasm to these problems.”

Continued from page 12;

“This centre is about

creating a reawakening

of traditional ways

of healing…”

Funding for this project has been provided through the Canadian Agricultural Partnership under the Canada-BC Agri-Innovation Program, a program delivered by the Investment Agriculture Foundation of BC.


ECHOLOCATION A DEEP DIVE INTO THE HEART

Like an album of songs that work together in harmony, Karen Hofmann’s latest book, Echolocation, is a collection of stories that speak to the same human tendencies.

The title is a metaphor: Echolocation, in this case, is the process of locating things when one’s perception is compromised, or inadequate. As humans, we send out signals, and through our complicated thought processes and emotions, try to interpret what we hear back.

And as is evidenced throughout the book our interpretations are not always successful.

“I’m trying to deeply explore relationships. The characters in Echolocation are all trying to find their way in relationships that are new or changing,” Hofmann said.

Through her rich career as a novelist, storyteller and teacher, Hofmann said she’s still learning, and growing, and through the process of compiling Echolocation, she learned a lot about herself.

“I learned that I enjoy writing about complexity and ambiguity, and about our ability to just live with something without having to know for sure.

Life gets very painful if we try to understand everything.”

Karen Hofmann

TRU | RESEARCH

Navigating the complexities of non-profit and charity lawGrassroots non-profit organizations are often stretched thin, with barely enough resources to fulfill their mandate to provide services to the communities they serve. But these organizations must still navigate the non-profit and charity legal landscape, with its complicated and often overlapping obligations under federal and provincial law.

Samuel Singer’s research, supported by the Law Foundation of British Columbia, seeks to clarify the legal obligations of non-profit organizations and registered charities, and where they overlap and differ. He plans to share his findings with the non-profits and charities who would value it most.

“We’re mapping out the rules under federal and provincial charity and non-profit law to help organizations make more informed legal decisions about their governance structures and their compliance obligations,” he said. The project will also evaluate recent non-profit law reforms in Canada and determine how they are impacting grassroots organizations.

Two law students are working as research assistants alongside Singer on the research project, and will help disseminate some of the research results into a legal info-sheet throughout the non-profit community. They also plan to host a legal information workshop.

“I love doing research that both responds to practical legal needs and highlights policy issues. I am looking to increase organizations’ access to justice and help identity ongoing charity and non-profit law reform needs,” said Singer, who also has extensive experience as a non-profit and charity lawyer and as a community advocate.

“I love doing research that both responds

to practical legal needs and highlights

policy issues.

15

Breanne McAmmond, research assistant

BET TER TASTING BEER? IT ’S ALL IN THE GENOME

TRU biology professor Dr. Jonathan Van Hamme is putting the micro in microbrewery.

Working with Vancouver’s Parallel 49 Brewing Company and supported by an NSERC Engage Grant, Van Hamme is joined by Dr. Eric Bottos and undergraduate student Breanne McAmmond to study genetics of yeast cultures used to produce one of Parallel 49’s most popular, yet most difficult brews. Most beer requires a single yeast strain. Parallel’s unique brew uses two, making it costly and difficult to get consistent flavour. Despite its popularity, production ceased due to the time, energy and expense it required.

Enter Van Hamme and his TRUGen Lab, with tools and expertise to determine how these yeast strains interact and whether one yeast could do the same work as two.

By understanding how the yeast works, Parallel 49 plans to tailor its brewing processes to re-create that popular, but challenging-to-make beer.


Collaborating to find solutions Working together, the impact we make can be profound.

This notion of collaborating to create strength forms the basis of the Interior University Research Coalition (IURC), a consortium of universities brought together by shared values and concerns, and by a shared desire to pursue collective interests for broader effect.

The IURC is the result of a memorandum of understanding signed in 2017 by TRU, the University of British Columbia – Okanagan, and the University of Northern British Columbia. As partners, the three universities form a core of research and innovation talent in the BC Interior.

Over the last two years, IURC Director Janice Larson says doors are already opening for researchers and for students as a result of this collective.

To encourage collaboration between the universities, TRU launched the initial Tri-University Major Collaborative Research Grants, awarded to four TRU researchers who partnered with colleagues at IURC institutions. The three universities later came together to

develop the IURC Disaster Prevention, Response, Recovery, Resilience (PR3) Grants, aimed at addressing challenges related to climate change and natural disasters. The grants foster the development of inter-institutional and interdisciplinary research teams to address important and complex research questions.

“These grants are focused on areas of concern to all our communities, and to our local, regional and provincial governments,” said Larson. “The Disaster PR3 Grant funds research that will allow us to better plan for, respond to, and recover from natural disasters.”

Enabling partnerships like this has also encouraged better communication between institutions, and greater opportunities for students.

“This is really important for strengthening bonds across the three institutions.”

The current focus of the IURC is the establishment of three complementary Natural Disaster Research Chairs, with one at each institution.

Enabling partnerships

like this has also

encouraged better

communication between

institutions, and

greater opportunities

for students.


TRU | RESEARCH

Top: Dr. Lingling Jin

Mapping the evolution of genomesWhat can advancements in genomic sequencing and computational infrastructure tell us about evolution?

Supported by an NSERC Discovery Grant, Dr. Lingling Jin is exploring the dynamics of evolution at a whole-genome level, with her long-term objective being greater scientific knowledge of genome evolution through modelling and computational analysis.

“My research program focuses on understanding genome evolution not only through conventional methods to study evolutionary mechanisms from gene orders, but also taking into consideration the evolution of transposable elements that serve as an ancestral record in genomes.”

This research is specifically relevant for certain crop species that exhibit rapid rates of evolution. Jin, a computer scientist, will explore six Brassica crop species, which include types of cabbage or mustard seed, to reconstruct the evolutionary pathway of these agronomically important plant species; this will aid in defining and differentiating the genome structure between species.

“This work has the potential to significantly improve our understanding of evolution among species, and provides a novel opportunity to examine genome evolution,” Jin said.

Jin and her research team are developing computational methods and algorithms to predict the evolution of polyploid genomes using Brassica crop species as an example. Understanding how these plants have evolved, and adapted, and by identifying shared evolutionary pathways will have economic benefits for genetically improving crops. The methods and algorithms developed in this research can be applied to other crops, for an even greater impact.

“This work has the potential to

significantly improve our understanding

of evolution among species…”

17

An uncle drove for 18 hours to be there for the Knowledge Maker’s celebration, to recognize his niece for her commitment to Indigenous research.

Transformational moments like this, where students emerge from this program with their families by their sides, is what keeps the undergraduate Indigenous research program going strong, and keeps people like Dr. Sereana Naepi, associate director of the All My Relations Research Centre, motivated to see the impacts of the program move beyond TRU.

Launched four years ago, Knowledge Makers is a collaborative initiative in which Indigenous students learn how to conduct research. Each year, up to 15 undergraduate students come together from across the university to learn how to make knowledge. Since 2015 nearly 40 university leaders, elders, faculty, staff and community members have contributed to this non-credit, four-month program that exists with the goal

of developing strong, focused, confident and published Indigenous researchers. To date, 56 students from more than 30 bands and nations have completed the program and have published in the Knowledge Makers Journal. Alumni have gone on to win national scholarships and become research assistants. Four students have gone on to graduate school, while one took an international internship, and another two students continued their education through post-baccalaureate studies. This year, the Knowledge Makers received the Alan Blizzard Award, Canada’s only award for excellence in collaborative teaching in post-secondary education.

“This program is about preparing and developing our next Indigenous leaders,” Naepi said. “We are showing our students that research is a form of service, and I think that’s why it works.”

“This program is about preparing and developing our

next Indigenous leaders,” Naepi said. “We are showing

our students that research is a form of service, and I

think that’s why it works.”

Making knowledgeKnowledge Makers begins with a two-day intensive workshop with Elders, professors,

administrators and staff supporting students to become published researchers.



TRU | RESEARCH

Avninder Gill presented "Product costings and groupings: A clustering approach” at the American Society of Business & Behavioral Sciences, Las Vegas, NV.

Carol Rees presented "Creating opportunities for more equitable teacher-student contributions in classroom discourse,” at the Canadian Society for the Study of Education Conference, Regina, SK.

Courtney Mason presented "Parks and protected areas: What is being conserved and for whom?" at the Annual Salmon Symposium, Little Shuswap Lake Indian Band, BC.

Cindy James presented “How can a small testing centre survive and thrive?” at the National College Testing Association’s Annual Conference, Scottsdale, AZ.

Joel Wood and student Zixing Shen presented, “Tradable permits and pollution hot spots: Evidence from Ontario” at the Canadian Resources and Environmental Economics Study Group meeting, Montreal, QC.

Brenda Smith was invited to facilitate, “Open Educational Resources and Textbook Alternatives: State of the Art and Lessons Learned,” at the Distance Library Services Conference, San Antonio, TX.

Raymond Cox presented, "Empirical evidence of Benford’s Law in the stock market,” at the International Academy of Business Disciplines, Jacksonville, FL.

Rochelle Stevenson co-presented, "The co-occurance of animal abuse and intimate partner violence: Why it matters,” at the Animals and Us: Research, Policy, and Practice Conference, Windsor, ON.

Bruce Martin gave the invited talk, "Academy of Management Code of Ethics and You," at the Annual Meeting of Academy Management, Chicago, IL.

Muhammad Mohiuddin co-presented, "Students perceptions in purchasing green vehicles in emerging countries," during the Academy of International Business conference, Minneapolis, MN.

Samuel Singer delivered the workshop, "Evaluating tax remission orders: A debt relief vehicle for Canadian taxpayers," at Purdy Crawford Emerging Business Scholars, Halifax, NS.

Mohamed Tawhid was invited to present, "Metaheuristic algorithms and their applications," at the University of South Florida, St. Petersburg, FL.

Sheila Blackstock co-presented, “Unveiling oppression: Addressing horizontal violence among nurses,” at the International Conference on Violence in the Health Sector, Toronto, ON.

Nicola Waters presented, "Wound management and research in Canada: Opportunities and challenges," at the Skin Integrity and Tissue Viability conference, Huddersfield, UK.

Kyra Garson delivered the keynote, “Internationalization: Inclusion and intercultural learning,” at the University of Guelph, Guelph, ON.

19


Ehsan Latif presented “Mental health before, during and in the aftermath of the great recession in Canada,” at the International Academic Conference, Stockholm, SW.

Samira Keivanpour co-presented “The end of life aircraft management in the paradigm of the Internet of Things,” at the International Symposium on Sustainable Aviation, Rome, IT.

Naowarat Cheeptham presented "Inside the search for new antibiotics in the depths of the Earth," at the WIRED Health, London, UK.

Robert Hanlon co-presented "Corporate social responsibility in times of populism and human insecurity," at the International Conference on Business and Human Rights, Bangkok, TH.

Brian Heise presented "No swimming allowed: Preventing the spread of invasive fishes in Western Canada," during the Australian Biosecurity Symposium, Queensland, AU.

WORLD CLASS RESEARCH

One of the main objectives of TRU’s Strategic Research Plan (SRP) is to support and build upon existing and emerging research strengths to develop national and international leadership in those areas, with the goal of making a real difference in the world, both in terms of providing excellent opportunities for attracting and training the best students, and through the application of research in ways that improve the quality of life for all.

Another overarching goal is to facilitate the development of partnerships with communities, scholars, cultural organizations, industries and institutions, and to do so on a global scale. This map highlights just a few of the many ways TRU scholars are actively mobilizing their knowledge nationally and internationally, and in the process, developing partnerships and connecting with colleagues and students from around the world.

Judith Chomitz co-presented "How do resort managers cope with toxic personalities?” at the Council for Hospitality Management Education Conference, Greenwich, UK.

Charis Kamphuis presented "Indigenous rights recognition: Achievements, shortcomings, and where to from here?, at Extractive Indigenous & Indigenous livelihoods: Tools of consent or conflict, Helsinki, FI.

Matti Haverila co-presented "Customer satisfaction in winter resort destinations: Measures for different types of customers at a winter ski resort in Canada,” at the Tourism Naturally Conference, Kaprun, AT.

Warveni Jap delivered a guest lecture, "The scope and challenges of international marketing under China’s Belt and Road initiatives: Culture, management style and business systems,” at Shanghai University of International Business and Economics, Shanghai, CN.

Barbara Jean Buckley presented "Fostering reciprocity: Enactment of agency for socially just rural healthcare ," during In Sickness and in Health Conference, Sydney AU.

Laura Doan presented "Communities of practice in early childhood education: Obstacles, opportunities and reasons for optimism," at the European Early Childhood Education Research Association Conference, Budapest, HU.

Alex Ng & Randall Kimmel co-presented “The investment performance of United Nations Global Compact companies, climate change champions,” at the Global Finance Conference, Paris, FR.


Coteaching for STEM professional learningDr. Carol Rees knows that a students’ educational experiences are enriched if they are encouraged to develop their own questions and explore solutions in tandem with the teacher.

The associate professor of education has long been engaged in research that explores learner-centred teaching models in STEM, and her research program was recently enhanced by a SSHRC Insight Grant.

“We can’t have the teacher doing all the speaking, so we need to change the dynamic and have the students engaging and learning and questioning,” Rees said.

The grant allows Rees to create spaces for experienced teachers to learn a novel learner-centred model from new and practicum teachers. This way, the experienced teacher is learning new methods from the practicum teacher, while also mentoring the practicum teacher through classroom management and curriculum development.

“Our goal is to support teachers, to support one another,” said Rees who will conduct the research using six classrooms within the Kamloops-Thompson School District.

TRU | RESEARCH

HEALING THROUGH EVERYDAY ACTS OF KINSHIP

The emotional health and wellbeing of Indigenous youth has long been the driving focus behind Dr. Natalie Clark’s research program, which was recently enhanced by a SSHRC Indigenous Research Capacity and Reconciliation Connection Grant

Clark’s project, Cu7 me7 q’wele’wu-kt, translates to “Come on, let’s go berry-picking,” and is an intergenerational, land-based program that expands upon a weekly girl’s group that currently operates in the Neskonlith community, and will include a network of Indigenous girls’ groups in the Kamloops-Thompson School District.

Groups like this support truth and reconciliation through the promotion of healthy relationships with one another, with their communities, and with other adult women. The group is facilitated by Clark and by Elder Minnie Kenoras.

“In spite of the fact that colonialism has a history of gendered violence against women and girls, there is no direct reference to this in the TRC (Truth and Reconciliation Commission). We will have these girls create an art-based response to the Calls to Action, written in their own voices,” said the associate professor of Social Work.

Natalie Clark

“Our goal is to support

teachers, to support

one another.”

21


The art of science Dr. Nancy Van Wagoner works at the intersection of art and science to create new ways of perceiving and understanding Earth.

A professor of geology, and volcanologist, Van Wagoner is also an artist. She draws on the two disciplines to create unique artworks that meld images from her research to create new narratives, presented as photomontages, tapestries, sculptures and other art forms. The objective of the work is to make concepts of the geosciences that are beyond human experience more tangible and personal.

Her latest exhibition, Origins and Endgames, presented at TRU in September 2018, is an interactive multimedia installation that takes viewers on a geo-tour through the history and future of Earth, from the Big Bang to the ultimate extinction of the planet. In doing so, her work explores the inextricable connections between the minuscule and the enormous, the vast yet fleeting trajectory of time, and individuality within a collective destiny. The largest sculpture in the

exhibit, Time, is a series of drill core boxes filled with 480 hand-thrown ceramic vessels representing the evolution of Earth’s atmosphere, and major geologic events during the last 4.5 billion years. Each image has an associated artist’s booklet, or field guide that poetically dissects the image, providing more clarity to the science. Overall, the exhibition is a cathedral to the scientific story of creation and demise, deliberately blurring of the boundaries between art and science, gallery and museum, and intellect and emotion.

Van Wagoner holds a Master of Fine Arts from the School of Visual Arts in New York, and a PhD in Geology from Dalhousie University.

Nancy Van Wagoner

Time is a series of drill core boxes filled with

480 hand-thrown ceramic vessels representing

the evolution of Earth’s atmosphere


TRU | RESEARCH

MACHINE LEARNING TO IMPROVE HEALTH CARE FOR SENIORS

Can we predict how well seniors transition from living in their homes to living in residential-care facilities? It’s a question that Dr. Piper Jackson is addressing health decision-making in rural and remote communities.

Jackson, a computer scientist, is collaborating with Dr. Shannon Freeman and Dr. Waqar Haque from the University of Northern BC on a two-year project that uses data science to help health authorities better allocate sparse resources and predict future needs in a mix of rural, remote and urban communities.

Funded by the multi-partner agency BC SUPPORT Unit, the project uses computer modelling to predict seniors’ movement through the health-care system.

The team will study using machine-learning methods with existing care systems. Patient partners will participate in decision-making, drawing on the unique characteristics and needs of each region.

Piper Jackson

Canada’s inequitable parental leave policiesWhen it comes to parental leave, Canada has some of the most complicated policies in the world with 14 employment standards acts and two parental leave benefit programs.

Dr. Lindsey McKay, a sociology lecturer, is one of four Canadian members of the International Network on Leave Policies and Research, which studies maternity, paternity, and parental leaves in 43 countries. Her research found that Québec’s leave program is more generous than the federal program, and, in both, families with higher income benefit disproportionately to lower income families.

Earlier this year, McKay co-authored a book chapter in Parental Leave and Beyond: Recent Developments, Current Issues, Future Directions. McKay, and her co-authors Andrea Doucet and Sophie Mathieu found that Québec parents come out ahead: more parents are eligible, benefit levels are significantly higher, and second parents/fathers have individual entitlement of up to five weeks of paternity leave.

This research has demonstrated a ‘parental-leave rich and a parental-leave poor’ imbalance in Canada that is shaped by jurisdiction and family income inequality.

Future research will include the impact of recent changes by the Government of Canada increasing care leave from 12 to 18 months, and providing up to eight bonus weeks for second parents/fathers in couples that share benefits. With no change in eligibility criteria and benefit levels, McKay and her colleagues hypothesize these changes will not shift current inequities between families, but may modestly improve gender balance in who takes leave within two-parent families depending on earnings equality between parents.

Paterinty leave at play

23


Unique glimpse into Russian historyDr. Wilson Bell, associate professor of history, expands upon a research program that began in 2015 thanks to a SSHRC Insight Grant. With this support, Bell will return to Russia, and will dig deeper into the history of one of its most interesting buildings.

His project, “44 Lenin Avenue,” is a microhistory that explores events that have taken place since the building in Tomsk, Russia was constructed as a church parish school in 1896.

“This really isn’t a standard history project — it’s an innovative and exciting way of looking into the past,” Bell said, adding that a museum at 44 Lenin Avenue is currently under threat of relocation, and he hopes that his research will add weight to the ongoing efforts to save it.

Bell also authored Stalin’s Gulag at War: Forced Labour, Mass Death, and Soviet Victory in the Second World War, published by the University of Toronto Press in December 2018. The book provides a unique glimpse inside Stalin’s wartime camps, and shows that the responses of prisoners and personnel to the war reveal the Guglag as a complex system closely tied to the local, regional and national war effort, with prisoners playing a tangible role in Soviet victory, but at an incredible cost.

Gatecrasher a “tiny miracle” Susan Buis has lived in the Southern Interior for almost 14 years and admits that after a somewhat nomadic life, she struggled to open herself to this place. But she has established roots now, and her connections to the land are evident throughout Gatecrasher.

This is Buis’ first book of poetry, and she refers to it as “a tiny miracle.”

The manuscript is split into two sections: “Shelter,” explores the constructs of place, in terms of architecture, beliefs, and systems, while “Rose Hill,” tackles place through the natural world.

“I enter my work through the landscape, but that takes me to more complex social, environmental and psychological issues,” she said, acknowledging that she has been confronted by this notion of property and ownership, when in fact she is a settler.

Susan Buis

“This is unceded territory and my position here is problematic to me, and that comes through in my work,” she said, noting that she struggles to “live responsibly where I am.”

Buis was trained as a painter and wields language in a visual way. “What inspires me to write is in the pleasure of creativity, and to make a thing out of an idea that previously didn’t exist.”

—Wilson Bell

Office of Research and Graduate Studies

Thompson Rivers University 805 TRU Way, Kamloops, BC V2C 0C8

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