On April 4, the Government of Canada released the results of the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) 2021 Exploration competition and the NFRF special call on innovative approaches to research in the pandemic context. The New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) competitions are designed to fund 鈥渉igh-risk, high-reward research that pushes boundaries.鈥� Twelve McGill projects were funded for a total of $2.9 million. The projects funded through the special call are focused on community and field-based research, and on data collection efforts stalled during the pandemic. Projects funded through the Exploration competition have the potential to yield innovative results in social, cultural, economic, health-related, and technological areas.
Faculty Professor Richard Hovey received a grant of $240,000 for his project "Applied Philosophical Hermeneutics Research: the Hermeneutic Wager".听
Abstract: Applied hermeneutics as a qualitative research method seeks to gain a deep understanding of a topic, human experience, or event. It does so through conversation with others who add perspectives to the shared investigated topic. In practice, the hermeneutic wager consists of five circular reflections/conversations: imagination, humility, commitment, discernment, and hospitality that build rapport, promote understanding, and work across differences. During the Covid-19 pandemic, Dr. Hovey was placed in contact with a research team working on 鈥淢apping the Ethical Landscape of Therapies for Pediatric Brain Tumours鈥� from the Biomedical Ethics Unit and the Department of the Social Studies of Medicine, leading a pan-Canadian working group on pediatric brain tumours (PBTWG) to produce a White Paper on best treatment approaches. The working group consisting of (i) researchers, (ii) patient families, (iii) patient advocacy groups, (iv) clinicians, (v) regulatory agencies, (vi) pharmaceutical companies and (vii) industry was struggling to work together effectively across the seeming divides to procure the development and implementation of targeted therapies. The hermeneutic wager became the process used to guide the discussion while working toward consensus among diverse group of stakeholders to help ensure that collectively all stakeholders voices are heard and valued.
Professor Marc McKee and Dr. Didem Dagdeviren are also part of a project that received a grant for the Exploration competition.听
List of McGill projects awarded in the 2021 NFRF Special Call competition:
- Principal Investigator:听Kyle Elliot, Department of Natural Resource Sciences
McGill Co-Applicant:听M茅lanie Guigueno, Department of Biology
Project: Innovative and Resilient Approaches to Seabird Field Work in the Canadian Arctic
Funding:听$250,000 - Principal Investigator:听J枚rg Fritz, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Project: Identification of B cell epitopes of SARS-CoV2-specific antibodies
Funding: $240,000 - Principal Investigator:听Anna Hargreaves, Department of Biology
Project:听Distributed experiments to overcome pandemic lockdowns while promoting equity, diversity and global knowledge
Funding:听$240,000 - Principal Investigator:听Richard Hovey, Faculty of Dentistry and Oral Health Sciences
Project:听Applied Philosophical Hermeneutics Research: the Hermeneutic Wager
Funding:听$240,000 - Principal Investigator:听Catherine Potvin, Department of Biology
Project:听From carbon to forests for life: Towards sustainable Indigenous engagement
Funding:听$240,000 - Principal Investigator:听Brittany Wenniser铆:iostha Jock, Department of Human Nutrition
McGill Co-Applicants:听Treena Wasonti:io Delormier, School of Human Nutrition/Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Project:听Integrating Indigenous knowledge systems into health research: supporting community engagement, program evaluation, and knowledge translation
Funding:听$240,000 - Principal Investigator:听, School of Computer Science
Project:听A mobile gaming platform to accelerate flow cytometry data analysis
Funding:听$240,000
Exploration competition:
- Principal Investigator:听Ehab Abouheif, Department of Biology
McGill Co-Applicants:听Michael Witcher, Department of Oncology and the Jewish General Hospital;听Paul Lasko, Department of Biology
Project:听Exploring Social Insect Pheromones as a New Chemotherapeutic to Fight Cancer
Funding:听$250,000 - Principal Investigator:听, Department of Physics
Project: A Flexible Drone-Based Measurement Platform for Astrophysics and Glaciology
Funding:听$250,000 - Principal Investigator:听, Department of Physics
McGill Co-Applicant:听Thomas Szkopek, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Project:听Physics of black holes on-a-chip
Funding:听$250,000 - Principal Investigator:听Adrien Peyrache, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery
McGill Co-Applicant:听Blake Richards, School of Computer Science
Project:听The role of the retrosplenial cortex in orienting cognitive maps.
Funding:听$250,000 - Principal Investigator:听Natalie Reznikov, Department of Bioengineering
McGill Co-Applicants:听Didem Dagdeviren, Faculty of Dentistry and Oral Health Sciences;听Marc McKee, Faculty of Dentistry and Oral Health Sciences
Project:听Upsampling of low-resolution/large-volume 3D tomographic images using generative adversarial neural networks applied to medical imaging, biological anthropology and evolutionary biology
Funding:听$250,000