U of T Mississauga Working Groups
In 2014 the Office of the Vice-Principal, Research, introduced a suite of internal funding opportunities for faculty members, including the Working Groups fund, which supports research in the Humanities and Social Sciences.
“Providing funds to support these kinds of initiatives is a priority for our office,” says Professor Bryan Stewart, UTM’s Vice-Principal, Research. “I have been very impressed with the breadth and diversity of research areas of these groups, and think they all serve as excellent examples for showcasing the exceptional talent on the UTM campus.”
Each UTM faculty-led group is pursuing a specific topic with a common scholarly goal in view with a one-year timeframe to achieve it.
The following is a brief description of the four Working Groups that are currently based at UTM.
Book of Fame Project
Old book with new tricks.
The Old Books New Science (OBNS) lab explores the gamification of the International Interoperability Framework in order to create computer game software.
Working under the direction of Professor and UTM’s Chair of the Department of English & Drama Alex Gillespie, the Book of Fame group involves graduate and undergraduate students exploring computer games as a growing medium that provides the opportunity to further explore narrative production and cultural exchange in medieval literature and theory.
Read on about the Book of Fame project at http://sites.utm.utoronto.ca/gillespie/.
Digital Technologies and Democracy
Understanding online activism and political participation.
This working group, led by Professor Alessandro Delfanti in the Institute for Communication, Culture, Information & Technology (ICCIT), considers how digital media contributes to the evolution of democracy, and analyzes the shifts that challenge traditional forms of mediation between citizens, communities, and institutions.
Participants of this group include faculty members, postdoctoral scholars and graduate students from UofT’s Faculty of Information Studies, as well as other U of T departments and academics from the GTA. They meet monthly to discuss and critique work-in-progress research articles, dissertation chapters and grant proposals, and invite external speakers for seminars and workshops.
To find out more about Professor Delfanti’s work please see http://delfanti.org/.
Toronto Relationships Interest Group (TRIG)
Working on and working out relationship research and theories.
TRIG is a tri-campus endeavour that was established by Professor Emily Impett in UTM’s Department of Psychology, to connect faculty members, postdoctoral fellows, and graduate students with research interests and expertise in close relationships.
TRIG meets monthly and aims to provide a collaborative and supportive environment among UofT researchers and includes various activities, such as reading through manuscripts or giving feedback on preliminary conference presentations, as well as bringing outside speakers from the same research area to present their findings to the group to raise discussion and perhaps further expand collaborations.
See http://www.impettrelationshipslab.com/ to find out more about Professor Impett's work.
Work in Nineteenth-Century Studies (WINCS)
Cutting-Edge Literature and Drama Scholarship
WINCS is a dynamic literature and drama speaker series housed in UTM’s Department of English & Drama under the direction of Professors Terry F. Robinson and Daniel Wright.
WINCS, which comprises faculty members and graduate students from UofT and nearby institutions including York, McMaster, Guelph, Ryerson, and Waterloo, annually invites several scholars from Canada, the US, the UK, and Europe to present work-in-progress papers, which are discussed intensively by the group. They run approximately 5-8 events each year, and have covered a range of literature and drama, from the works of William Wordsworth to Jane Austen, and Charlotte Brontë to Oscar Wilde.
To learn more about WINCS's endeavours please see http://sites.utoronto.ca/wincs/.
For further information about the Working Group funding opportunity, which funds groups for up to a year, please see http://www.utm.utoronto.ca/vp-research/funding-opportunities/internal-funding-competitions/university-toronto-mississauga-working-groups.