Laurier researchers awarded more than $5.4 million in federal funding

July 9, 2025

In its latest round of federal research funding, the Government of Canada awarded more than $5.4 million to researchers at Wilfrid Laurier University. Recipients are tackling a wide range of timely issues, including supply chain management, cardiovascular health and applications for artificial intelligence.

“This significant federal investment is a testament to the real impact of Laurier research on Canadian society,” says Jonathan Newman, vice-president: research. “Thank you to the Tri-agencies for their continued support, enabling our researchers to bring their ideas and solutions to fruition.”

Funding recipients include:

NSERC Discovery Grants

Total awarded: $1,483,000 over five years + $37,500 in Discovery Launch Supplements

• Kathleen Cameron, professor, Mathematics: “Graph structure and algorithms”
• Michael Cinelli, professor, Kinesiology and Physical Education: “Identifying information different individuals use to avoid collisions with other pedestrians and objects within environments”
• Lilatul Ferdouse, assistant professor, Physics and Computer Science: “Resource management for coverage and connectivity in next generation wireless networks”
• Jason Goetz, assistant professor, Geography and Environmental Studies: “Artificial intelligence enhanced regional prediction of landslides”
• Diano Marrone, professor, Behavioural Neuroscience: “Functional homologies in avian and mammalian spatial memory systems”
• Matthew Smith, professor, Biology: “Protein trafficking pathways and Toc complex assembly at the chloroplast outer membrane”
• Jennifer Williams, assistant professor, Kinesiology and Physical Education: “Regulation of perturbations to cardiovascular system structure and function in humans”

NSERC Discovery Development Grants

Total awarded: $132,000 over two years

• Bernard Chiu, associate professor, Computer Science: “Localization, segmentation and characterization of carotid plaques from ultrasound images for carotid disease assessment and monitoring”
• Geoffrey Horsman, associate professor, Chemistry and Biochemistry: “Exploring microbial biosynthetic pathways”
• Xuan Zhao, professor, Operations and Decision Sciences: “Emerging issues in supply chain and operations management under the sharing and circular economies”

NSERC Research Tools and Instruments Grant

• Jennifer Williams, assistant professor, Kinesiology and Physical Education ($150,000)

SSHRC Insight Grants 

Total awarded: $1,965,192 over five years

• Prescott Ensign, associate professor, Strategic Management: “Impact of federal and provincial policies on the survival of shortline freight railways serving Canada's rural enterprises and communities”
• Mark Eys, professor, Kinesiology and Physical Education, Psychology: “Uneven playing fields: EDI policies and the challenges faced by under-represented coaches and officials”
• Jonathan Farrar, professor, Accounting: “Making the invisible power of tax authorities more visible: A Canada-South Africa investigation”
• Salar Ghamat, associate professor, Operations and Decision Sciences: “Enhancing coordination mechanisms in supply and service networks through data analytics”
• Lan Guo, associate professor, Accounting: “Meaningfulness framing in job postings: An experimental investigation of heterogeneous treatment effects”
• Russell Kilbourn, professor, English and Film Studies: “The future of memory: Analyzing posthumanist memory in screen and print media”
• Nancy Kocovski, professor, Psychology: “Impact of self-compassion on social anxiety and post-event processing in diverse samples”
• Josephine McMurray, associate professor, Business Technology Management, Health Studies: “AgeSmart-AI: AI-enabled shadow technologies catalyzing age-inclusive healthcare environments”
• Melody Morton Ninomiya, associate professor, Health Sciences: “Knowledge mobilization practices in community-campus research with equity-denied/deserving communities”
• Stephen Snudden, assistant professor, Economics: “Advancements in forecast temporal disaggregation”
• Anne Wilson, professor, Psychology: “Can ingroup dissent and constructive disagreement norms mitigate political polarization?”

SSHRC Insight Development Grants 

Total awarded: $874,128 over two years

• Bree Akesson, professor, Social Work: “The climate-conflict-displacement nexus: How climate change intersects with experiences of home, home loss, and home(re)making for Rohingya refugee families in Bangladesh”
• Abderrahman Beggar, professor, Religion and Culture: “The New Caledonian Arabs in Bourail and Nessadiou and the birth of the penal colony: Life stories and social ghosts”
• Jörg Broschek, professor, Political Science: “Decarbonizing transportation infrastructure in systems of multilevel governance: The ‘Mobility Transition’ in Canada and Germany”
• Shuo Chen, assistant professor, Marketing: “To be or to show? A study of brands taking a stand on social media platforms”
• Christina Han, associate professor, History: “Discovering a world of everyday poetic networks: A multilingual linked open data archive of classical Korean poetry talks”
• Marc Jambon, assistant professor, Psychology: “Morality and antisocial lying in childhood: A social domain approach”
• Xiaoran Jia, assistant professor, Accounting: “Banks' digital transformation, credit quality, and financial reporting effectiveness”
• Madhu Kalimipalli, professor, Finance: “Does employee whistleblowing improve corporate environmental performance?”
• Jie Li, assistant professor, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management: “Workplace justice and its reciprocal relationship with gossip about management: Tracing their dynamics over time”
• Lindie Liang, associate professor, Organizational Behaviour and Human Resource Management: “Leading with the heart: The power and potential of vulnerable leadership”
• Akbar Saeed, associate professor, Business Technology Management: “Improving solopreneur business sustainability: Validating a more holistic approach to training and development of marginalized entrepreneurs in Kampala, Uganda”
• John Schwieter, professor, Psychology: “Using priming as a method to facilitate second language vocabulary learning: A quest to inform educational technology”
• Andriy Shkilko, professor, Finance: “Optimizing execution of individual investor orders”

SSHRC Partnership Development Grants

Total awarded: $791,694 over three years

• Tarah Hodgkinson, assistant professor, Criminology: “Breaking down data silos for community safety and well-being in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan”
• Laura Pin, assistant professor, Political Science: “Staying home 2.0: Rent banks, housing stability and eviction prevention across Canada”
• Manuel Riemer, professor, Community Psychology: “Youth for Climate Justice”
• Stacey Wilson-Forsberg, professor, Human Rights: “Building a partnership for the development of a peer-led conflict resolution strategy for youth with refugee backgrounds”