Social Work scholars awarded grant to support new research on ending carceral practices in helping professions, programs for Black older adults, and displaced Rohingya women.

Congratulations to our Faculty of Social Work scholars who have been awarded Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) 2025 Insight Development Grants to support the development of new ideas, research questions, methods, and theoretical approaches over the next 2 years.

Dr. Christine Mayor, assistant professor, received an award for Caring or Complicit Bodies?: Addressing Carceral Logics in the Helping Professions.

Mayor’s project investigates how carceral logics or punishment-based values and principles blame marginalized people rather than bad systems. Across North America, people who are Black, Indigenous, racialized, poor, disabled, 2SLGBTQ+, migrants, or unhoused face high rates of criminalization, are often treated as disposable or punishable. Instead of understanding an individual’s personal situation, the first response is often to control or punish them. These principles are often embedded within “helping spaces” such as schools, child welfare agencies, non-profits, counselling services and treatment centres.

Mayor’s research, in partnership with Dr. Britton Williams (Co-I, California Institute for Integral Studies) aims to support helping professions in moving away from carceral logics, so they can better serve those who are most marginalized and harmed in current systems.

Dr. Blessing Ojembe, assistant professor, received an award for Exploring Preferences and Strategies to increase the Utilization of Adult Day Programs and Senior Community Centres by Black Older Adults in Manitoba.

As the number of older adults grows globally, so do concerns around loneliness and social isolation and ways to mitigate their negative impacts on the aging population, including ethnically minoritized groups. Thus, Ojembe’s research will explore ways to improve the utilization and participation of Black older adults in Adult Day Programs (ADPs) and Senior Community Centres (SCCs) across Manitoba.

Services like ADPs and SCCs are increasingly important for supporting aging in place and helping older adults stay connected to their communities. Unfortunately, these programs are often not culturally appropriate and therefore make Black older adults feel culturally unsafe, which hinders their use of these services, and further exacerbates their experience of loneliness and social isolation.

Ojembe’s project will assess availability, accessibility, and gaps in services for older Black adults; explore their needs and preferences; and develop practical resources and policy recommendations to enhance cultural representation and participation of Black older adults in ADPs and SCCs.

Dr. Ashley Stewart-Tufescu, assistant professor, received an award for Building Futures: Sociocultural Effects of an Empowerment Initiative for Young Displaced Rohingya Women.

Stewart-Tufescu, in collaboration with Dr. Bree Akesson (Wilfrid Laurier University) and The Hope Foundation for Women and Girls of Bangladesh, is leading a study on the Health Assistant Training (HAT) Program in Kutupalong, Cox’s Bazar, recognized as the world’s largest, most densely populated, and under-resourced refugee camp. An estimated 52–67% of Rohingya refugees in Kutupalong are women and girls. 

This research focuses on young Rohingya women living in the camp, a population facing severe gender-based vulnerabilities, including early and forced marriage, gender-based violence, and restricted access to education and livelihood opportunities. Using a socioecological lens, the study will assess the impacts of the HAT Program by examining the experiences of program trainees, alongside the perspectives of their families, community leaders, and humanitarian practitioners. It will explore how participation in the program influences young women’s empowerment, shifts in gender norms, decision-making within families and communities, and broader sociocultural dynamics within the camp context. 

The findings will generate critical insights into how gender-transformative initiatives can promote women’s leadership, challenge harmful social norms, and expand access to vital services and opportunities for displaced and marginalized women and girls in humanitarian settings.