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 “high-risk, high-reward research that pushes boundaries.” 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".
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 “Mapping the Ethical Landscape of Therapies for Pediatric Brain Tumours” 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.
List of McGill projects awarded in the 2021 NFRF Special Call competition:
- Principal Investigator: Kyle Elliot, Department of Natural Resource Sciences
McGill Co-Applicant: Mélanie Guigueno, Department of Biology
Project: Innovative and Resilient Approaches to Seabird Field Work in the Canadian Arctic
Funding: $250,000 - Principal Investigator: Jörg Fritz, Department of Microbiology and Immunology
Project: Identification of B cell epitopes of SARS-CoV2-specific antibodies
Funding: $240,000 - Principal Investigator: Anna Hargreaves, Department of Biology
Project: Distributed experiments to overcome pandemic lockdowns while promoting equity, diversity and global knowledge
Funding: $240,000 - Principal Investigator: Richard Hovey, Faculty of Dentistry and Oral Health Sciences
Project: Applied Philosophical Hermeneutics Research: the Hermeneutic Wager
Funding: $240,000 - Principal Investigator: Catherine Potvin, Department of Biology
Project: From carbon to forests for life: Towards sustainable Indigenous engagement
Funding: $240,000 - Principal Investigator: Brittany Wenniserí:iostha Jock, Department of Human Nutrition
McGill Co-Applicants: Treena Wasonti:io Delormier, School of Human Nutrition/Faculty of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences
Project: Integrating Indigenous knowledge systems into health research: supporting community engagement, program evaluation, and knowledge translation
Funding: $240,000 - Principal Investigator: Jérome Waldispuhl, School of Computer Science
Project: A mobile gaming platform to accelerate flow cytometry data analysis
Funding: $240,000
Exploration competition:
- Principal Investigator: Ehab Abouheif, Department of Biology
McGill Co-Applicants: Michael Witcher, Department of Oncology and the Jewish General Hospital; Paul Lasko, Department of Biology
Project: Exploring Social Insect Pheromones as a New Chemotherapeutic to Fight Cancer
Funding: $250,000 - Principal Investigator: Hsin Chiang, Department of Physics
Project: A Flexible Drone-Based Measurement Platform for Astrophysics and Glaciology
Funding: $250,000 - Principal Investigator: Guillaume Gervais, Department of Physics
McGill Co-Applicant: Thomas Szkopek, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering
Project: Physics of black holes on-a-chip
Funding: $250,000 - Principal Investigator: Adrien Peyrache, Department of Neurology and Neurosurgery
McGill Co-Applicant: Blake Richards, School of Computer Science
Project: The role of the retrosplenial cortex in orienting cognitive maps.
Funding: $250,000 - Principal Investigator: Natalie Reznikov, Department of Bioengineering
McGill Co-Applicants: Didem Dagdeviren, Faculty of Dentistry and Oral Health Sciences; Marc McKee, Faculty of Dentistry and Oral Health Sciences
Project: Upsampling of low-resolution/large-volume 3D tomographic images using generative adversarial neural networks applied to medical imaging, biological anthropology and evolutionary biology
Funding: $250,000