Matchless opportunity: Irving Oil Research Mentorship enabling original student research at StFX

Once again this summer, StFX undergraduate students had the matchless opportunity to be involved in original research carried out under the supervision of a faculty mentor thanks to the generosity of the Irving Oil Research Mentorship Award.

Students Laura Cormier, Preet Banga, Clara O'Callaghan, Elise Canning, Cheryl Chisholm, Hannah James, Grace Madden and Makayla Butorac were each awarded a summer research internship position, valued at $7,500 to support full-time employment for about 16 weeks.

The students spent the summer conducting research that ranged from interviewing adults who struggled in school on what adverse experiences may have impacted their experience to looking into the religious conversion of 'Viking' settlers.

"Words cannot adequately express how grateful I feel to have had the opportunity to conduct my own undergraduate research project, all thanks to the generous donors of the Irving Oil Research Mentorship Award. I never imagined that I would have such an opportunity, and I can honestly say that it has been such a fantastic learning experience for me," says Clara O'Callaghan of Scarborough, ON, a third year honours history major with a subsidiary in philosophy, who conducted research on the religious conversion of the 'Viking' settlers and their families who came to England in the late ninth century and established a settlement which would be known as 'the Danelaw' for almost two centuries. She is supervised by Dr. Donna Trembinski.

"Ever since my second year at StFX, I have aspired to continue onto graduate school and hopefully obtain a PhD in history someday. Had I gone to a different university, I may not have even entertained such a career aspiration as even being a possibility for me," she says.

"Thanks to the encouragement of some wonderful professors at StFX, I was able to apply for, and win, one of the Irving Research Mentorship Awards, which has allowed me to conduct my own undergraduate research project and helped to prepare me for my future pursuits in academia."

Ms. O'Callaghan says in the past, many scholars have argued that the Danelaw settlers were rapidly converted and assimilated by the English, "but I argue that this interpretation of the documentary and archaeological sources have been distorted by nationalistic notions of ethnicity, religion, and culture that came to prominence in the 19th century -- at the same time that history and archaeology were professionalized."

TIME AND FREEDOM TO EXPLORE TOPIC

"It's a huge honour and privilege to have been given the opportunity to conduct this research over the course of the summer," says Elise Canning of Antigonish, NS, an honours English student, who conducted research that will inform her honours thesis on refugee theatre and its capacity to intervene in the construction of the refugee as a hyper-politicized figure. She is supervised by Dr. Maureen Moynagh.

"I am examining the ways in which plays written and/or performed by refugees can serve as a means of reimagining the positionality of the refugee within a nation's political consciousness from that of the stranger to one of belonging," says Ms. Canning who has conducted interviews with theatre practitioners and playwrights working out of Montreal, Toronto, and London, and has analyzed play scripts.

"This research grant has given me the time and freedom to explore this topic with the care and thoughtfulness that it deserves. The research experience that I have had this summer has not only provided me with the means to acquire new skills and a deeper understanding of refugee and migratory studies but has also equipped me with the confidence and motivation to continue my academic career into graduate school."

WORK TOWARDS HONOURS THESIS

Makayla Butorac, a fourth-year biology student from Peterborough, ON who is supervised by Dr. Russell Wyeth, has been studying the freshwater snail Lymnaea stagnalis and how it responds to varying odour concentrations in both laminar and turbulent water flow conditions. "By using this snail as a model organism, I hope to learn more about odour-based navigation," she says.

"It means a lot to me to have been able to pursue this wonderful research opportunity in which I was able to work towards my honour's thesis."

"Having this opportunity has allowed me to continuously learn throughout the research process, focus on my interests in biology and grow as a scientist. I met and made connections with faculty and many other research students in my discipline who were just as interested in research as I was! Throughout my research experience I believe I also became more independent and confident in my abilities as well as developed better time management and organizational skills."

IMPROVING LIVES

Cheryl Chisholm, a second year Bachelor of Education student, from Lower Sackville, NS, says this summer she helped conduct interviews with adults who struggled during K-12, asking what adverse experience impacted their view of school and future opportunities. Her supervisor is Dr. Conor Barker. "I analyzed the interviews to look at the most common themes that came up and found that a lot of participants reported issues such as bullying, negative experiences with peers, discrimination, and other issues directly in contrast with the goals of inclusive education.

"I also presented on this research at the Educational Research Forum at StFX in July and presented to our partners at Great Plains College in Saskatchewan. The hope is that this research could be used to conduct a larger study on adults who return to education in order to improve the school system for students who do not find success."

Ms. Chisholm says it meant a lot to receive the funding and to be a part of the Barker Lab as it was a unique opportunity to learn about data analysis and to work on becoming a co-author on published papers, which she says will help contribute towards her goals of graduate school. "I would not have been able to take part had I not received funding.

"It was an excellent opportunity because it gave me the chance to network with other passionate researchers and professors and gave me skills in using qualitative analysis software. I also got the chance to improve my own organizational skills and it gave me the flexibility that I needed to pursue my other goals for the summer."

TOPIC OF GREAT INTEREST

Hannah James, a fourth year BASc in Health student from Smithtown, NB, who is supervised by Dr. Donna Trembinski, says the award allowed her to spend her summer researching a topic directly related to her field of study and of great interest to her. "I am incredibility grateful to the funders of this award for providing me the opportunity to do this work."

Ms. James has been working on a research project titled Medieval Conceptions of Fertility in Arabic and Latin Medical Texts. "I am examining three primary texts to determine what discussions they have of fertility and whether there are similarities between them. I am also hoping to examine whether later medical texts adopted the Arabic traditions of medicine or whether they tend to omit this from their texts. I have completed my analysis of two texts and have begun working on the third now," she says.

"Through this experience I have been able to refine my research skills and become an overall stronger researcher which will serve me greatly as I continue with my education in the future. I have been able to learn more about the process of historical research and the overall process of academic research."

VALUABLE EXPERINCE, FLEXIBLE EMPLOYMENT

Fourth year student Laura Cormier of Margaree Valley, NS, who is completing an honours psychology degree with a special concentration in forensic psychology and subsidiary in women's and gender studies, worked on a project titled, A Profile of Patients Admitted to Nova Scotia Hospital, 1860-1865. Under the supervision of Dr. Margo Watt, she recorded and transcribed admission slips to the Nova Scotia Hospital, formerly known as Mount Hope Asylum for the Insane. Her project is interested in knowing who these admissions truly were in terms of patient demographics such as gender, place of residence, reasons for admission, and socioeconomic status.

Ms. Cormier says the grant provided her with valuable research experience and flexible employment as she learned a lot about the population of patients in mental health institutions during the moral treatment era (1856-1878) through existing literature. She also spent a lot of time at the Nova Scotia Archives deciphering what the admission slips say, as they are hand-written from over 150 years ago.

The Irving Oil Research Mentorship allowed her to complete the data collection over the summer, which she says is very beneficial as she will not have the added stress of traveling to the Nova Scotia Archives in Halifax, NS once classes start and the research project continues. She says receiving the grant also gave her confidence and incentive to continue pursuing an honours degree.

INCREDIBLE OPPORTUNITY

Preet Banga of New Delhi, India is a fourth year honours psychology taking a concentration in forensic psychology under the supervision of Dr. Margo Watt. Her research focused on climate change and its relationship with anxiety.

"From past research, it is evident that the increased occurrence of extreme weather events is directly related to people's anxiety levels. The goal of my research is to identify populations that are more vulnerable to climate change anxiety than others," she says.

"On a personal level, getting this grant has allowed me to study my topic in-depth, and it will become an important part of my honours thesis," she says. "I began my study at St. Francis Xavier University in 2019, having moved from India due to the incredible opportunities offered here, such as this grant. I also plan to study the topic more deeply during my master's study."

She says she has learned that climate change anxiety is an important topic that will continue to be relevant in the coming years. "This research funding has helped form my first step into this deeply fascinating topic and I believe moving forwards research should continue to be conducted in this area."

LEARNING SO MUCH

Grace Madden of Kemptville, ON, a second year education student who also graduated from StFX in 2020 with distinction in sociology and psychology, interviewed 12 participants from Great Plains College (GPC) through semi-structured interviews to identify reasons for returning to Adult Basic Education (ABE.) She is supervised by Dr. Conor Barker. Participants were selected through purposive sampling across GPC campuses in rural Saskatchewan. The result, she says, has implications regarding how ABE programming can capitalize on a person's motives for return and aid more individuals returning to ABE.

She says this opportunity allowed her the chance to potentially be published and share her work with the academic community.

"I have learned so much about the research and publication process and have gained support that allows me to continue my education further than intended potentially."

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