UBC Centre for Migration Studies would like to congratulate all our affiliate members whose projects were recently awarded SSHRC funding in May and June of 2021.


Insight Grants
Efrat Arbel (PI, The University of British Columbia) - "Rethinking Human Rights in Immigration Detention: Towards a Trauma-Informed Approach" ($152,824). Efrat Arbel's research examines how legal rights are negotiated and defined in liminal spaces like the border, the detention center, and the prison. Arbel's current research is focused on mapping the Canada-US border as a place of law, and understanding how various border measures influence the rights entitlements of border crossers. Arbel is also interested in irregular migration and the Safe Third Country Agreement; the legalities of immigration detention; and the intersection of migration law, settler colonialism, and national identity.
Benjamin Bryce (PI, The University of British Columbia) - "Grounds for Exclusion: Immigration, Race, Health, and Gender in Argentina, 1876-1940" ($88,369). Benjamin Bryce is an Assistant Professor in the Department of History at the University of British Columbia. Bryce received a PhD from York University in 2013. Bryce's research focuses on migration, health, education, and religion in the Americas. At UBC, Bryce teaches courses on the Americas and global history, and is a co-editor of the Journal of the Canadian Historical Association.
Amanda Cheong (Co-applicant, The University of British Columbia) - "Mapping the Discursive and Institutional Landscape of 'Birth Tourism' and its Perceived Attack on Canadian Birthright Citizenship" ($223,328), with Megan Gaucher (PI, Carleton University), Yin Yuan Chen (Co-applicant, University of Ottawa), Jamie C.Y. Liew (Co-applicant, University of Ottawa) Amanda Cheong's research examines the links between legal status and the reproduction of inequality, with a focus on undocumented migrants, stateless persons, and refugees. Cheong is currently working on a book project, entitled Omitted Lives, which explores the challenges that migrants and racial minorities face in accessing civil registration.
Amanda Cheong (Co-applicant, The University of British Columbia) - "Sons & Daughters of the Soil: The Making of Citizens and Stateless Persons in Post-Colonial Malaysia" ($282,313), with Jamie C.Y. Liew (PI, University of Ottawa). Amanda Cheong's research examines the links between legal status and the reproduction of inequality, with a focus on undocumented migrants, stateless persons, and refugees. Cheong is currently working on a book project, entitled Omitted Lives, which explores the challenges that migrants and racial minorities face in accessing civil registration.
Antje Ellermann (PI, The University of British Columbia) - "Immigration Bureaucracies in an Era of Anti-Immigration Populism" ($284,864) with Mireille Paquet (Concordia University). Antje Ellermann's research focuses on the politics of migration and citizenship in liberal democracies. Ellermann is particularly interested in the nexus between immigration and the power of the law and law enforcement; the politics of immigration policy making; the group biases produced by immigration policy, and the intersection of immigration, settler colonialism, and national identity.
Eagle Glassheim (PI, The University of British Columbia) - "Revitalizing Mining Landscapes and Communities: Ecological Restoration, Heritage Preservation, and Economic Development in the Age of Mass Destruction Mining" ($98,507). Eagle Glassheim's main research areas include the history of East and Central Europe, Habsburg Central Europe, Modern Germany, and Environmental History. Ongoing research interests include the environmental history of the "Black Triangle," an industrial and coal mining region spanning Poland, Chechoslovakia, and East Germany; and the history of open-pit mining in the twentieth century.
Bethany Hastie (PI, The University of British Columbia) - "Collective Representation in a New World of Work: Implications for Canadian Labour" ($95,287). Bethany Hastie's research examines low-wage labour migration, and focuses on understanding how legal regulations governing work and immigration status create barriers to legal and social inclusion, and access to justice for migrant workers. Hastie has explored these issues most directly in the context of the low-wage streams of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Workers Program, and also in contexts of irregular migration and labour exploitation. Hastie aims to uncover the ways in which legal regulations shape individual decision-making and relational dynamics in and outside of the workplace for migrants with precarious status.
Suzanne Huot (PI, The University of British Columbia) - "Fostering cohesion within diversifying communities: Immigration to Francophone minority communities from coast to coast" ($280,081), with Nathalie Piquemal (Co-applicant, University of Manitoba), Leyla Sall (Co-applicant, Université de Moncton), Luisa Veronis (Co-applicant, University of Ottawa), and Faiçal Zellama (Co-applicant, Université de Saint-Boniface). Suzanne Huot's research explores humans in daily occupation and activities, that is, occupations beyond paid employments and all activities that occupy an individual’s time. Using approaches informed by occupational science, qualitative methodologies, and critical social theory, Huot's research focuses on the occupational implications of international migration to Canada and the experiences of immigrants, refugees, and asylum seekers. Huot's research examines individuals at the local scale in relation to social inclusion and also analyzes the integration of French-speaking immigrants in Francophone minority communities in Canada.
Mark Pickup (PI, Simon Fraser University) - "Political Identity Norms, Trendsetters and their Influence on Political Polarization" ($203,837) Mark Pickup's research examines how identities and the norms attached to those identities and effects attitudes and behavior. Some of Pickup's work has analyzed the 2011 riots in England and the relationship between different types of perceived threats and perceptions and prejudices towards ethnic minority groups. Pickup is also interested in the interactions between Canada and the US and its effects on Canadian political identity.
Marc-David Seidel (Co-applicant, The University of British Columbia) - "Using Machine Learning and Computational Grounded Theory to Understand the Effects of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Work and Employment: Evidence from Social Media" ($99,849), with Sima Sajjadiani (PI, The University of British Columbia) and Amirpouyan Shiva (Co-applicant, The University of British Columbia). Marc-David Seidel is interested in the role of migration in the growth and death of innovation ecosystems. One example in a local context is understanding the role of migration in the growth of innovation in the Vancouver ecosystem. Seidel is particularly interested in alternative economic models of organization enabled by distributed trust technologies such as blockchain.
Partnership Grants
Bethany Hastie (Co-applicant, The University of British Columbia) - "Understanding Precarity in BC (UP-BC)" ($2,499,946), with Kendra Strauss (PI, Simon Fraser University). Bethany Hastie's research examines low-wage labour migration, and focuses on understanding how legal regulations governing work and immigration status create barriers to legal and social inclusion, and access to justice for migrant workers. Hastie has explored these issues most directly in the context of the low-wage streams of Canada’s Temporary Foreign Workers Program, and also in contexts of irregular migration and labour exploitation. Hastie's research aims to uncover the ways in which legal regulations shape individual decision-making and relational dynamics in and outside of the workplace for migrants with precarious status.
Steven Weldon (Co-applicant, Simon Fraser University) - "Participedia Phase Two: Strengthening democracy by mobilizing knowledge of democratic innovations" ($2,499,895), with Bonny Ibhawoh (PI, McMaster University). Steven Weldon's research examines anti-immigrant sentiment in the political arena, focusing on the psychological predispositions that lead people towards constructing narrower categories for immigrants. Weldon is also interested in the ways in which citizenship laws effect citizens’ view of outsiders; laws effecting migrants in pathway to citizenship; media and rise of the far right in Europe; and the representation of migration on both social and mainstream media.
Connection Grants
John Christopoulos (Co-applicant, The University of British Columbia) - "Interactions, Exchanges, and Transformations: European Legal Traditions and their impact on the Construction of Gender in a Global Context" ($24,695), with Doxiadis Evdoxios (PI, Simon Fraser University), Katharine Huemoeller (Co-applicant, The University of British Columbia), Dana Wessell Lightfoot (Co-applicant, University of Northern British Columbia). John Christopoulos' research focuses on early modern Europe, the history of pre-modern medicine, and the social and cultural history of early modern Italy.