This research collective is inspired by the idea that broader political, social, economic, and cultural developments can be usefully captured and understood where people live and experience them—at the local level. Communities are more than groupings of people; they’re embedded in place, time, and distinct context.  With particular attention to the communities of the Grand River watershed, we study the multiple and overlapping experiences of race, gender, Indigenous-settler relations, immigration, religion, and work in both urban and rural contexts.  And we do so through local, place-based research, including oral history and public history, that emphasizes collaboration, exchange, and public service.

How well is Canada navigating a dynamic regional and global context marked by profound political, socio-cultural, economic and environmental shifts?  What kinds of challenges are Canadian governments facing, and how are they addressed with the tools of public policy?

The ‘Policy Connections for Canada’ collectiveexists to foster research, education, and discussion of Canada’s policy choices in a changing regional and international landscape. It acknowledges and engages with the complexity, interconnectivity and uncertainty that make public policy such a difficult yet essential field of study and practice.  The cluster’s researchers conduct multidisciplinary research on a wide variety of issues, including trade and foreign policy; climate and environmental policy; immigration, citizenship and refugee policy; as well as social policy and urban development.

Canada is being called on to engage critically with our collectively held notions of citizenship, publics and belongings as one step toward ensuring social justice for diverse populations. The Publics and Social Justice research collective fosters research, education, and cross-disciplinary discussion and collaboration on historical and contemporary inequities as these inform our diverse experiences of belongings, both local and national, while also complicating the notion of belonging itself.

This cluster’s researchers conduct multi-/inter-disciplinary research in a wide variety of areas including Indigenous settler-relations and histories, feminism and the politics of decolonization, reproductive and environmental justice, critical security studies, memory and visual culture, religious and diasporic identities and belongings, Black Canadian cultural production, immigration and refugee policy and citizenship, citizenship education, Caribbean religions in transnational contexts, African diaspora, religion and migration, gendered violence,  gender and diversity studies.

War is a near-constant aspect of the human experience. For better or worse, it has fundamentally shaped societies across the world.

The War and Society collective exists to foster research, education, public outreach and discussion of historical and contemporary conflict. It acknowledges the importance of conflict as well as its diverse and far-reaching impacts which extend beyond the battlefield.

The War and Society collective encompasses a vast array of topics. The Centre’s researchers study the conduct of specific campaigns and wars, analysing how conflicts were fought, why specific decisions were made and how certain outcomes occurred. They also explore the social and cultural aspects of war, including the medicalisation of conditions like “shell shock” or “PTSD,” and wartime experiences on the battlefield and at home. Still, others explore the short- and long-term effects of war on individuals and social change, peacekeeping and peacebuilding initiatives by local and foreign governments and collective modes of remembrance and commemoration of past conflicts.

Ultimately, the War and Society collective examines the totality of war and endeavours to understand how it has shaped the past and present.