Faculty members’ research topics span social work’s central commitments to respond to individual and social problems and pursue social justice.
Methodologically, we employ a range of critical approaches to knowledge-building – approaches that consider power relations in research and practice.
Faculty members’ research is funded by a variety of academic, community and professional sources. Our success in knowledge mobilization – our engagement with theoretical, applied/professional, community and public audiences – is an area of particular strength.
Please see individual faculty members' profiles for information on their research and links to publications.
Below are Research Snaps of selected projects.
Research SNAPS
For a quick look at the research our faculty conducts, browse our research snaps. Snaps are short, readable summaries of research which emphasize why research matters.
Research SNAPS: Salvadoran Families Negotiate Adolescence in a Canadian Context
Adolescence can be a challenging transition period for all parents and children, including immigrant families who must use resourcefulness and resilience to navigate between cultures and keep families together. Canadian immigrant Salvadoran mothers...
Research SNAPS: The Role of Time in Shaping the Caregiving Experiences of Chinese Grandparents and Skilled Immigrant Mothers in Canada
When Chinese skilled immigrant mothers cannot balance care time and work/settlement time, grandparents often assume the caregiving role despite how it disrupts their traditional experiences of aging. From a temporal perspective, these childcare...
Research SNAPS: Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities Critique and Take Control of their Media Images
From the perspective of people with intellectual disabilities, the media inappropriately portrays them in public photographic imaging by conveying them as ‘other’, and as incompetent and lacking power. This project gave people with intellectual...
Research SNAPS: Mothering with HIV : Experiences of Health and Social Surveillance of Mothers living with HIV
Pregnancy and motherhood for women living with HIV in Canada is a success story. At the same time, these women continue to experience HIV-related stigma in a number of health and social care settings, as well as a complicated legal context given the...
Research SNAPS: The Impact of Childhood Trauma on Adult Chronic Homelessness
Adverse childhood events significantly contribute to the state of being of chronically homeless adults. Society's response to homelessness among youth and adults must address the impact of trauma inflicted by those negative childhood events.
Research SNAPS: Aboriginal Healing Through Community Building
Efforts to help Aboriginal people regain overall health--whether physical, mental, emotional, or spiritual--and heal from historical and ongoing trauma need to focus on the self-determination of the Aboriginal community.