VIU Scholarship, Research, and Creative Activity

VIURAC Internal Award Recipients

These lists reflect VIURAC funding administered and awarded through the Scholarship, Research, and Creative Activity Office.

Explore

  • Melissa Huggan ($2,000.00) - The Localization Throttling Number of Graphs

Gather

  •  Jeff Lewis ($3,000.00) - Awareness of Climate change through Education and Research (ACER) 2024/2025 Climate Change Symposium and School/Community Presentations
  • Geraldine Manson ($3,000.00) - Traditional Plant Workshop
  • Mark Williams ($3,000.00) - VIU Model United Nations Conference, 2024 

Innovate

  • Nadine Cruickshanks ($5,000.00) - Bunyonyi Food Forest Foundation
  • Jimena Garcia ($5,400.00) - Development of Indigenous Cultural Safety Leadership Training for Psychedelic Assisted Therapy
  • Geraldine Manson ($5,000.00) - Medicine Bundles: Plants for Medicine, Nourishment, & Textiles

Inquiry

  • Peter Briscoe ($4,245.00) - Investigating the effects of the changing demographics of winery visitors on the on-site wine sales distribution channels for small and medium-sized wineries.
  • Becky Earhart ($7,000.00) - Factors Influencing Destination Memory in Children and Adults
  • Jasmine Janes ($6,500.00) - Conservation of the endangered bog bird’s foot trefoil (Hosackia pinnata)
  • Luis Meneses ($6,668.35) - Preservation of Open, Collaborative Scholarship in Digital Online Projects in the Arts & Humanities
  • Tim Stokes ($6,910.00) - Towards A Framework For The Analysis And Investigation Of Karst Springs, Aquifers And Catchments On Vancouver Island, British Columbia
  • Jacobus Swarts ($6,446.07) - Kings in Directed Graphs: A Computational Study
  • Heather Wiebe ($7,000.00) - Design of pressure-driven molecular wires and rotors 

Share

  • Gemma Armstrong ($300.00) - BC Post-Secondary Counsellors Association Annual Conference. Presentation: Journey to the Heart of Nature: Post-Secondary Counselling Inside-Out
  • Shelby Bell ($1,000.00) - Presentation at Brock's Two Days of Canada Conference
  • Anwen Burk ($860.00) - Conference Presentation: Navigating the Shifting Terrain of Online Education
  • Sarah Carruthers ($1,200.00) - On a Path to Indigenization and Decolonization of Computer Science Teaching
  • Sarah Carruthers ($1,200.00) - On Incorporating Indigenous Ways of Knowing into Computer Science Teaching as a non-Indigenous Educator
  • Brian Dick ($1,200.00) - "Developing and Implementing a Comprehensive Survey Tool to Understand Persistence in Engineering Education
  • Kyle Duncan ($1,200.00) - Lithium doped nanospray desorption electrospray ionization mass spectrometry imaging for enhanced metabolite coverage
  • Becky Earhart ($1,200.00) - Children’s Source and Destination Memory for Personal vs General Information
  • Jessica Gemella  ($1,200.00) - Stockholm International Conference of Research in Vocational Education and Training
  • Sheila Grieve ($750.00) - Weaving Together in the Health and Wellbeing of Children with the Health and Wellbeing of Land
  • David Hopwood ($1,200.00) - Life Within Death: Contextualizing Burial Practice at Kenan Tepe, Turkey from the Ubaid Period to the Late Chalcolithic Period
  • Marie Hopwood ($1,200.00) - Why Bappir Matters: Using Experimental Archaeology of Beer in the Classroom
  • Jenn Houtby-Ferguson ($1,200.00) - 2024 American Association of Geographers Conference Presentation
  • Melissa Huggan ($1,200.00) - Cops and Attacking Robbers with Cycle Constraints
  • Sylvie Lafreniere ($1,200.00) - Table ronde: Les défis des chercheurs et chercheuses francophones œuvrant dans des universités anglophones (trans: Round Table: Challenges for Francophone Researchers in Anglophone Universities)
  • David Livingstone ($920.00) - "Bankrupt Education" at 30, Panel Discussion and Book Project.
  • Lindsay McCunn ($1,200.00) - Chairship and Committee Responsibilities at the Annual Convention of the Canadian Psychological Association
  • Luis Meneses ($375.00) - Conference presentation: Exploring Applications of Artificial Intelligence in the Long-term Preservation of Digital Scholarly Infrastructures
  • Finn Meyer Cook ($1,200.00) - Intersecting Sustainabilities: Ecological Social Work and the Pursuit of Indigenous Food Sovereignty and Climate Action
  • Gara Pruesse ($1,200.00) - Approximating the Jump Number of Posets
  • Sean Toal ($1,200.00) - Are they Ready? Determining pre-service teacher competency during a global pandemic.
  • Caroline Variath ($1,200.00) - Two Presentations at The International Conference on Clinical Ethics and Consultation & Canadian Bioethics Society
  • Paula Waatainen ($1,200.00) - Designing a More Authentic Assessment of Citizenship Competency in Deliberation
  • Heather Wiebe ($1,200.00) - Travel funding for 2024 CSC and CSTCC conferences
  • Stefanie Zaklan Duff ($1,200.00) - Hawaii University International Conferences on STEM/STEAM and Education

Publish

  • Michael Asmussen ($1,000.00) - Comparison of muscle activity of the lower limbs while running on different treadmill models
  • Leigh Blaney ($883.91) - Strengthening the Indomitable Spirit of Nurses Through Targeted Resilience Education
  • Michael Govorov ($1,000.00) - A Usable Encryption Solution for File-Based Geospatial Data within a Database File System
  • Milad Pira ($1,000.00) - Publication at the Journal of Infrastructure, Policy and Development (JIPD)
  • Ajay Shrestha ($1,000.00) - Navigating AI to Unpack Youth Privacy Concerns: An In-Depth Exploration and Comprehensive Review

Engage

  • Teresa Swan ($2,000.00) - Needs Assessment: Inclusive Trades Training
  • Carolyn Swanson ($500.00) - Regional Ethics Bowl

Explore

  • Milad Pira ($2,000.00) - Bridging the Soft Skills Gap: Empowering Business Students through an Online Platform 

Gather

  • Timothy Green ($2,225.00) - Oysters are our world: public event to showcase VIU's teaching and research projects on shellfish aquaculture.
  • Jocelyne Praud ($3,000.00) - 2024 BCPSA Conference on Trust and Leadership at VIU
  • Scott Priestman ($3,000.00) - Faculty of Education M.Ed. Research Conference 

Inquiry

  • Camie Augustus ($4,500.00) - Documenting Métis: Key Themes, Issues, and Documents in Métis History, Identity, and Peoplehood
  • Sandra Johnstone ($5,000.00) - Geochemical investigation of a unique granitoid in the Nanaimo Lakes Area, British Columbia 

Share

  • Kyle Duncan ($1,200.00) - A multimodal MSI pipeline to uncover metabolic heterogeneity in ovarian tumors
  • Joanne Falvai ($1,200.00) - Inside-Out 25th Anniversary Celebration and Conference
  • Sheila Grieve ($1,200.00) - Learning Outside Together: Learning from the Land
  • Jenn Houtby-Ferguson ($300.00) - Kootenay Rockies Tourism Association (KRTA) Conference presentation
  • Jenn Houtby-Ferguson ($500.00) International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) West Conference Keynote presentation
  • Lauren Mayes ($1,200.00) - 1) Teaching Inside-Out Online During COVID-19: Expected Challenges and Unexpected Benefits 2) Inside-Out From a Correctional Perspective
  • Lindsay McCunn ($1,200.00) - The Shared Interests of EDRA and ANFA: Showcasing Research, Art, and Intersections to Encourage Member Collaboration
  • Amber Morrison ($1,200.00) - "The Beginner’s Guide to Outsider Art and Ableism" by Amber Morrison (MFA) and Matthew Fox
  • Lesley Osborne ($600.00) - Lesley Osborne
  • Ajay Shrestha ($1,200.00) - Enhancing Scalability and Reliability in Semi-Decentralized Federated Learning With Blockchain: Trust Penalization and Asynchronous Functionality
  • Wendy Simms ($1,200.00) - Preparing preservice elementary teachers to be designers of interdisciplinary learning opportunities using the Applied Design, Skills and Technologies (ADST) curriculum
  • Cheryl Warsh ($1,200.00) - Hawaii International University Conference for Arts and Humanities

Publish

  • Katharine Rollwagen ($1,000.00) - The Market that Just Grew Up: Fashioning the Teenaged Consumer in Mid-century English-Canada
  • Sean Toal ($500.00) - Are they Ready? Determining pre-service teacher competencies during a global pandemic.
  • Paul Watkins ($1,000.00) - Soundin’ Canaan: Black Canadian Poetry, Music, and Citizenship
  • Whitney Wood  ($1,000.00) - High-Tech Obstetrics, Colonialism, and Childbirth Choice in Late-Twentieth Century Canada

Amplify

  • Robin Boxwell ($1,857.00) - Arts and Humanities Cultural Tour
  • Georgina Martin ($1,200.00) - Me7 tselxemwílcemsts re sù7ec – kt Georgina Martin will teach our ways
  • Randy Fred ($1,820.00) - Uncle Randy's Bubble

Engage

  • Caroline Variath ($2,000.00) - Community Dialogues to Support Change: Navigating Together the Expansions to the Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) Legislation
  • Warren Heiti ($2,000.00 ) - Philosophy Café 2023-2024
  • Jeff Lewis ($2,000.00) - Awareness of Climate change through Education and Research (ACER): 2023/2024 ACER Funding

Explore

  • Jasmine Janes ($2,000.00) - Developing a bioinformatic pipeline for Platanthera (Orchidaceae) genomic samples
  • Patricia Geddes ($2,000.00) - Decolonizing Library Descriptive Practice: A Local Approach
  • Kyle Duncan ($2,000.00) - Visualizing metabolites directly in tissue to help decipher tumor driven immunosuppression
  • Chris Gill ($2,000.00) - Paper spray mass spectrometry as a new diagnostic tool for clinical albuminuria
  • Christine Quist ($2,000.00) - Rhododendron Revival Propagation of Rare and Endangered Species for Conservation and Learning 

Gather

  • Chai Duncan ($3,000.00)  - OCTAD: Art and Community presented by The VIEW Gallery
  • Andrew Loudon ($3,000.00) - Gather: Seaweed Challenge, Applied Learning in Local Food Systems: Seaweed Product Development
  • Marie Hopwood ($3,000.00) - Drinking Beer in a Blissful Mood: An Archaeology of Beer Tasting Event
  • Sally Vinden ($3,000.00) - IDEAS 2024 Symposium: Innovate, Design, Engage and Applied Solutions 

Innovate

  • Andrew Loudon ($5,000.00) - Seaweed Challenge, Applied Learning in Local Food Systems: Seaweed Product Development
  • Devin Ayotte ($4,200.00)  - Augmented Reality Sandbox
  • Marla Morden ($4,996.00) - Prosocial behaviours and decision-making in during pregnancy: An immersive virtual simulation (IVS) study
  • Spencer Russell ($5,000.00) - MALDI-TOF mass spectrometry for the detection of Tenacibaculum bacteria from Vancouver Island marine waters.
  • Xueling Luo ($5,000.00) - Human-in-the-loop Study for a Closed-loop Control System Applied on a Robotic Arm: A Cost-Effective Approach for Educational Purposes
  • Eliza Gardiner ($5,000.00) - Concessions of a Wannabe Rock Star - an original play by Eliza Gardiner (with focus on music video production components)

Inquiry

  • Kyle Duncan ($5,000.00) - Visualizing metabolites directly in tissue to help decipher tumor driven immunosuppression
  • Phillip Morrison ($4,332.00) - Thermal Tolerance of Chinook Salmon from the Nanaimo River
  • Kathleen Bortolin ($4,788.00) - Sit down and shut up: the silencing of women in Canadian higher education
  • Wendy Simms ($4,454.00) - Fostering STEM identities in VIU preservice teachers - phase I
  • Chris Gill ($5,000.00) - Paper spray mass spectrometry as a new diagnostic tool for clinical albuminuria

Share

  • Gillian Anderson ($1,200.00) - Menstruation and Menstrual Equity in Public Space(s)
  • Sarah Carruthers ($1,200.00) - Growing an Accessible and Inclusive Systems Design Course with PlantUML
  • Sarah Crover ($1,200.00 ) - Seminar Title - The Queen's Gambit Paper Title: The Only Good Queen is an English Queen? Tamora, Cleopatra, and the Spectre of the Foreign Queen
  • Shannon Dames ($1,200.00) - A Different Kind of Conference: Exploring Indigenous Ways of Knowing and Health through Circle and Ceremony
  • Brian Dick ($595.00) - Attending the AISES In Canada National Gathering
  • Brian Dick ($1,200.00) - Monitoring Persistence in Engineering Studies According to Demographic Groupings
  • Kyle Duncan ($1,200.00) - Differentiating prostaglandin isomers with direct mass spectrometry
  • Elizabeth Gillis ($506.77) - The short- and long-term impact of a novel disease, Rabbit Hemorrhagic Disease, on a free-living population of European Rabbits
  • Jamie Gorrell ($1,200.00) - VIU attends the 2023 BCTWS conference
  • Sheila Grieve ($1,200.00) - Plant Medicine: Supporting Growth and Well-being through Learning from Plants
  • Marie Hopwood ($1,200.00) - In the Reed Buckets There is Sweet Beer: An Archaeology of Beer, Brewing and Women in Mesopotamia
  • Melissa Huggan ($1,200.00) - The damage number of the product of graphs
  • Erik Krogh ($1,200.00) - Finding needles in a haystack: On-line membrane permeation for the analysis of trace organic contaminants in complex samples
  • Sylvie Lafreniere ($1,200.00) - “Circling Back: Re-examining Research Practices”
  • David Livingstone ($626.51) - “The idea of property in men:” Frederick Douglass’s 1860 Glasgow speech as a response to the "1619 Project."
  • Lindsay McCunn ($1,201.00) - Editorship Responsibilities at the International Conference on Environmental Psychology (ICEP)
  • Farhad Moghimehfar ($1,200.00) Climate Change: Inequitable Impact on Leisure Participation
  • Farhad Moghimehfar ($1,200.00) - Keeping It Rural Conference, Kelowna - British Columbia & Visiting colleagues at UBCO
  • Gara Pruesse ($253.75) - Greed is Good for Jump Number of Interval Posets
  • Gara Pruesse ($1,200.00) - Greed Is Good for Approximating the Jump Number for Interval Posets
  • Katharine Rollwagen ($1,200.00) - Consumer Education, Corporate Capitalism, and “Street Cents” in 1990s Canada
  • Jeanette Schmid ($1,200.00) - European Conference for Social Work Educators-Presentations
  • Wendy Simms ($1,200.00) STEM course offerings in Canadian BEd programs
  • Laura Suski ($1,200.00) - Conference Presentation: The Heritage of Playgrounds: How To Remember Play
  • Caroline Variath ($1,200.00) - Loss of Decision-Making Capacity and Access to MAiD: Associated Paradoxes and Challenges
  • Paula Waatainen ($1,200.00) - Social Context Challenges in Administering Authentic Assessments of Citizenship Competency
  • Alexandra Weissfloch ($1,200.00) - INJECTING SUSTAINABILITY INTO THE ORGANIC CLASSROOM
  • Heather Wiebe  ($1,200.00) - Travel funding for CSC 2023 in Vancouver
  • Yu Xia    ($1,200.00) - A Multi-Class EOQ Model with Applications in the Power Industry
  • Yu Xia    ($1,200.00) - The Not So Hard Nonnegative Matrix Factorization Problem and Its Applications
  • Stefanie Zaklan Duff ($1,200.00) - S.T.E.M. conference attendance 

Publish

  • Dan Baker ($1,000.00) - Publication of research-based peer-reviewed manuscript in Conservation Biology
  • Michael Govorov ($1,000.00) - Trivariate Kernel Density Estimation of Spatiotemporal Crime Events with Case Study for Lithuania
  • Whitney Wood ($1,000.00) - “Doctors Aren’t Familiar with Your Tissues”: Self-Examination and Feminist Health Activism in 1970s Canada

Amplify

Aggie Weighill ($2000) - Leisure Matters VIU  

Shannon Dames  ($1633.78) - Amplifying Success through Media: Cultivating Connection and Security with Psychedelic-assisted therapy as an effective approach to supporting mental wellness.

Explore

  • Marla Morden ($1999.90) - Using 360° Panorama and HMD Technology to Promote Ecological Validity and Experimental Control in Psychological Research
  • Linda Neilson ($2000) - ABE ELL Pathways
  • Heather Wiebe ($2000) - Conformational Changes in Lactate Dehydrogenase Under High Pressure
  • Lindsay McCunn ($2000) - The Effects of Microgravity of Wayfinding, Sense of Place, and Environmental Familiarity in the International Space Station as Experienced in Virtual Reality

Engage

  • Sheila Grieve ($2000) - Evaluating Outdoor Play in Early Learning and Care Programs; is There Need for an Assessment Tool?
  • Linda Neilson ($2000) - ABE ELL Pathways

Gather

  • Sally Vinden ($2982.50) - Plant Medicine: Supporting Growth and Well-being through Learning from Plants
  • Andrew Loudon ($3000) - Seaweed Challenge, Applied Learning in Local Food Systems: Seaweed Product Development 
  • Elizabeth Gillis ($2000) - North American Wildlife Technology Association Annual Meeting and Professional Development Conference

Innovate

  • Eliza Gardiner ($5000) - The Inclusive Theatre Project

Inquiry

  • Heather Wiebe ($5000) - Conformational Changes in Lactate Dehydrogenase Under High Pressure
  • Maureen O'Connor ($5000) - Successful Integration of Perioperative Specialty Education for 4th Year BSN Program Students

Share

  • Sheila Grieve ($1200) - Plant Medicine: Supporting Growth and Well-being through Learning from Plants
  • L'abbe Sonnet ($1200) - Geopoetics Symposium
  • Danielle Alphonse ($1200) - Strengthening Assessment of Spiritual Development in Indigenous Early Childhood Programs
  • Cheryl Warsh ($1200) - Royal Society of Canada Celebration of Excellence and Engagement 
  • Jodi Latremouille ($1200) - Grief-Writing: Navigating Individual and Collective Suffering Through and Ecological Curriculum. Conference Presentation for Hollyhock Geopoetics Symposium
  • Brian Dick ($1200) - Developing a New Engineering Technologist Career Pathway from First Year Engineering

Amplify

  • Alexandra Weissfloch ($1797) - Development of Chemical Hazards Educational Resources  
  • Patricia Johnston ($2000) - Sharing Knowledge Between North and South: Setting the Foundation for Decolonizing Arctic Education in Canada 
  • Shannon Dames  ($1633.78) - Amplifying Success through Media: Cultivating Connection and Security with Psychedelic-assisted therapy as an effective approach to supporting mental wellness.

Collaborate

  • Joanne Schroeder ($2000) - World Leisure Centre of Excellence
  • Robert Mahikwa ($2000) - VIU Research Institute for Indigenous Methodologies and Mentorship [RIMM] Gathering Community Insight, Consultation, and Establishing the Strategic Plan

Explore

  • Shannon Dames ($2000) - Explore: A ‘Two-Eyed’ Approach to Mental Health Care: Responding to the Mental Health Crises with an Innovative Transcultural Treatment Option
  • Alexandra Weissfloch ($1983) - Development of Chemical Hazards Educational Resources
  • Elizabeth McLin ($1994) - Hiring People with Diversabilities & the Theory of Planned Behavior
  • Andrew Loudon ($2000) - Microbial Ecology and Soil Health of Naturalized Meadows in Vancouver, BC

Engage

  • Jeff Lewis ($2000) - Awareness of Climate Change Through Education and Research (ACER)
  • Alexandra Weissfloch ($1890) - Development of Chemical Hazards Educational Resources
  • Christine Quist ($2000) - Rhododendron Revival Research
  • Paula Waatainen ($1951.30) - Designing an Assessment of Deliberative Dialogue with a Grade 12 teacher
  • Patricia Johnston (2000) - Sharing Knowledge Between North and South: Setting the Foundation for Decolonizing Arctic Education in Canada
  • Ken von Schilling ($2000) - Port Hardy Recreation - Robotics and Coding

Gather

    • Aggie Weighill ($3000) - BC Protected Areas Research Forum
    • Patricia Johnston ($3000) - Sharing Knowledge Between North and South: Setting the Foundation for Decolonizing Arctic Education in Canada

    Inquiry

      • Tim Stokes ($5000) - Karst Aquifer Modelling and Karst Spring Investigation, Port Alberni and Quadra Island, British Columbia
      • Aggie Weighill ($3000) - BC Protected Areas Research Forum
      • Jenn Houtby-Ferguson ($4850) - Tourism Disaster Communications: Framing Wildfire and Bushfire Risk
      • Moghimehfar Farhad ($4984) - Crowding in BC Parks: The Experiences of People with Mobility-Related Disabilities

      Innovate

      • Caroline Josefsson ($5000) - Garry Oak Ecosystem Restoration on the VIU Nanaimo Campus
      • Shannon Dames ($4980) - Innovate: A ‘Two-Eyed’ Approach to Mental Health Care: Responding to the Mental Health Crises with an Innovative Transcultural Treatment Option
      • Alexandra Weissfloch ($4467) - Development of Chemical Hazard Educational Resources
      • Elizabeth McLin ($4128.25) - Hiring People with Diversabilities & The Theory of Planned Behaviour
      • Spencer Russell ($5000) - Gene cloning and gill expression of Chinook salmon (Oncorhynchus tshawytscha) ATPase genes.
      • Spencer Russell ($5000) - Field testing of a quantitative PCR assay for the detection of Tenacibaculum ovolyticum bacteria from Vancouver Island marine waters.

      Share

      • Heather Wiebe ($1200) - Molecular dynamics investigation of the interplay between volumetric and thermodynamic properties of pressure-resistant lactate dehydrogenase
      • Heather Pastro ($1200) -Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion in Visual Imagery and Indigenous Children's Literature
      • Sarah Crover ($1200) -The Cam as “Noble Parent”: Herbert’s Anthropocentrism Reconsidered
      • Tim Stokes ($1200) - Preliminary Findings from Graphical Modelling of Two Karst Aquifers on Vancouver Island, British Columbia
      • Jean Blackburn ($1200) - Situating Representations of Indigenous Knowledge in Place & Context: Recommendations for Vendors
      • Lindsay McCunn ($1200) - Chairship Responsibilities at the Annual Convention of the Canadian Psychological Association
      • Patricia Geddes ($1200) - Situating Representations of Indigenous Knowledge in Place & Context: Recommendations for Vendors
      • Elizabeth McLin ($1200) - The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program: VIU's Experience and Belonging
      • Sylvie Lafreniere ($1200) - The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program at VIU
      • Heather Pastro ($1200) - Looking at Young People's Indigenous Literature in the Classroom
      • Heather Pastro ($1200) - British Columbia Art Teachers Association (BCATA) Annual Conference
      • Marie Hopwood ($1200) - The Movement of Women, Beer, and Feast Foods in Establishing the Inka Empire
      • Paula Waatainen ($1200) - Sharing Engage Grant and Dissertation Research at an International Conference
      • Warren Heiti ($1200) - Atlantic Region Philosophers' Association Conference
      • Sarah Carruthers ($1200) - Growing Accessible and Inclusive Systems Design Course with Plant UML
      • Jamie Gorrell ($1200) - TSW 2022: Genetic Diversity of Vancouver Island Marmots

      Publish

      • Jamie Gorrell ($1000) - Genetic Management on the Brink of Extinction: sequencing microsatellites does not improve estimates of inbreeding in wild and captive Vancouver Island Marmots (Marmota vancouverensis)