Advancing endangered-languages research and investigating the role of generative AI in mitigating polarization on social media platforms – those are among the pressing societal challenges being addressed by McGill researchers with newly announced funding from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). 

SSHRC has awarded $14 million to 62 McGill-led projects. This includes one Partnership Grant, four Partnership Development Grants and 57 Insight Grants.    

“SSHRC’s continued support enables bold, collaborative research across the social sciences and humanities at McGill,” said Dominique Bérubé, Vice-President (Research and Innovation). “These projects are helping to amplify youth voices and build resilient communities here in Canada and beyond, which are key priorities of McGill’s Strategic Research Plan.” 

Ensuring research is relevant to youth 

Among the recipients of new Partnership Development grants are two McGill researchers leading collaborative projects that engage youth as co-creators, ensuring research better reflects their experiences and needs. 

In India, 73 per cent of students in public secondary schools do not go on to higher education, pushing many youth into exploitative, low-paid work. Joseph Levitan (Department of Integrated Studies in Education) is examining how marginalized youth in India experience entrepreneurship education – an increasingly prominent national policy response to deeply rooted social inequities. In partnership with two Indian social-sector organizations, Udhyam Learning Foundation and AeSha Foundation, Levitan’s team will co-create research and capacity-building initiatives with marginalized youth to address these gaps, while also generating insights relevant to shared challenges across the Global South. 

Video games play a central role in young people’s lives, shaping how they learn, connect and express themselves. Yet research on youth and gaming lacks shared standards across disciplines. Young people are also rarely engaged as co-creators, leaving critical gaps in understanding how youth-led game creation can foster empowerment and creativity. Manuela Ferrari (Department of Psychiatry) is leading the PLAY (Partnership for Learning, Agency and Youth Well-Being) Network, which brings together youth, parents, researchers, educators, industry and policy leaders to build a globally informed research framework and create practical tools that support youth agency through digital games. Partners include post-secondary institutions, community organizations and the video game industries from Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, India, Europe, Hong Kong and New Zealand. 

 
McGill recipients: 
 

Jessica Coon, Professor, Department of Linguistics   
Skáthne Tewarihwí:saks: A community-university partnership approach to Kanien'kéha language research and documentation  
$199,900 

Manuela Ferrari, Associate Professor, Department of Psychiatry  
PLAY (Partnership for Learning, Agency and Youth Well-Being) Network  
$199,978 

Joseph Levitan, Associate Professor, Department of Integrated Studies in Education  
Sensemaking & Self-Making: How Vulnerable Youth Experience Entrepreneurship Education in India  
$199,952