The proposed project aims to develop a robust, user friendly educational strategy and tools that can be used to empower people close to the social problems to address these challenges through sustainable, revenue generating entrepreneurial action. The research explores how education, as a social science, can contribute to positive social changes through studies in entrepreneurship and innovation. The methodology is designed to use real life, real time data to identify the most effective educational tools that inspire creation of socially innovative business models across cultures.

Annually, governments worldwide invest a lot of money from public budgets on research projects to solve societal challenges. Still, there is a huge gap between research-produced knowledge in universities and policies and practices in society. One challenge to increasing societal impact is aligning research projects with the needs and challenges of local communities. This project investigates the potential role of NGOs in informing research projects about the local challenges by using an online web-based platform.

The COVID pandemic and looming climate crisis have pushed people to become aware of our vulnerability and rethink our lives/lifestyles. This proposed research sees mindfulness as important in supporting school educators to educate for sustainable living in environmental crises. Mindfulness has gained a mainstream status in school-based programs for its benefits on teachers and students' wellbeing.

This Mitacs project will support the VOICE program in building evaluation capacity and supporting evaluation of their program curriculum and mentor-mentee relationships as a result of completing the program. The Mitacs intern will work collaboratively with the VOICE project leaders in developing and carrying out an evaluation framework, and will work to ensure that the evaluative results inform meaningful change to the varying components of the program.

This Indigenous language revitalization project consists of four sub-projects that together have the potential to significantly support the revitalization of Kwak'wala: the language of the Kwakwaka'wakw Nations. Exploring the vital link between Indigenous holistic wellness and language revitalization will be a central theme of the project.

This research documents the social impact of an Indigenous food systems development and education program called Kitigay. Kitigay means to plant in Ojibway to describe planting food but also ideas and education. This proposed participatory research supports farm and wild rice paddy design, implementation, training, and food product marketing in the First Nation of Brokenhead Ojibway Nation. This research explores how community-led Indigenous food systems education and projects can meet communities' needs and priorities to foster Indigenous food sovereignty and self-determination.

The proposed project plans to assist in the development of software that is designed to accompany traditional fitness equipment like stationary bicycles. By utilizing game-design elements in the software, in conjunction with the spin bike, our goal is to show improvements in physical exercise, self-regulation, and learning in children. We also plan to take a closer look at the impacts and implications that COVID has had on physical and mental health outcomes and seek to examine the barriers and opportunities that currently exist in today's shifting education sector.

HOB! is a community-based action research project with the aim of supporting visible minority newcomer women (VMNW) in starting entrepreneurial businesses. The research objectives of the project include identifying challenges and opportunities that VMNW face in the business environment of Canada. Moreover, this research will provide suggestions for improvement of employment and self-employment services for immigrant women.

The Nshwaasnangong Child Care and Family Centre in partnership with Western University and CityStudio London provide an internship opportunity for a Western University graduate student to research, what the tensions and debates are when establishing an early learning and child care framework from an Indigenous perspective.

Since 1979, Canadians have used the Private Sponsorship of Refugee (PSR) program to sponsor and resettle refugees in their communities. One of the roles community-based refugee resettlement volunteers play is helping newcomers find work or set up a small business. Research indicates that community-sponsored refugees make a faster and more resilient economic transition, but we don’t know why.