The Centre for Research on Inclusion at Work (CRIW) today announced the recipient of this year’s CRIW Ignite! research grant. Funded by the RBC Foundation, in 2023 CRIW Ignite! provided up to $10,000 to collaborative research projects that advance CRIW’s mission of conducting and sharing research that advances equity, diversity and inclusion at work.

The following research project will be conducted with CRIW Ignite! funding:

The financialization of motherhood

This project aims to investigate the experience of mothers and the dynamics between motherhood, maternal performance, and economic decisions in neoliberal societies. More specifically, this study aims to highlight how mothers construct their understanding of what a financially performant mother is and how this impacts their relationship to employment income and work.

The research project will be conducted by:

  • Dr. Oriane Couchoux, Assistant Professor, Accounting, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University
  • Dr. Gabrielle Patry-Beaudoin, Assistant Professor, École de gestion, Université de Sherbrooke

Embodied experiences of international student’s cultural adjustment and inclusion/exclusion

This project explores the embodied experiences of international students’ adjustment to Canada, acquisition of cultural competence, and experiences of inclusion and/or exclusion as they settle in Canada. Toward this end, we will 1) Develop and test an interview protocol to explore embodied cultural knowledge; 2) Use this protocol to examine the embodied acquisition of cultural competence in a group of international students; and 3) Explore the relationship between embodied cultural competence and feelings of inclusion and exclusion that arise as they settle in Canada.

The research project will be conducted by:

  • Dr. Luciara Nardon, Professor of International Business, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University
  • Dr. Amrita Hari, Associate Professor, Pauline Jewett Institute of Women’s and Gender Studies – cross appointed with Department of Geography and Environmental Studies, Carleton University
  • Dunja Palić, PhD Candidate, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University

Exploring the learning and teaching experiences of graduate students from equity seeking groups in management education

This research project explores the experiences of graduate students from equity seeking groups (e.g., Black, Indigenous or People of Colour (BIPOC), Women and 2SLGBTQ+) in Management programs, using the Sprott School of Business as a case study. We have aligned our research with a similar study being conducted by Dr. Augustine Park (Carleton Sociology), so that we can compare results across disciplines and faculties. Points of difference between our two studies are: 1) we include a focus on women as an equity seeking group, given recent reports on barriers faced by women in academia (Stice, 2022) and the intersection of gender with race (Gutierrez y Muhs, et al., 2012; Harley, 2008; Hemens, 2022); and 2) participation in our research is open to anyone who is interested. Our goal is to facilitate comparisons between the experiences of students who identify with equity seeking groups and those who don’t.

The research project will be conducted by:

  • Dr. Leighann Neilson, Associate Professor, Sprott School of Business
  • Tasnuva Chaudhury, PhD Candidate, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University
  • Amirreza Afrouzi, PhD student, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University
  • Aanya Baindur, B.Com (Marketing) student, Sprott School of Business, Carleton University

CRIW Ignite! is one of the vehicles through which CRIW aims to advance knowledge and drive change towards more inclusive workplaces that welcome and support greater participation of all peoples. For more information, visit CRIW’s web pages on Research Support and Resources and Grants.

CRIW’s research activities and knowledge-sharing efforts are possible, in part, through generous financial support from the RBC Foundation. This funding is providing opportunities for conducting and sharing innovative research on inclusion at work. CRIW is grateful for the RBC Foundation’s support in making its work possible.