Artist's rendering of the future Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

Brock University will host a celebration event next week to mark the start of construction on its new Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts in downtown St. Catharines.

The celebration happens Friday, May 31 at 11 a.m. at 198 St. Paul St., on the school grounds. Parking is not available on site.

When it opens, the school will bring 500 students, faculty and staff into the city’s core when it moves from Brock’s main campus. The new school will be adjacent to a new Performing Arts Centre and Spectator Facility, which are being built by the City of St. Catharines.

Researches discuss grants strategies and other issues during SSHRC Day on May 13.

The Office of Research Services (ORS) is setting up a voluntary “peer support” structure for researchers to turn to their colleagues for direction, advice and other support during the application process for Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) funding and grants.

ORS has also hired students to put together the Common CV for researchers applying SSHRC funding.

And, researchers who received a “4A” ranking on their funding applications are eligible to get a $2,000-grant if they re-apply to the upcoming Insight Grant Competition.

These are among measures announced at SSHRC Day, a workshop held May 13 for researchers to discuss strategies for applying for SSHRC and other research funding.

Kevin Kee, Associate Vice-President of Research, says SSHRC Day’s main message is that there’s “strength in numbers.”

“We are our own best resource,” Kee said. “Reading through the comments (evaluating the SSHRC Day event), what came out again and again is that people overwhelmingly want a mechanism that will allow us to support one another by looking at each others’ grant applications and showing how these might be strengthened.”

Kee said that the common CV, a highly detailed list of a researchers’ activities and accomplishments that will be required with applications starting in early 2014, is a challenge that can take 20 hours or more to create.

SSHRC represents a major, but very competitive, pot of funding for Canadian researchers in the social sciences and humanities through its connection grants, partnership grants, insight grants and talent grants, each with their different focuses and requirements.

ORS office manager Carrie Kelly shared highlights of SSHRC’s current strategic plan and said there’s an increasing focus on longer-term projects of four to five years that address complex challenges and benefit society.

“They are giving fewer scholars more money,” she said. “They are really taking an all-or-nothing approach.”

A panel of researchers who had been involved in SSHRC funding committees, along with ORS staff, shared tips on how to apply for SSHRC and other funding.

Pascale Lapointe-Antunes from the Department of Accounting, who sat on SSHRC’s Insight Development Grant committee in 2011 and 2012, stressed the need for applications to be written clearly and simply.

“So if I take this proposal and I read it and I have absolutely no idea what you’re taking about, then it’s very likely to end up being not funded, so the language is very important,” Lapointe-Antunes said.

Phrasing concepts into easily digestible sentences will go far in a situation where each application has limited discussion, suggested Elizabeth Sauer, with the Department of English Language and Literature.

“So give them the soundbites: highlight the key questions, the key issues that you want them to be able to take away from the application and present to the committee,” Sauer told the gathering.

She noted that creating a website to make research accessible to the broader community would also be very helpful.

And, while keeping SSHRC program officers in mind, make sure to write for your peers, as they have key influence, says David Siegel, with the Department of Political Science.

But he cautioned researchers not to mould themselves and their research into what they think the reviewers want to see, but rather pursue the line of research according to their own interests and plans.

“You can write a better grant if you’re comfortable with this and if this is what you want to do,” Siegel said. “If you try to contort yourself to do something that you’re not particularly comfortable with, that’s going to show in the grant.”

Other advice and tips shared at SSHRC Day include:

• Don’t merely re-purpose an old application
• Don’t over-inflate budgets, as SSHRC is only allowed to cut a budget to a maximum of 30 per cent
• If you are a new scholar, apply for the Insight Development Grant. Seventy per cent of those grants went to “emerging scholars”
• Ensure that your literature review is recent and relevant
• Build alliances with community or non-profit organizations as a way of spreading the influence, impact and “knowledge transfer” of your research on society
• Do not write your application like a “thesis proposal” where everything has been done except for the data collection or running the model.

Research officer Josie Reed said researchers should start thinking about their research plan at least one year before the deadline and suggested coming to ORS for support at least six months before the funding deadline.

“We are your advisers on these matters,” she said. “We are your best cheerleaders. We facilitate your grants. We’re like midwives delivering your research application to the agency.”

Research officer Tressie Dutchyn, whose docket includes SSHRC applications, urged researchers to be persistent with their applications, noting that, on average, it might take two or three times before an application is funded.

“I was once told by an extremely successful researcher that he applies to more competitions than anyone he knows, he gets rejected from more and he is more successful, so the key is not to give up - to keep applying - because eventually you will be successful,” she said.

Jane Koustas is gearing up to head to Victoria next month.

There, the professor of Modern Languages, Literatures and Cultures will take in Congress 2013, the flagship event for Canadian social sciences and humanities scholars.

But Koustas will also be hard at work promoting next year’s Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

As the academic convener of Congress 2014 - hosted by Brock University and organized by the Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences - Koustas will be wooing thousands of academics, researchers and policy makers to Niagara for the next edition of the conference, Borders without Boundaries.

“What we’re trying to showcase is research and the fact that Brock is moving toward, if it’s not already become, a comprehensive university,” Koustas said, noting Brock’s growth in arts, science and graduate research.

“I think anyone who was here in 1996 (when the University last hosted Congress) will see Brock has grown in all directions, not just student population.”

Still, Koustas will need some help to get the word out about Congress 2014.

So an informal meet and greet for faculty and staff involved with the conference, and those heading to Victoria will be held on Monday, May 27 from 10 a.m. to noon in Sankey Chamber.

During that time, there will be two drop-in information sessions about Congress 2014 and promotional materials will be provided to participants to hand out in Victoria and elsewhere.

“If people have questions about what’s happening here, before they go to Victoria they can have their questions answered,” Koustas said.

Congress 2014 will bring 70 learning societies and associations to Brock from May 24 to 30, 2014. During the course of the week, 8,000 people will be on campus and in Niagara.

“Part of this is to encourage people to visit the community as well and turn it into a holiday opportunity, too,” said Koustas, whose efforts are supported by several Brock departments, including Community and Ancillary Services. “It’s also the idea of celebrating the region and Brock’s 50th anniversary and how very different it is from the Brock people would have seen (at Congress) in 1996.”

Visit Congress 2014 online.

Professors David DiBattista (psychology) and Lorne Adams (kinesiology), who retired last month, presented their last lectures on May 1 at the annual Spring Perspectives event hosted by the Centre for Pedagogical Innovation.

Videos of their talks, the concept of which is based on the New York Times best-selling book The Last Lecture, are now available online.

Eligible nominees are professional St. Catharines artists in any discipline, who have received critical recognition for excellence in their art practice in St. Catharines and beyond, have been actively practicing their art form for at least 10 years and whose work has made an impact on the St. Catharines community.

Winners will be announced at a ceremony at the St. Catharines Museum on June 8.

Charles Conteh

Political Sciences Prof. Charles Conteh has been honoured with an award for excellence from Emerald Literati Network.

His paper, entitled Public management in an age of complexity: regional economic development in Canada, was recently chosen as a Highly Commended Award winner by the network.

The Emerald Literati Awards for Excellence recognize the efforts of authors and editors, and celebrate the outstanding contributions made, not only to Emerald journals and books, but to the body of knowledge itself.

On June 11-12, Riesling lovers get a rare chance to join winemakers, grape growers, wine experts and media when the 2013 Riesling Experience conference is hosted by Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI).

The event is an unabashed celebration of Riesling’s style, structure and purity.

“Riesling is what we do best in Niagara,” said conference chair Angelo Pavan, vice-president and winemaker at Cave Spring Cellars. “It’s by far the most pure and versatile variety that gives us this great panorama, from great table wines to luscious dessert wines.”

The event includes discussions with top experts, followed by a journey through some of Niagara’s oldest Riesling vineyards on the second day.

Day 1 features compelling speakers Nikolaus Weis, owner of the world-renowned St. Urbans-Hof Family Estate Winery in Germany; Terry Acree, sensory researcher at Cornell University in the United States; and Kathy Cannon, director of wines and vintages at the LCBO.

“Participants can hear world-class speakers on the whole gamut of the Riesling experience,” said Pavan. “They will also taste wines from one of the greatest Riesling producers in the world St. Urbans-Hof, and most of the Riesling producers here in Niagara.”

Weis says he plans to lead a discussion on the ageability of Riesling, including the sensory changes Riesling goes through as it ages.

“Canadian wine regions offer the right cool climate conditions for a special grape variety like Riesling,” said Weis. “Riesling was one of the first vinifera vines planted in Canada. It is fascinating to follow the development of different Riesling styles produced by Canadian wineries now for almost 40 years.”

Day 2 will see participants head into the vineyards of Niagara-on-the-Lake to visit some of Niagara’s pioneer growers, hear first-hand accounts about growing Riesling grapes and taste the results that come from each vineyard.

Registration is open to the public, and Niagara vintner Craig McDonald says it is a chance to be seized.

“For Riesling fans or just the plain adventurous who might enjoy tramping around the beautiful vineyards of Niagara-on-the-Lake, this year’s Riesling Experience is one not to miss,” said McDonald, senior winemaker at Trius Winery at Hillebrand. “We’ll also enjoy a diverse sampling of some of the finest Ontario Rieslings over an incredible lunch at Trius Winery at Hillebrand.”

The conference will showcase Ontario Rieslings paired with food, including an optional vineyard dinner at Ravine Vineyard Estate Winery. Lunch on the second day will take place at Trius Winery at Hillebrand, and a conference-closing event will be held at Inniskillin Wines, with participants able to enjoy casual food, local wine and craft beer from Niagara brewers.

Visit the 2013 Riesling Experience for more information

Want to run for a good cause? Student Life and Community Experience is putting together a Brock team for the Rankin Cancer Run on May 25 in St. Catharines.

T minus 10 days until the Rankin Cancer Run and Cara Eaton is hopeful she’ll see more Brock red this year in the sea of white t-shirts that fill the run course.

So far, 38 people have joined the Brock team participating in the run on May 25 in St. Catharines, but Eaton, a student co-ordinator of marketing for Student Life and Community Experience, would love to see the head count reach at least 60.

And with it, Eaton hopes the Brock team can bring $3,000 in donations that will go to local cancer treatment and support programs.

“But we’re not limiting ourselves to that,” said Eaton, who would like to see those participation and donation goals surpassed. “We want to get us out there as a community partner.”

As extra incentive, the first 50 people who join the Brock team will get a limited edition run t-shirt. Participants can run or walk the five-kilometre route that starts at the Grantham Lions Club on Niagara Street.

This is the eighth year that Brock has participated in the Rankin Cancer Run, which has raised about $3.2 million for Niagara hospitals, hospices and cancer-related organizations.

To help reach the $3,000-goal, two pre-run fundraisers will be held on campus, including a golf competition on Wednesday, May 22, from noon to 1 p.m. in the Jubilee Courtyard.

Participants can buy one ball for $1 or five balls for $3 for the chance to hit one closest to the pin and win a prize. Brock swag will be given to the top three golfers.

A lunchtime campfire will also be held on Thursday, May 23. Faculty, staff and students are invited to make s’mores, play a song - or listen to one - on a guitar and make a donation to the Rankin Cancer Run.

The campfire happens, weather-permitting, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the fire pit near Alphie’s Trough.

Neither Eaton nor co-organizer Bailee Malivoire have participated in the Rankin Cancer Run before but both are looking forward to an event that has drawn more than 10,000 people from throughout the region.

“I’m excited to be in that environment and see that enthusiasm and everyone pumped up,” Malivoire said.

For more information or to join the team, email slce@brocku.ca or visit the Rankin Cancer Run online to donate.

The theme of this year’s conference is connecting, sharing, learning, with programming that focuses on international student advising and support, exchange/mobility advising and support, ESL programming, international student services, and internationalization and institutional development.

The conference’s goal is to advance international education in Ontario and provide the opportunity for educators to learn from each other.

Organized by International Services and Programs Abroad, and ESL Services, and co-hosted by Niagara College, the conference has attracted more than 140 international educators to the Brock campus.

This is the fourth time it has been held at the University.