Queen's professor receives prestigious national grant
August 27, 2014
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By Anne Craig, Communications Officer
Queen's University international security expert Stéfanie von Hlatky (Political Studies) has received a grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), one of only three professors to ever receive funding from the Partnership Development Grant in the program's four-year history.
The director of Queen's Centre for International and Defence Policy received $199,944 over three years to study corporate social responsibility practices within the mining industry.
Stefanie von Hlatky has earned a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant."There is a growing recognition from industry stakeholders and community actors for the need to develop holistic security approaches to manage projects in conflict-prone environments," says Dr. von Hlatky, pointing to recent events in Papua New Guinea, South Africa and Tanzania. "Given Canada's involvement in the mining sector, this project will focus on the extractive industries as a test case and will help community-level stakeholders and the private sector to anticipate and manage security problems everywhere they operate."
The research project identifies four objectives:
- Promoting cross-sector knowledge exchanges on core security themes by undertaking field research and organizing practical workshop
- Creating a framework to address conflict prevention and conflict management as part of corporate social responsibility activities
- Training and mentoring emerging security experts by providing hands-on methods training and internship opportunities for professional development
- Disseminating the team's research findings through proactive engagement with non-academic stakeholders, from governments to local communities.
"I was thrilled with the news that Dr. von Hlatky had been successful in her application for such competitive funding," says Steven Liss, Vice-Principal (Research). "She has been doing tremendous work in the international security field and her research also contributes and enhances Queen's leadership in promoting safe and successful communities, a major theme of the Strategic Research Plan."
Six institutional partners will contribute to the research project: the Centre for International and Defence Policy at Queen's (CIDP), the McGill/Universite de Montreal Centre for International Peace and Security Studies (CIPSS), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Geneva Center for the Democratic Control of Armed Forces (DCAF), the Center for Security Governance (CSG) and Rio Tinto.
See all the successful applicants here.