February 2023, First Nations of Canada (FNUniv) announced the FNUniv Board of Governors Research Awards. These awards provide FNUniv faculty with research funding to undertake research and scholarly work that has potential to be developed into larger scale, externally funded research programs.
In 2022, Dr. Angelina Weenie was a co-applicant on a SSHRC Partnership Development Grant that received $199,856 for the following research project: International Indigenous Consortium of Teacher Educators: Indigenous Resurgence and Digital Technologies in Teacher Education.
In 2022, Dr. Omar El-Halfawy (UofR Chemistry and Biochemistry), Dr. Fidji Gendron (Indigenous Knowledge and Science, FNUniv) and Dr. Vincent Ziffle (Indigenous Knowledge and Science, FNUniv) received a New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) grant through SSHRC worth $250,000.00 for the following research project: Uncovering novel biofilm-associated virulence factors and exploring Indigenous remedies to target bacterial wound infections.
In 2022, Inspirit Foundation awarded a grant of $100,000 to the Indigenous Communication (INCA) and Fine Arts program to support radio training and development of CFNU.
In 2021/2022, FNUniv received Tri-Council grant holding status. FNUniv can now hold its own grants from SSHRC, CIHR, and NSERC and receive the indirect costs from all Tri-Council grants.
In the Fall of 2021, the Indigenous Peoples’ Health Research Centre (IPHRC) successfully transitioned to FNUniv from the UofR.
In 2021, Canadian Heritage awarded a grant to Shannon Avison in Indigenous Communication (INCA) and Fine Arts to produce a website and podcasts in the Indigenous languages of Saskatchewan. After consulting with language keepers and Elders, the project was named pîkiskwêwin–language in Cree. Due to COVID, most of the training for podcasters and designers has been done over Zoom; however, “we did record the first four episodes of a cooking show in person, following COVID protocols and entirely in Michif.” Although there are many podcasts by Indigenous producers, few are in Indigenous languages. The pîkiskwêwin podcasts are produced entirely in Indigenous languages, with English used only in the program summaries and producer bios. Here is a link to the website: https://www.pikiskwewin.ca/
In Fall 2021, a 4-year CIHR Project Grant of $512,546.00 was awarded to researchers at the First Nations University of Canada to conduct a study that will centre on the teachings of Elders and Knowledge Keepers from the File Hills Qu’Appelle Tribal Council (FHQTC) to develop educational materials on traditional birthing and child-rearing. The project is entitled takohpinawasowin: Knowledge Keepers’ Stories of Traditional Birthing and Child-Rearing Practice. The FNUniv research team consists of the following FNUniv faculty members: Dr. Brenda Green in INHS (Nominated Principal Investigator); Dr. Kathleen O’Reilly in Indigenous Education; and Cassandra Wajuntah (PhDc) in INHS.
In Summer 2021, FNUniv, IPHRC and the UofR Faculty of Science were awarded NSERC PromoScience funds for the next three instalments of the Science Camps for Saskatchewan Indigenous Youth.
The following faculty were recipients of 2021 UofR Seed Grants:
Dr. Richard Dosselmann and Dr. Edward Doolittle: Application of Traditional Indigenous Knowledge to Modern Technology.
Dr. Arzu Sardali and Dr. Andrei Volodin: Statistical Analysis of The Influence of Temperature Oscillations on Birth and Death Time Series in Provinces and Territories of Canada.
Dr. Vincent Ziffle: Analytical and Organic Chemistry of Southern Saskatchewan Medicinal Plant Secondary Metabolites, and Molecular Modification towards Privileged Structures.
In 2020, Dr. Angelina Weenie and Dr. Kathleen O’Reilly, FNUniv Indigenous Educations faculty, were successful co-applicants on a 2.5 Million SSHRC Grant focused on PUPP (Partnership on University Plagiarism Prevention). The Ministerial announcement was made in April 2021 and First Nations University of Canada is one of the partner institutions. Whitney Ogle is the Research Assistant for this project. She is currently enrolled in the Master of Indigenous Education program at the First Nations University of Canada.
(the good path through life)