5 communicators win 10th edition of SSHRC Storytellers Challenge

Postsecondary students share stories about why research matters

Toronto – Ted Hewitt, president of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), announced the winners of the 10th edition of the 2023 Storytellers Challenge. SSHRC’s annual Storytellers Challenge calls on postsecondary students to demonstrate—in up to three minutes or 300 words—how SSHRC-funded research is making a difference in the lives of Canadians. Students entering submit stories about Canadian social sciences and humanities research and how it helps improve our society and the world. Hewitt made the announcement as part of this year’s Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences (Congress), at York University.

This year’s five winners are:

• Zyrene Estallo, from the University of New Brunswick, who shared a story about helping classrooms support equity, diversity and inclusion in math learning, particularly for students of migrant and Indigenous backgrounds;
• Hannah Hunter, from Queen’s University, who told us about what historical bird sound recordings tell us about human-nature relationships of the past, present and future;
• Madison Robertson, from Queen’s University, who explained the impacts of involuntary separation of spouses in long-term care homes;
• Richy Srirachanikorn, from Concordia University, who described the relationships between play and learning in games like Minecraft; and
• Jennifer Williamson, from the University of Calgary, who shared a story about how to understand the mental health experiences of autistic students in university, to develop better mental health supports for them.

The five winners were selected from the Top 25 SSHRC Storytellers finalists, who were chosen from a highly competitive field of approximately 200 submissions from students across the country. Each finalist received $3,000 and the opportunity to present their story at the SSHRC Storytellers Showcase at Congress, in front of an audience and a panel of five judges. The Final Five winners receive an additional $1,000 each, in recognition of their outstanding abilities to communicate research.

Social sciences and humanities research helps us understand what it means to be human and points the way toward a better future for all. While research can often seem abstract, stories and storytelling can help translate complex projects into ideas and concepts we can all understand, appreciate and learn from.