THE ROLE OF THE HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES

• The Role of HSS during COVID-19 (2020)
   
• 2018 Discussion paper on the role of the humanities and social sciences

The Role of HSS during COVID-19

Responding to a global pandemic is much more than a technical challenge, and success requires much more than technical knowledge. COVID-19 is being rigorously studied within the health sciences, but the quality of our pandemic response depends every bit as much on the contributions of sociologists, economists, political scientists, and historians, among others. The same is true of other complex challenges, from climate change to economic inequality: if it involves people, it involves the humanities and social sciences.

Our scholars’ contributions are essential, and that’s why we are putting a spotlight on them today and in the coming weeks and months. What you see here is the result and analysis of over 120 research submissions from our community.

Discover a new article every month! If you are doing HSS research on COVID-19, it’s not too late. Share your research with us.

From our blog: how Canadian social scientists are examining the pandemic

• Canadian researchers analyse the spread of COVID-19 misinformation online

• Canadian researchers examine the effects of COVID-19 within the disability community (coming January 2021)

• When pandemics and discrimination collide: researchers track the impacts of COVID-19 on Chinese Canadians and learn from their community capacity (coming February 2021)

• Layerings of risk: researchers document the experiences of racialized communities during COVID-19 (coming March 2021)

• Forging community connections to improve food systems (coming April 2021)

• Exposure risks and mounting anxieties: researchers examine COVID-19’s impacts on workers (coming May 2021)

• Canadian researchers examine impacts of remote learning and rapid changes to education (coming June 2021)

See also:

• The Canadian Sociological Association's COVID-19 Hub

• Data linking race and health predicts new COVID-19 hotspots
   
• COVID-19 Social Impacts Network: examining the socioeconomic impacts of the government regulations imposed due to COVID-19
   
• The division of labour before & during the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada

• How COVID-19 is redefining “working remotely” for Canada’s high-skilled foreign workers
   
• Mobility in the time of COVID-19

• Artwork project helps parents of kids with mental health issues answer the question, ‘Am I enough?’
   
• Anxiety-ridden Calgarians say unknowns around pandemic stoking fear
   
• The fear of COVID-19 familial infection scale: initial psychometric examination
   
• Viruses feed on exclusion: Psychiatric detention and the need for preventative deinstitutionalization
   
• Work and life in the time of Coronavirus: Carleton researchers shine a light

• Tracing COVID-19 Data: Data and Technological Citizenship during the COVID-19 Pandemic
   
• Mapping COVID-19's impacts on journalism in Canada

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The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences is sharing this research as part of its Role of HSS during COVID-19 initiative. This ongoing digital content series puts a spotlight on timely and vital research from within its member community that helps Canadians to understand, navigate, and ultimately recover from the effects COVID-19.

For media inquiries, please contact:

Camille Ferrier, 
Manager, Communications and Membership
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
T: 613-265-6993
cferrier@ideas-idees.ca

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2018 Discussion paper

This discussion paper was prepared to spark a conversation about the importance of the humanities and social sciences. The paper explores why now is an important time to undertake this project, proposes some approaches for talking about the value of these disciplines, and invites members of the humanities and social sciences community to provide feedback.