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The idea of “real education for the real world” has long been central to Concordia’s mission. In the Special Individualized Programs (MA, MSc, PhD), this mission is reflected in the strong emphasis on applied research that pervades many of our students’ thesis topics. In applied research, the point is not simply to reflect on the world, but to change it. The focus is on research-action.

One way to change the world is through designing objects and environments that enhance human performance and attachments. Many SIP PhD and MA students are interested in questions of design and have developed close ties to faculty members in the Department of Design and Computation Arts. In a project called “Designing for Sensory Decline,” for example, SIP PhD student Lois Frankel is exploring technological and cultural solutions to the problem of sensory loss among the elderly. She is devising wearable computing and sensory care environments so that the elderly may continue to live (relatively) autonomous lives. Another SIP PhD student, Andre Arnold, is interested in teleparamedicine, and the ethics of designing communications technologies for use by paramedics whose job it is to serve on the front-lines of crisis situations, such as the SARS epidemic in Toronto of a few years back. Yi Zhang, who completed her SIP M.A. in November 2008, worked in the area of sustainable design, exploring strategies for favouring long-term attachments between users and objects.

Sustainability is intimately bound up with Concordia’s identity as a university. One SIP student who has played a key role in this connection is Louise Henault-Ethier. Louise pioneered a vermicomposting project at Concordia, and her M.Sc. thesis, which integrated knowledge from the fields of organic chemistry, microbiology and engineering, grew out of her involvement with the project. Anthony Noce entered the SIP PhD program in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in biochemistry and a master’s degree in economics. For his doctoral research he proposes to do a statistical analysis of the economic prospects of moving from a petroleum-based economy to a selective or tethered hydrogen-based economy. Bridging the gap between scientific knowledge and indigenous knowledge with respect to the conceptualization and development of sustainable environmental management practices is another major focus of research at Concordia. Veronique Bussieres is researching “Conservation, local development and indigenous peoples: The potential of dynamic protected areas to reconcile conflicting interests” while Annie Lalancette is studying “Integrating traditional practice and science in fisheries management:  Tropical Rock Lobster quota management in Torres Strait, Australia”. Both students are pursuing doctoral degrees under the supervision of a faculty member in the Department of Geography.

One key way to change the world is through enhancing human interaction and designing institutions that maximize citizen participation. Community development (broadly defined) is another area of research-action which is central to Concordia’s mission . SIP PhD and MA students with an interest in community development typically turn to the Department of Applied Human Sciences and/or the School of Community and Public Affairs. SIP PhD student Frances Ravensbergen, for example, is looking into the role of local community organizations in social justice work, while SIP PhD student Andrew Trull is exploring the prospects and pitfalls of participative democracy. In his PhD thesis, Aziz Choudry reflected critically on the “NGOization of political struggles and knowledge,” drawing on his decade-long involvement with social protest and activism in the Asia-Pacific region. Aziz graduated in 2007, and is now an assistant professor in the Department of Integrated Studies in Education at McGill University. Many students like Aziz have used SIP to explore issues that arose in the course of their work or practice, to theorize those issues, and to develop a new set of best practices.

The above thesis topics represent but some of the directions applied research has taken at Concordia under the auspices of the SIP MA, MSc and PhD programs, and it should be emphasized that applied research is but one branch of SIP. Perhaps the best way to acquire a sense of the extraordinary breadth of research opportunities that await you would be to explore the following links to “Theses From the Past” and “Thesis Working Titles.”