Current Projects

2021-2022 URGP "Leading Schools in Times of Crisis" ($8,195).

Prinicpal Investigator: Merli Tamtik, collaborator: Susan Darazsi

Overview:The COVID-19 pandemic has profoundly changed the practice of school leadership (Harris, 2020; Pollock, 2020). Recent literature on crisis leadership points to the following problems: 1) lack of preparedness among school administrators (Jarvis & Mishra, 2020; Tourish, 2020; Thornton, 2021); 2) dearth of empirical knowledge on how to lead in a time of pandemic (Smith & Riley, 2012; Fetters & Molina-Azorin, 2020; Harris, 2020); and 3) need for different theorizations as mainstream leadership theories are not applicable in situations of radical uncertainty (Tourish, 2020). As such, the overall goal of the project is to understand how Manitoba school principals have adapted their leadership practice in times of a global pandemic. This project has three objectives: 1) to analyze how environmental pressures (e.g., coercive, mimetic, normative) have led to leadership adaptations; 2) to collect empirical evidence on the changes in individual leadership practice in relation to one’s attitudes, skills and behaviors; 3) to theorize what are some of the contextual factors and perceived institutional approaches that enable or disable leadership adaptations in times of crisis.

2020-2021 UM/SSHRC Explore Grant "The Role of Private Pathway Colleges in Internationalization of Canadian Public Universities" ($6,992).

Principal Investigator: Merli Tamtik

Overview: There is a consensus among researchers that pathway colleges for international students in Canadian context are under-theorized and largely unexamined. The purpose of this research project is to examine and understand the relationship between pathway colleges and public universities in the Canadian post-secondary education context. The questions examines involve the following:  Are the pathway colleges are pushing the boundaries of the Canadian post-secondary education system to move away from the traditional publicly funded university-college structure? What role does internationalization, viewed as a significant pillar to Canadian immigration and labour market, play in emerging public-private-partnerships (PPPs) in education? What are the implications for students and administrators involved in pathway colleges?

2019-2024 SSHRC Insight Grant 'Workload Creep in the Social Sciences and Humanities in Canadian Research-intensive Universities' ($326,209).

Principal Investigator: Dr. Sandra Kouritzin, Co-applicants: Dr. Merli Tamtik, Dr. Jason Edgerton

Overview: Extensive empirical and anecdotal evidence suggests that the workload of university faculty members in Canada and elsewhere has intensified (Metcalf, et al., 2014). This is due to increased demands for research productivity, pressures to perform in the global knowledge economy, internationalization and from the neoliberal practices of corporate-style managerialism, accountability, and surveillance (Shahjahan, 2015; Houston et al, 2006). In this project we call this phenomena as "a workload creep" and depart to examine the following overarching research question: What is the evidence and impact of workload creep in Canadian U15 universities for Social Science and Humanities (SSH) faculty members, and for vulnerable faculty members such as those who are members of equity-seeking groups and/or the academic precariate (part time and contract academics)?

2018-2020 SSHRC Insight Development Grant 'Indigenous Youth Entrepreneurship in Winnipeg, Manitoba' ($38,701).

Principal Investigator: Merli Tamtk,  Co-applicant: Dr. Frank Deer

Overview: Innovation and entrepreneurship are seen as the key driving force supporting Canada’s social and economic development. An emerging area within Canadian innovation agenda is Indigenous youth entrepreneurship, which offers unique ways for addressing diverse social and economic needs of peoples in Canada. This project addresses the following research problem – how to bridge the Indigenous youth entrepreneurship potential to fit knowledge and labour market needs in Canada? The main objective of the project is to understand the nature and role of Indigenous youth entrepreneurship and examine how culturally relevant entrepreneurship initiatives could be best sustained in Canada.

Past Projects

2017-2019 University Indigenous Research Grant (UIRG) 'The Role of Indigenous Knowledge in Manitoba’s Innovation Policy’ ($25 000)

Principal Investigator: Merli Tamtik

Overview: An overlooked area in Canada’s innovation agenda is Indigenous innovation. A unique knowledge system, with its own concepts of epistemology, philosophy, scientific and logical validity, indigenous knowledge has been systematically fragmented, devalued and, as a result, invisible in Western scientific and policy discourses. The goal of this research project is to examine the relationship between innovation and indigenous knowledge in the context of Manitoba. The objective is to map out the current practices of community-based indigenous entrepreneurship and provide empirical evidence-based analysis on the models and approaches employed.

2016-2019 'Internationalization in Canadian K-12 School Contexts' ($20 000)

Principal Investigator: Merli Tamtik

Overview: International education has become a key governmental priority with a focus of attracting talented youth to benefit Canada’s economy. The federal government aims to increase its international student population from 239,131 in 2011 to more than 450,000 by 2022. While scholars have increasingly studied internationalization processes in post-secondary contexts, little attention has been paid to K-12 schools. This project is examining the administrative practices in K-12 schools that lead to rewarding international and intercultural experiences for students.

2014-2015 SSHRC Postdoctoral Research Project ‘Policy Coordination in Canadian Innovation Policy’ ($81 000)

Principal Investigator: Merli Tamtik

Overview: Policy coordination to support integrated and coherent policy implementation has become a major governance puzzle for most countries. Canada has been experiencing long-term tensions in federal-provincial relations that hinder innovation and research production. It is not clear how much and what kind of coordination model would best support Canada's innovation capacity. This project aims to identify approaches to policy coordination through an empirical study, focusing on Ontario. The following research question guides the study: What are the main factors shaping policy coordination in Ontario and how can these factors be used to facilitate Canadian innovation policy?