March 3, 2022
Bi-weekly news from Spark: a centre for social research innovation at McMaster University
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Work with Us! Administrative Assistant for Spark
Spark is hiring a full-time Administrative Assistant to join our growing team.
We're a busy, dynamic team looking for someone to become the heart and nerve centre of Spark going forward. If you love social research, are a beacon of calm, practicality and can-do attitude, and preferably have a lot of experience managing large teams at a University, we hope you will apply. Skills can be taught, and we welcome applications from people with a wide variety of experiences that feel they could thrive in this fast-paced, never boring position.
Want to be part of our *Spark*tacular team? Apply to job 42587 here by March 10th.
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Identity In Research Series - Quantifying Race, Ethnicity and Other Constructs
Dr. Mosi Ifatunji, University of Wisconsin at Madison
Friday March 18th - free
9:00 am - 10:00 am - Public Talk: “White Supremacy and Statistical Regression Models"
(will be livestreamed virtually)
10:00 am - 4:00 pm - Workshop: "Addressing Identity and Demography in Survey Research"
(in person only, lunch break from noon to 1pm)
Dr. Ifatunji's talk and workshop will focus on the theoretical and practical considerations for using public datasets such as census data or large-scale opinion surveys to measure identity, and how such measures get incorporated into regression-based statistical models to reflect particular understandings of identity. He will also address best practice in fielding new surveys that involve demographic data.
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Spring Cleaning? Seeking books, games, plants and miscellaneous for Spark's Co-Lab
Spark's free coworking space for research teams, grad students, faculty and staff is "in process" with aims to re-launch by the end of the month. Located in L.R.Wilson Hall 5083, the re-launched CoLab will have both shared and private workspaces, technologies and supplies to borrow, and a warm community of fellow researchers.
We're now crowdsourcing "stuff" for the CoLab. If you have cool social science books (particularly related to research/methods), games, plants, or other fabulous unwanteds that you think would make great additions to a research co-working space, we would be thrilled to come pick them up or set up drop-off. Email us at talk.to.spark@mcmaster.ca
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Join Spark on Fridays at 10:30-11:20am for a weekly "Spark Talk" focused on methods and tools of social research. Spark Talks features an innovative speaker and encourages unexpected and inter-disciplinary connections between researchers, including faculty and graduate students. Learn more about upcoming Spark events at spark.mcmaster.ca/events
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Spark Events - Winter Schedule 2022
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March 4th 10:30-11:20 am ET
A Win or a Flop? Measuring Mass Protest Successfulness in Authoritarian Settings
Dr. Kimberly Noel Turner
Register here
*Virtual Event*
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March 11th 10:30-11:20 am ET
The Trump Election and Attitudes Towards the US in Latin America
Dr. Giancario Visconti & Dr. Regina Bateson
Register: here
*Virtual Event*
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March 18th 9:00am - 10:00am - Public Talk
10:00am - 4:00pm - Workshop
Identity in Research - Quantifying Individual Identities
Dr. Mosi Adesina Ifatunji
Register here for the Public Talk
Register here for the Workshop
*Public talk will be hybrid, workshop will be in-person*
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March 25th 10:30 - 11:20 am ET
Applied Social Research: Insights and Opportunities with Brighter Spark Applied Research
Allison Van and members of Brighter Spark Applied Research
Register here
*Virtual Event*
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April 1st 10:30-11:20 am ET
A White Researcher in South Africa: Reflections on Positionality
Dr. Holmes
Register: here
*Virtual Event*
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April 8th 9am- 12pm and 1pm-4pm ET
Identity in Research : Arts-Based Approaches to Exploring Identity
Dr. Carla Rice
Registration Coming Soon
*In-Person Event*
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In case you missed it:
Introduction to Interviewing to Measure Impact Workshop
Allison Van
Check it out here:
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Resources for Researchers
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Looking to pool software licences?
Now you can! Fill out this form and we will reach out if we can match you with others looking to pool licences.
We are also attempting a pilot in fall term allowing for virtual desktop access to several licenses for major Qualitative Data Analysis software, and will be seeking volunteers to test out the viability of this option. FSS faculty, please email talk.to.spark@mcmaster.ca if you're interested in participating.
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Research Conversations
We provide up to 4 hours of free support each year to all McMaster researchers (students, staff and faculty) on every social research topic imaginable. If we can't help you, we'll help you find someone who can.
Qualtrics Licences
If you are an FSS researcher who would like to request access to Qualtrics survey software, please fill out this form: https://forms.gle/Gn2KvYgdebjo8d2W8.
Brighter Spark Applied Research
Spark offers custom research and evaluation, as well as highly skilled assistance in implementing virtually any social research method. Our cost-recovery services include methods and software training, custom research, state-of-the-art facilities, and taking on elements of your project to support its completion.
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Help us profile your research, publications, job ads, opportunities, and upcoming events by sending them to: talk.to.spark@mcmaster.ca to be showcased in our following newsletter.
Post-Doc Opportunity: Department of Political Science
Dr. Michelle Dion invites application from Post-Doctoral Political Scientists with expertise in advanced statistical, causal inference, and/or computational methodologies for an initial one year in-residence Post-Doctoral appointment, with the potential to be renewed for an additional 12-month period.
Posting Close Date: March 4th 2022
For more information and to apply visit (Job Ad 43260) : https://bit.ly/34FAjzO
Sherman Centre for Digital Scholarship Workshop
"Data Privacy Best Practices"
March 10th 2022 at 1:30-3:00pm
The Privacy office joins to discuss data privacy best practices including considerations for collecting, using, and sharing personal information.
Register here: https://libcal.mcmaster.ca/event/3651193
After the success of last terms workshops, the Sherman Centre is delighted to host 10+ sessions in Winter 2022. There is something for everyone (data visualization, StoryMaps software, two workshops on Microsoft Excel, and more). See the full event lineup and register here
Mapping the Global Dimensions of Policy Conference
The Department of Political Science at McMaster, in conjunction with the Canadian Research Chair in Public Policy and Globalization, Institute for Globalization and the Human Condition, and the School of Earth, Environment and Society are excited to present "Mapping the global dimension of policy 11- Multiple crises: Recovery, reform, transformation. This conference brings together graduate students whose research speaks to the questions raised in the fields of globalization and policy studies.
Conference dates: March 11-12th 2022.
For full conference details visit: https://bit.ly/3qiJ1N3
Workshop: Casual Inference from Longitudinal Data
Experts in longitudinal data analysis present cutting edge methods for casual interpretations in their respective fields and interactively discuss how these methods can be applied to other fields.
Workshop: March 29th, March 30th and April 1st from 4-7pm Central European Time
For more information and to register, visit here:
Emerging Municipal Leaders Forum
Taking place as part of the 2022 Good Roads Conference, hear from professionals in Ontario's municipal transportation and infrastructure sector about what a career in this field looks like. There is a $40 (+ HST and fees) cost to attend this event. Those who register will also be granted access to all Good Roads sessions throughout the week.
Sunday April 10th 2022 at 2-5pm EDT
Learn more and register here
Summer Institute in Computational Social Science, Rutgers University
The purpose of the Summer Institute is to bring together graduate students, postdoctoral researchers and beginning faculty interested in computational social science. Will involve lectures, group probelm sets and participant-led research projects. There will also be outside speakers. Participants expected to fully attend in person (may shift online if necessary due to COVID).
Application Materials DUE by March 22, 2022
Summer Institute: June 20th to July 1st, 2022
Full details and registration can be found here.
2022 ICPSR Summer Program
For summer 2022, the ICPSR Summer Program will offer its renowned training program either in-person in Ann Arbor, or as a fully online format. The 2022 Program will feature a broad curriculum ranging from introductory to advanced courses in a variety of methods and techniques.
Registration for the First Session will close on Sunday, June 12, 2022. Registration for the Second Session will close on Sunday, July 10, 2022.
Learn more about the summer program here
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In this new section, we want to celebrate the achievements of colleagues, friends, and those doing important social research with the potential to spark a brighter world. We welcome recommendations for kudos features (including for yourself). Please send them to: talk.to.spark@mcmaster.ca.
Shout out to Gerard Di Trolio (PhD Student, Labour Studies) for the analysis of Uber's recent deal with one of Canada's biggest unions in the JACOBIN article "Uber Got a Sweetheart Deal with One of Canada's Biggest Unions"
Read the full article here
Kudos Diana Singh (Postdoctoral Fellow, Sociology) and team for developing the "Emotions Matter Study" to examine employee well-being and the impact of COVID-19 and to get insights on how to better support workers. This work was featured in the Brighter World Article "Survey sheds light on how emotional labour has taken a toll on various workers throughout pandemic"
Read the Brighter World Article here
A big congratulations to Renata Hall (PhD Student, Social Work) for the nomination for a 2022 YWCA Women of Distinction Award in Education. This award is aimed at celebrating the women and girls who build Hamilton and Halton.
Read more about Renata and the award here
Kudos to Vass Bednar (Executive Director, Master of Public Policy Program) who authored the article "Catfishing prices on dating apps are a hook for competition reform" for iPOLITICS. Vass states "the data-driven personalized pricing that Tinder uses is duplicitous and lacks any rationale, other than the exploitation of consumers"
Read the full article here
Congratulations to Amanda Bull (MA Student in Health, Aging and Society), for being awarded the first Karl Kinanen Graduate Award, and Bria Mitrovica (Undergrad Student, Health, Aging and Society) who was named the first Karl Kinanen Undergraduate recipient on behalf of the Gilbrea Centre for Studies in Aging.
Read more about the award and their research here
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