McMaster social scientists and humanities researchers have received more than $1.3 million to study topics such as the cultural politics of computer game playing, restructuring of the police and prison guard systems and the workplace and mental health.

The 14 standard research grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada support research in broad areas such as the Canadian family, the new economy, globalization, arts and culture, environment and law and justice.

The standard research grants, worth up to $250,000 over three years, support investigator-chosen projects by individual researchers and small teams.

Researchers at more than 60 universities across Canada were awarded funding through this national peer-review 2003 competition.

Three researchers received funding from the Initiative on the New Economy program for separate projects on executive compensation, firm performance and the quality of earnings; living standards, productivity growth and economic change and work organization and health in the new economy.

The new economy research grants, worth up to $300,000 over three years, support research projects that focus on aspects of the new economy.

The McMaster Initiative on the New Economy recipients are:

Thomas Crossley, assistant professor, economics, $155,436

Living standards, productivity growth, and economic change: evidence from micro data

Kiridaran Kanagaretnam, $72,500

Robert Mathieu, Wilfrid Laurier University

Executive compensation, firm performance and the quality of earnings in the new economy

Wayne Lewchuk, professor of economics, director of labour studies, $127,042

Work organization and health in the new economy

The McMaster standard research grant recipients are:

Tracy Prowse, post-doctoral fellow, School of Geography & Geology, $70,588

Bioarchaeological investigation of a rural Roman cemetery (2nd century AD) at Vagnari, South Italy

Andrew Mactavish, assistant professor, School of the Arts, $55,241

Producing pleasures: the cultural politics of creative computer game play

Claude Eilers, associate professor, classics, $75,780

Josephus' documents and the evolution of Jewish privileges in Roman Asia minor

Bruce Newbold, associate professor, School of Geography & Geology, $95,700

Evolutionary immigrant settlement systems in Canada

Greg McElligott, assistant professor, labour studies and political science, $63,163

More control, less security, restructuring and resistance among police and prison guards

Catherine Graham, assistant professor, School of the Arts, $62,182

Theorizing activist theatre across cultures

Richard Harris, professor, School of Geography & Geology, $127,075

The negotiation of housing policy in the British Colonies, 1929-1960s

Vishwanath Baba, dean, Michael G. DeGroote School of Business, $103,835

Muhammad Jamal, Concordia University

Gary Johns, Concordia University

Work and occupational mental health: antecedents, process dynamics and consequences

Clarence Kwan, professor, Michael G. DeGroote School of Business, $28,924

Sherman Cheung, professor, Michael G. DeGroote School of Business

Studies in international investments and mean variance portfolio analysis

Nancy Bouchier, associate professor, kinesiology, $50,722

Kenneth Cruikshank, associate professor, history

Bringing back the bay: people, power, and the environment in an urban waterfront, 1957-2001

Janet Starkes, professor, kinesiology, $51,916

Patricia Weir, University of Windsor

Aging and the retention of expert performance: a comparison of cross-sectional and longitudinal data

Helen Ostovich, professor, English, $65,077

The face to be dishonest: Jonsonian women on the early modern stage

Ellen Ryan, professor, psychiatry & behavioural neurosciences, McMaster Centre for Gerontological Studies, $104,435

Intergenerational communication: predicaments and enhancement for vulnerable older adults

Stephen Streeter, assistant professor, history, $40,950

Destabilizing Chile: the United States and the overthrow of Allende