Emmanuel Student Receives SSHRC Doctoral Award

By Samantha Chater  
 
Emmanuel College research fellow Konnie Vissers has been awarded a prestigious Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Award of $75,000 over two years to support her research into how church groups can use gardening to help children cope with worries about the environment and climate change. 
 
Vissers is an ordained minister in the Presbyterian Church in Canada and a sessional instructor at Knox College, in addition to working on her PhD in Practical Theology at Emmanuel. She is also the founder of the Children’s Garden Collective, three gardens in the Hamilton area are a key component in her research.  
 
Vissers said her "jaw dropped" when she found out she had received the funding.
 
"I couldn’t afford an extra year of research without this funding," Vissers said. "This award means I can open another children’s garden in Guelph this summer, which will provide additional data for my dissertation." 

Vissers thanked her supervisor, Dr. Pamela R. McCarroll, who is Emmanuel’s vice-principal and the Jane and Geoffrey Martin Chair in Practical Theology, as well as her friends and colleagues at Emmanuel.  

"One of the things I’m most grateful for is that the faculty at Emmanuel truly take diversity, equity, and inclusion to heart," Vissers said. "In my second year of the PhD program, I was very ill with a chronic illness that has become a lifelong disability. Emmanuel College has supported me every step of the way."