IRWG AWARDS 26 GRANTS FOR GENDER RESEARCH PROJECTS

May 2024 -- This spring, the University of Michigan’s Institute for Research on Women and Gender (IRWG) awarded 26 grants in support of faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate student research projects related to women, gender, and sexuality. Included in this spring’s funding cycle were Faculty Seed Grants, Feminist Publication Support, IRWG/Rackham Community of Scholars fellowships, and Boyd/Williams Dissertation Grants for Research on Women and Work.

Established in 1996, IRWG Faculty Seed Grants are designed to stimulate gender research across the university. This spring, IRWG awarded 10 seed grants in support of individual and collaborative research projects across disciplines, schools, and colleges, including LSA, SMTD, Public Health, Michigan Medicine, Nursing, Social Work, and UM Dearborn. This cycle provided over $52,000 in funding for faculty projects.

Two IRWG Feminist Publication Support Grants were awarded in support of scholars’ ability to share research findings beyond academic audiences and through non-traditional formats.

Fourteen doctoral students received IRWG fellowships for projects related to gender. Two students received Boyd/Williams Dissertation Grants for projects on women and work, and 12 students were awarded IRWG/Rackham Community of Scholars summer fellowships.

The diverse set of faculty, postdoctoral, and graduate student research projects demonstrates the scope of gender studies at U-M.

IRWG Faculty Seed Grant Recipients and their project titles:

Samia Abdelnabi (Nursing) - Understanding the reproductive and sexual health educational needs in Muslim women residing in the U.S.
Adriene Beltz (Psychology) - Individual Variation in the Psychological Correlates of Hormonal Intrauterine Device Use
Lisa Fedina (Social Work) - Exploring Recovery-Seeking Practices and Voicing Trajectory: A Comprehensive Study Among Sub-Saharan Africa Female University Students Who Have Experienced Intimate Partner Violence
Shannon Gillen Lipinski (Dance) - COUNTDOWN: an interdisciplinary dance theater research project involving two international creations / performances that research the intersectionality of gender and time/meaning, as well as the societal pressures of ‘wellness’ and ‘productivity’
Georgina Hickey (History, UM Dearborn) - “We Hope for Better Days”: Maryann Mahaffey, Social Justice, and Electoral Politics in Post-1967 Detroit
Aliyah Khan (English, Afroamerican and African Studies) - Archiving Guyana: Feminist Digital and Material Preservation and Accessibility in the Caribbean
Helen Morgan (Obstetrics & Gynecology) - Why are obstetrician gynecologists leaving clinical medicine? A qualitative exploration
Seda Saluk (Women's & Gender Studies) - Contesting Vaccines: Reproduction, Race, and Nation in Turkey
Melisa Scott (Obstetrics & Gynecology) - Our Village: Motherhood was never meant to happen in isolation
Sara Stein (Public Health) - Testing the Feasibility of Using Daily Diaries to Trace Spillover Effects of Maternal Trauma and Experiences of Racism on Parenting in Mothers of Color

Feminist Publication Support Grant recipients and their projects are:

Michelle Munro-Kramer (School of Nursing) with collaborators Darlington David (University of Liberia); Abdul-Aziz Seidu (Takoradi Technical University, Ghana); Darnette Herron (University of Liberia); Sinegugu Duma (University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa); Eugene K. M. Darteh (University of Cape Coast, Ghana); Ruth Owusu-Antwi (Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Ghana); and Sarah Compton (University of Michigan Medical School) - SUBVERT: Sub-Saharan Africa University Gender-based Violence Prevention and Response Network
Heather Tucker (Global Impact Scholar, Center for Global Health Equity) with collaborators Rebecca Odhiambo and Anita Mbanda (Women Empower, Kisumu, Kenya), and Gary Harper (U-M Public Health) - Empowerment for Us by Us (E4UBU) Feminist Participatory Dissemination Plan

Boyd/Williams Dissertation Grant recipients and their projects are:

Loveleen Brar (PhD Candidate, American Culture) - Routed Communities: Race, Care, and Labor at the Dhaba
Irene Mora (PhD Candidate, History and Women’s & Gender Studies) - City Mothers: Latina-led Community Formations in Detroit, 1920-1980

IRWG / Rackham Community of Scholars recipients and their project are:

monét cooper (PhD Candidate, Joint Program in English and Education) - Between Freedom and Capture: Quare Youths' Literacies of Everyday Aliveness in the Un/care of School
Amber Hardiman (PhD Candidate, Film, Television and Media) - : “Something of a Genre”: Premium Documentary Television & The Legitimation of Feminist Advocacy in the Digital Age
Mara Johnson (PhD Candidate, Educational Studies) - Living Authentically: Black Queer Girls' Agency in School Contexts
Julianna Loera-Wiggins (PhD Candidate, American Culture) - Wild Tongues that Lash: Theory of the Flesh and Testimonio in Chicana/x and Latina/x Stand-Up Comedy
Mix Mann (PhD Candidate, History) - She Feels Like Home: Black Women and Queer Domesticity, 1861-1974
Anaridia Molina (PhD Candidate, English Language and Literature) - Unveiling Caribbean Women’s Literary Legacy: Insights from ACWWS’ Archives
Mel Monier (PhD Candidate, Communication and Media) - #seahorsedads: Trans Masculinity, Pregnancy and Social Media
Aspen Mulvey (PhD Candidate, Anthropology) - Anxious Affects: Whiteness and Embodied Transformation
Sara Ruiz (PhD Candidate, Slavic Languages and Literatures) - The Unknown Soldier is Best Remembered
AunRika Tucker-Shabazz (PhD Candidate, Sociology) - Learning from the Outsiders Within: Incest and the Sociological Significance of Black Feminist Boundary Work
Katherine Wright (PhD Candidate, Sociology) - Beyond “Cultural” Difference: Understanding how race influences patient-provider interactions during childbirth
Yixuan Wu (PhD Candidate, Philosophy) - Racializing Perception and Vicarious Desire