Dr. Marielle Papin has been awarded a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Urban Wellness (Urban Policy and Governance) for her research into the role of cities and other transnational actors in governance collaboration. 

As part of her CRC award, Dr. Papin has also received John R. Evans Leaders Funding from the Canadian Foundation for Innovation (CFI), MacEwan’s first CFI award. Dr. Papin will also be the director of the Research Institute for Urban Wellness, which was approved by the General Faculties Council in February 2024.

Dr. Papin joined MacEwan in 2022 as an assistant professor of political science, when the university nominated her for the Canada Research Chair role. The Tier 2 CRC positions are awarded to exceptional emerging researchers whose potential for leadership in their field is acknowledged by their peers. The chairs are awarded and funded for a five-year period and are renewable once.

“It's a great honour,” says Dr. Papin, who received her PhD in 2020 from Laval University.  “I'm at the beginning of my academic career and being selected and trusted by MacEwan University to do this process means a lot.”

Dr. Papin joins Dr. Kristopher Wells, MacEwan’s first Tier 2 CRC recipient, who was awarded  a CRC in 2019 for the Public Understanding of Sexual and Gender Minority Youth. Dr. Wells is director of the Research Centre for Sexual and Gender Diversity. 

“We are thrilled to see Dr. Papin be recognized for her exceptional research as she is named a CRC,” says Provost and Vice-President, Academic Dr. Craig Monk. “Her work contributes to our growing culture of scholarship at MacEwan, and we look forward to seeing this latest research chair at MacEwan whose work meaningfully engages our students in the classroom and beyond. Thought leaders like Dr. Papin help to build MacEwan’s reputation as a leading undergraduate institution, and to further our efforts toward Teaching Greatness.”

Now that she has been awarded a CRC, Dr. Papin is looking forward to continuing her research. 

“I have been working on urban climate governance and looking at how cities – especially cities in different countries – work together to enhance their climate policies through networks,” she says. “This has a lot to do with urban wellness, but focused on the climate aspect of it.”

With the CRC and CFI funding, she will be able to expand her research, hire student research assistants and create a database of her findings to facilitate global connections and contribute to an international community of innovators and problem solvers in the field.

“We're trying to be comprehensive of all the initiatives that cities have collectively created or joined that are related to urban wellness. An important part of it is how cities from different countries decide to exchange information and collaborate on issues such as climate, the environment and health,” says Dr. Papin. “Cities do not always have the resources on their own to tackle those issues, so they look for answers locally and internationally.”

Though the scope of the database will feature cities across North America, Latin America and the Caribbean, Dr. Papin is also researching right here in Edmonton. She’s looking at the issue of urban wellness as encompassing health, environment, housing and systemic racism, as well as the urban policy and governance intervention that is being put in place to tackle those issues and ensure residents are able to live well in the city.

“I'm very passionate about having this bigger picture, and seeing cities not only as local actors but also increasingly as global actors,” she says.

Despite the work that she has done, and will continue to do in her role as a Canada Research Chair, Dr. Papin does not feel this is an individual accomplishment.

“This is a great opportunity for me, but also for the university and for students. It's a collective effort,” she says. “Even to do the CRC application, it was with the support of the university, and because I got all these ideas with colleagues right here at MacEwan and elsewhere. I plan to dedicate most of the funding to hiring students to work with me, to set the groundwork and to create new collaborations with other faculty. It’s not really about me.”