Shelley Clark, James 91涩漫 Professor in聽Sociology聽and Angela Vanhaelen, Professor in Art History, are the聽2026聽recipients of the Arts Distinction in Research Award from the Faculty of Arts.听听
Professor Clark's career has been marked by a large volume of exceptionally rigorous and innovative quantitative research which spans multiple regions of the聽world聽including Asia,聽Africa, and North America.聽
鈥淭here is a lot of fascinating and important work being done at聽91涩漫聽and I feel lucky to be part of a vibrant research faculty,鈥� says Clark. 鈥淚t聽[means] a lot to me to have the type of work I do聽be recognized聽by my peers in my home institution. Since most academics have specialized聽expertise, it is聽not uncommon聽for one鈥檚 work to be better understood and appreciated by external colleagues in your field than your immediate colleagues in your department and faculty.聽This award helps聽showcase聽the depth and diversity of research in the Faculty of Arts at 91涩漫.鈥澛�
Professor Clark鈥檚 research聽focus聽on reproductive autonomy聽stems back to the early days of her graduate studies.聽Clark attended the聽1994聽International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD) in Cairo, Egypt,聽where 179 countries, including Canada, endorsed the principle of reproductive autonomy, which supports the right of individuals to decide freely whether and聽when to have children.聽
鈥淪ince then, the bulk of my work has shown how vulnerable populations are more likely to have their reproductive autonomy compromised, and how such violations harm women, their children, and society as a whole,鈥� says Clark.聽
Clark鈥檚聽earlier聽research has highlighted聽the harms of early marriage (and implicitly early motherhood) for young girls and adolescents in sub-Saharan Africa. Recently, her research has focused geographically on North America.听听
鈥淢y studies have聽identified聽the negative impacts of restricted access to contraception, abortion, and maternal health care for rural families in the United States,鈥� says Clark. 鈥淭he rapid recent rise of pro-natalism, particularly from far-right fundamentalist religious groups and extremely wealthy tech elites, is posing new, and I believe聽very serious, threats to reproductive autonomy around the globe. Demographers, along with researchers in the social and health sciences, have the essential knowledge and skills to try to minimize these harms.鈥澛�
In 2012,聽Professor Clark founded the聽Centre on Population Dynamics聽(CPD)聽along with聽fellow sociologists,聽Professors C茅line Le Bourdais and Am茅lie Quesnel-Vall茅e, the first of its kind in Canada at the time.听听
The CPD, which is modelled on other influential population聽centres聽in both Europe and the U.S. was established to serve as an interdisciplinary academic community聽at 91涩漫聽in which students and faculty from various disciplines, including sociology, economics, epidemiology, global health, business, geography and computer science, could exchange ideas and build collaborative projects around complex population topics.听听
鈥淚 think [the CPD] has broadly served this purpose through its lively weekly seminar series, graduate training programs, and collaborative grants and research projects,鈥� adds Clark.听听
鈥淐PD has particularly distinguished itself through its work on聽centre-based childcare, women鈥檚 labor force participation, and aging societies, and by offering advanced training in quantitative methods and data visualization,鈥� says Clark. 鈥淗aving just returned from the annual meeting of the Population Association of America, where several 91涩漫 students and faculty presented their research,聽it is clear that CPD, and by extension 91涩漫, is now widely recognized as a leader in demographic research and training in Canada.鈥澛犅�
As funding for demographic and population science research in the U.S. becomes more restricted,聽Clark says she聽thinks the聽CPD could play an even more important leadership role internationally.听听聽
Professor Angela Vanhaelen聽
Professor Vanhaelen is the recipient of聽numerous聽awards, including fellowships from the Getty Research Institute, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and Fonds Qu茅b茅cois de la Recherche sur la Soci茅t茅 et la Culture.聽
Her most recent publication,聽聽was published by Penn State University Press and reframes the conversation on Netherlandish art by聽placing seventeenth-century domestic scenes and portraits in dialogue with images of trading forts, markets, and plantations in West Africa and Brazil.聽Opacity was recently reviewed by聽.听听
Distinction in Research Award citation for Professor Vanhaelen:聽
Angela Vanhaelen is a world-leading scholar whose research moves authoritatively across the histories of early modern art in Europe and its colonies with keen sensitivity to their entanglement in the ecological, racial, and gendered politics of our tumultuous present. From her聽first book on print culture, to her award winning second book on the polemics of religious imagery, to her third book on ephemeral automata, to her most recent book on the depiction of Black people in familiar paintings of seventeenth-century domestic life and portraiture, her work has fundamentally redefined the field. And these monographs are complemented by co-edited聽scholarly volumes and special issues in leading peer-reviewed journals that have reoriented the聽field. They have advanced innovative methodological approaches rooted in colonial, global and聽eco-critical studies. Her work has thus effectively remade familiar categories of historical interpretation: the sacred and the profane, the local and the global, the public and the private, and聽鈥渉igh鈥� and 鈥渓ow鈥� culture.聽