In July 2014, Dr. Maya Eichler was selected as Mount Saint Vincent University’s Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Social Innovation and Community Engagement and was awarded funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation to develop the Centre for Social Innovation and Community Engagement in Military Affairs. Funding was also provided by the Province of Nova Scotia and Mount Saint Vincent University. Today, SICEMA continues to operate as a creative hub for innovative, community- and policy-engaged research, training, and advocacy on Canadian military, defence, and veteran issues. The Transforming Military Cultures (TMC) Network, a DND-MINDS funded collaborative network co-directed by Drs. Maya Eichler, Tammy George, and Nancy Taber, is headquartered at SICEMA.
Our Mission
The mission of the Centre is to contribute novel ideas in the areas of research, student training, policy, and public debate on military, defence, and veteran issues through a focus on sex, gender, and intersectionality, culture and community, and social innovation.
Our Purpose
- To conduct innovative research on military, defence, and veteran issues
- To train graduate and undergraduate students in analysis of public policies, qualitative research methodologies, and community-engaged research
- To initiate military-civilian engagements on contemporary military, veterans, and defence issues, particularly related to women, intersectionality, and culture change
- To study and explore social innovation in relation to contemporary military and veterans issues, with a particular focus on sex, gender, and intersectionality
Current Research Areas
- Intersectionality in military and veteran life
- Servicewomen and women veterans
- Transforming military cultures
- Military sexual violence
- Community-engaged research on war and peace
- Feminist perspectives on Canadian defence and foreign policy
