Trent University is honouring Dr. Sally Chivers with its Distinguished Research Award, which is presented annually to a faculty member in recognition of outstanding achievements in research and scholarship.
Professor Chivers, who is being recognized for her significant contributions to the interdisciplinary study of aging and research in disability, is professor of English and Gender & Women’s Studies at Trent University and co-founded the Trent Centre for Aging & Society, of which she was also the director.
“Dr. Chivers’ outstanding contributions to knowledge creation and her innovative approach to examining pressing issues of aging and care have played a major role in shaping research in this field, and rightly earned her international recognition as a top scholar of age and disability studies,” says Dr. Cathy Bruce, Trent’s acting vice-president of research and innovation. “Professor Chivers is a prolific scholar and worthy recipient of this prestigious award.”
Professor Chivers will be presented with the award at Trent University’s Celebration of Excellence: Teaching and Research virtual event on Monday, May 3rd.
“Trent is the ideal place to embark on research that cuts across boundaries and makes a difference, while remaining creative and engaging,” says Professor Chivers. “I am so grateful to have been able to come here to follow in impressive age studies footsteps, while also developing national and international collaborations with remarkable colleagues who want to build a better world for all of us as we age.”
“That dozens of such colleagues joined in supporting this nomination is testament to the generative spirit of critical gerontology, age studies, and health humanities,” she adds.
Since joining Trent in 2003, Dr. Chivers has had a far-reaching impact in the interdisciplinary study of aging and society, according to a media release from the university, with work spanning five disciplines: Canadian studies, film, disability, age, and women’s studies.
“I feel like now I’m at a place where I really can talk about how the ways we imagine aging affect everyday life, and how the everyday life affects how we imagine aging,” Professor Chivers says. “I’m continually surprised by how the stories we tell about aging matter.”
Over her career, she has received various research funding awards, including several major grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the most recent of which was to study the popular depictions of nursing homes, how the media curates a fear of institutional life, and how that fear is proliferated.
Professor Chivers has also authored four books and more than 35 articles and book chapters, which have been quoted in esteemed publications including The New Yorker, The Guardian, and Maclean’s.
