Canadian mapping of Autism-specific supports for postsecondary students
UN Sustainable Development Goals: 3, 4, and 10
The Pathways to Impact fund is a partnership between the Office of UVic’s Research Partnerships and Knowledge Mobilization (RPKM) unit and UVic Libraries. Its aim is to move original research into real-world applications for greatest impact. The funded research projects align with and advance UVic’s commitment to the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), which are a set of goals that “encompass equity issues for humanity—reducing poverty, hunger, and inequality—along with sustainability issues that imperil the globe’s habitability.
Among the seven projects that were selected for the 2022 Pathways to Impact fund is the Canadian mapping of Autism-specific supports for postsecondary students by Dr. Megan Ames (University of Victoria) and Carly McMorris (University of Calgary).
Dr. Megan Ames is an assistant professor at the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Victoria. Her research–the topic of the funded research project is outlined as follows:
“Prospective post-secondary students with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) and their parents often spend an extensive amount of time researching potential schools and supports. CFYS research fellow Dr. Megan Ames and Dr. Carly McMorris from the University of Calgary have conducted an environmental scan of the websites of all public post-secondary institutions in Canada looking for support provisions. Out of over 250 institutions, only 6% listed at least one support specific to students with ASD. The team is hoping to make this list publicly available in the near future.”
The following article was published in connection with the project:
Ames, M. E., Coombs, C. E. M., Duerksen, K. N., Vincent, J., & McMorris, C. A. (2022). Canadian mapping of autism-specific supports for postsecondary students. Research in Autism Spectrum Disorders, 90, 101899. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.rasd.2021.101899
Funded projects will make their research openly accessible, including via UVicSpace, contributing to the larger conversation around the democratization of knowledge and the role that higher education institutions play in contributing to knowledge equity.
The inaugural UVic fund is one of a few institutionally led knowledge-mobilization funding initiatives across Canadian research universities and among the first to directly target the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals.
Find list of other articles published by Dr. Ames here.
UVic Libraries congratulates Dr. Ames and Dr. McMorris on their successful application and their valuable research contribution to the fulfillment of the United Nations’ SDGs.
