The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships are the most prestigious graduate scholarships in Canada, valued at $50,000 per year for up to three years. The Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships were created to bolster research in Canada by recruiting and retaining world-class doctoral students. Vanier Scholars demonstrate leadership skills and a high standard of scholarly achievement in graduate studies.
This is the final year in which the Vanier will be awarded, as the Tri-Agency revises their award programs. For the final year of the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship, we have two outstanding winners: Sarah Craven and Kelsey Doyle. Learn more about their research below.
Sarah Craven
Doctor of Philosophy in Kinesiology
From Research to Practice: Integrating Indirect Calorimetry into Dietetics
Sarah’s research seeks to expand personalized weight management programs by exploring personalized dietary intake recommendations from measured resting metabolic rate (RMR). With advances in mobile health technology, RMR can now be measured using a portable device in a healthcare or home environment. Through Sarah’s research, she aims to test the feasibility and acceptability of portable metabolism measuring devices, and create and test tools to measure metabolism knowledge. Sarah’s goal is to bridge metabolism research with healthcare practice.
Kelsey Doyle
Doctor of Philosophy in Interdisciplinary Graduate Studies – Global Studies Theme
Ecological Storytelling: Citizen Filmmaking and Intergenerational Knowledge Transmission in Outer Island Micronesian Communities
Ecological Storytelling examines what role Indigenous-led participatory filmmaking can play in the ecological knowledge and traditional governance in the remote Pacific Outer Islands of Yap, Micronesia. Yap Outer Island communities are navigating growing challenges—including youth migration, U.S. military expansion, and the spread of digital infrastructures—that disrupt intergenerational knowledge transmission and strain local governance systems. Community leaders and the incoming Paramount Chief Magul Jon B. Rulmal Jr., have called for strategies to sustain cultural knowledge and ecological continuity by embracing digital media as a tool to adapt. Kelsey’s research project is undertaken at the invitation of the community to understand how participatory filmmaking, grounded in decolonial and relational methodologies, can be both a documentation tool and a form of Indigenous sovereignty. In collaboration with youth and elders, this community-led research project co-creates media pieces that document oral histories, naming traditions, and reef stewardship practices to upend colonial environmental conservation policies. These media pieces serve as intergenerational archives and forms of political presence rooted in Indigenous epistemologies.