Fortunately, the associate professor's innovative approach to work in the Dept. of Theatre, Film and Creative Writing landed him one of UBC's inaugural Social Sciences and Humanities Research Fund grants.
"The idea behind the fund is to support scholarly works which challenge perceived notions in a particular discipline or field," says Prof. Tony Dorcey, chair of the committee overseeing applications. "The fund encourages the originality, risk-taking and interdisciplinarity that tend to disadvantage or rule out an application to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)."
Dorcey quickly points out that grants from the fund are not intended to replace those available from SSHRC or other granting sources. Rather, applicants must detail how one-year projects financed under the program will enhance the chances of success for future applications to provincial, national and international funding agencies.
In the case of Mortal Remains, Gallagher is confident that further funding will be found to complete the film.
"The nature of any film project is that it has an element of risk involved and the topic of death and cemeteries can be problematic at the best of times," he said. "The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Fund allowed me to shoot a significant portion of the show which, when cut together, will clearly demonstrate the nature and quality of the project to other funding agencies."
Gallagher is one of four successful grant applicants to give presentations on their work at a briefing attended by SSHRC President Lynn Penrod. Other presenters and projects illustrating the diversity of research funded by the program include: Sociologist Dawn Currie, Gender -Specific Impact of Development Strategies on Women from Poor Village and Rural Areas in Sri Lanka; English Prof. Paul Stanwood, The Variorum Edition of the Poetry of John Donne; and Psychologist Peter Suedfeld, Coping Behaviours and Psychosocial Adaptation of People Who Have Experienced an Extreme, Traumatic Situation: The Holocaust.
The briefing, held Oct. 3 from 1-4:45 p.m. in Green College's Great Hall, is designed to encourage and assist the development of proposals for the next competition, for which the deadline is Nov. 1.
Drawn from an endowment created with funds received from the Hampton Place residential development, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Fund has grown from $300,000 in 1994/95 to its current pool of $900,000. To date, the fund has supported a total of 37 projects.
For further information about the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Fund call 822-5725.