This award is part of the UBC Public Scholars Initiative (PSI) which intends to build connections, community, and capacity for doctoral students who are interested in explicitly linking their doctoral work to an arena of public benefit and integrating broader and more career-relevant forms of scholarship into their doctoral education process.
The award is intended to support innovative/collaborative scholarship which the student would otherwise be unable to pursue. Michael’s research is focused on how perceptions of transparency influence the social acceptability of animal use in science. His goal is to facilitate meaningful dialogue with mainstream society about the limits and context in which animal use occurs, which requires some degree of openness regarding the details of this use, including which animals are used, how they are cared for, and what quality of life they are likely to experience.