Linna Tam-Seto receives Connaught Award

Prof. Linna Tam-Seto has received a Connaught New Researcher Award for her project, “The effects of occupational stress injuries on the children of women Veterans of the Canadian Armed Forces.” 

The lives of military parents can have an impact on their children for reasons including parents being at increased risk of illness, injury, and death, frequently relocating, and regular parental absences due to training and deployments. 

Canadian research shows that military members experience mental health conditions, including anxiety, depression, and PTSD, at greater rates when compared to civilian Canadians. Women military members, in particular, are at an increased risk for mental health conditions and military sexual trauma. 

With this award, Tam-Seto will explore the effects of occupational stress injuries, such as traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder, acquired during Canadian military service on the children of women Veterans.

Tam-Seto hopes her research will lead to policy recommendations on the physical and mental health needs of women Veterans and their children, and place priority on an under-serviced population and under-recognized problem.

The Connaught Fund is the largest internal university research funding program in Canada. The New Researcher Award helps early-career faculty members establish their research programs and increase competitiveness for external funding. Approximately 50 awards are funded annually.