Professor Giles is an applied cultural anthropologist who conducts research with Indigenous communities, primarily in the Arctic and sub-Arctic. Her research focuses on three main areas: i) injury prevention (particularly drowning prevention in the Canadian North); ii) health promotion (particularly Indigenous people’s engagement in physical activity, with particular emphasis on gender and cultural adaptation of resources); iii) sport for development and sport for reconciliation with Indigenous communities.
Professor Giles is proud to have been the principal investigator of four SSHRC grants (two standard research grants and two Insight grants) and has been co-investigator on three other SSHRC grants (a standard research grant, two Insight Development grants). She has also received funding from CIHR, the Public Health Agency of Canada (with the Canadian Red Cross), Transport Canada (with the NWT Recreation and Parks Association), Health Canada (with the municipality of Pangnirtung, Nunavut). She has completed contracts with the Wabano Centre for Aboriginal Health, Cancer Care Ontario, and PHE Canada.
She has authored over 100 journal articles and over 20 book chapters. Her edited book (with Janice Forsyth), Aboriginal Peoples and Sport in Canada: Historical Foundations and Contemporary Issues, was the co-recipient of the Best Edited Collection Award from the North American Society for the Sociology of Sport. Professor Giles’ past and current undergraduate and graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, all members of “Team Giles,” are simply superstars! They have won many prestigious awards and scholarships, including some of the biggest in Canada.
Professor Giles is accepting new students for thesis supervision.