For close to 50 years, Canada’s most inspiring scholars and thought leaders have been celebrated by the Killam Program. Its distinguished Killam Prizes are awarded to leaders in the fields of humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, health sciences, and engineering for their sustained research excellence and significant contributions to society. In 2026, two Queen’s researchers have been recognized with this national honour – Katherine McKittrick for the Humanities and Margaret Moore for the Social Sciences. They are now among a total of nine Queen’s researchers who have received this recognition.
The Killam Program was founded on the bequest of Dorothy Killam who had a vision of building Canada’s future through advanced study. In addition to the Prizes, the program supports a number of fellowships, of which several Queen’s researchers have been awarded. The program is administered by the National Research Council of Canada in coordination with the Canada Council for the Arts. The Prizes of $100,000 are awarded annually in the five categories and adjudicated based on a combination of research quality, scholarly impact, and influence on evolving current thinking.
"Earning the Killam Prize in Social Sciences is a significant achievement for Drs. McKittrick and Moore and and also the Faculty of Arts and Science," says Bob Lemieux, Dean, Faculty of Arts and Science. "They join an elite group of seven Queen's University researchers that have earned the top research prize in Canada, including Nobel Laureate Arthur McDonald. They have distinguished themselves with sustained research excellence through innovations in the field of Black Studies and academic work focusing on contemporary political philosophy."
Killam Prize in Humanities
Dr. Katherine McKittrick (Gender Studies; Black Studies) is the Canada Research Chair in Black Studies and an International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Sciences. She researches in the areas of black studies, anti-colonial studies, and critical-creative methodologies. Her work examines three entwined registers including black methodologies, black and black feminist geographies, and the aesthetic and liberatory traces that emerge alongside bibliographic poetics, theory making, and cymatics.
Dr. McKittrick’s research profile attends to the gendered, racial, and geographic processes that underwrite the plantation, the prison, music and music making, anti-colonial methods, and the unconventional artworlds of black creatives. Recent work on bookmaking has investigated how form, font, margins, binding, paper weight, and texture can remake academic narratives while also centering reading and reading practices as acts of solidarity and co-operation. Her research impact extends also to mentorship, in particular with The Revolutionary Demand for Happiness, a transnational working group of students, faculty, and creatives interested in exploring the connections between cultural production and liberation.
“This is a wonderful surprise and recognition, one that sparks my appreciation for the kind and generous folks who have not only been supportive of this research but have helped shape the work and inspired me day after day," says Dr. McKittrick.
To learn more about this year’s Killam Prizes, visit the Killam Program website.
Note: This story originally appeared in the Queen's Gazette.