A Brandon University philosophy professor has received a $72,702 federal grant to explore why truth, facts, and critical thinking are still important in a world filled with misinformation. Dr. Cameron Boult, an associate professor in the Philosophy department at Brandon University, was awarded the funding on July 21, 2026, from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
The four-year project, called Relation-Based Epistemology, will develop a framework showing that when people reason carefully and respect facts, they build stronger bonds of trust and intellectual respect with their communities. Dr. Boult calls these bonds “epistemic relationships.”
“When we reason carefully, weigh evidence honestly, and respect facts, we are not just improving our own thinking, we are being good epistemic partners to the people around us,” Dr. Boult explained. “We are building and maintaining what Dr. Boult calls ‘epistemic relationships,’ the bonds of trust and intellectual respect that allow us to share knowledge and make sense of the world together.”
As part of the project, Dr. Boult plans to partner with the Canadian Museum for Human Rights in Winnipeg to host public roundtable discussions. These events will bring together scholars, activists, community leaders, and the public to talk about the importance of critical thinking in everyday life.
A portion of the research will also focus on epistemic decolonization in Canadian education. This includes examining what Dr. Boult calls “epistemic reparations,” or efforts to repair the damage done to Indigenous knowledge systems by colonial practices.
Dr. Boult joined Brandon University in 2017 and was promoted to associate professor in 2022. He is the author of Epistemic Blame: The Nature and Norms of Epistemic Relationships, published by Oxford University Press in 2024. He is also a Senior Research Associate at the African Centre for Epistemology and Philosophy of Science at the University of Johannesburg and a member of the Epistemic Reparations Global Working Group.
The grant is part of a larger $289 million federal investment announced on July 21, supporting 1,788 social sciences and humanities research projects across Canada. This includes $162.7 million for 808 Insight Grant projects like Dr. Boult’s.
