In the first of a series of Faculty visits, held last week, Haché had an in-depth discussion with the Faculty of Education Council about how the new Strategic Research Plan can best support and integrate the core research values and objectives reflected in the Faculty Strategic Research plan.

Robert Haché

“The feedback resulting from the Faculty Councils is integral to the development of the Strategic Research Plan,” said Robert Haché, vice-president research & innovation.�� “It is important to ensure that the University-wide Strategic Research Plan echoes the research programs, core research values and objectives identified by each of the Faculties, as reflected by the individual Faculty strategic research plans.”

Over the past 18 months, the Faculty of Education has undergone an extensive consultation process for the development of their Faculty strategic research plan.�� Members of the Faculty Council had an opportunity to discuss and reflect on this process and share their thoughts and concerns with the VPRI.

Among the comments raised were: the need to effectively consider the distribution of resources with respect to research at 91��ɫ, the ways in which the Faculties can work together to support interdisciplinary initiatives and advance research agendas, the intersection of teaching and research, the pursuit of research agendas as they relate to tri-council funding measures, and the need to ensure that the finalized plan reflects the fluid, fast-paced and rapidly-changing nature of research.

Over the coming months, Haché will be continuing the discussion on the development of the Strategic Research Plan with each of the Faculty Councils and more broadly with the University community through workshops and community chats.

To view the workshop schedule and for more information on the development of the plan, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The grant is designed to assist women with university studies, which will lead to careers helping to improve the quality of other women's lives – a goal Roosen plans on achieving. Her doctoral research will include in-depth analysis of body image and eating concerns in young women with physical disabilities.

Through a mix of quantitative and qualitative methods, Roosen plans to survey disabled women to find out if they have “faced many barriers to treatment or to making healthy lifestyle choices; do they see their experiences as different from those of able bodied people; and do they feel misunderstood.”

According to the research literature, women with disabilities have an increased risk of developing an eating disorder, but these same women are not showing up at programs designed to deal with the issue, says Roosen, who studies in 91��ɫ’s Faculty of Health.

“Obesity is higher in physically disabled women, as there is a lack of access to various healthy lifestyle programs and lack of ability for physical activity,” says Roosen. Doctors often encourage these women to diet, yet they’re not given appropriate accessible resources. “Hearing their stories has made me want to work with them, as I felt it was an area that is being overlooked.”

Having conducted a clinical practicum at the Centre for Addiction & Mental Health for women with eating disorders, she has witnessed the lack of involvement of disabled women first-hand. That’s when she began to ask questions, such as: are eating disorders programs set up to handle a disabled person? She believes the answer will be no.

Roosen knows intimately some of the barriers experienced by young physically disabled women. She was diagnosed with muscular dystrophy at the age of 12. During her time at 91��ɫ, she has been a strong advocate for disabled students.

She has published two chapters on body image and one article on disability and psychotherapy, and frequently speaks to the community on disability awareness, eating disorders and body image in women.

Roosen has previously won the Terry Fox Humanitarian Award and a Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

For more information about the grant for Canadian Women Graduate students, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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“This agreement enhances collaboration for researchers at 91��ɫ and Southlake,” said Robert Haché, 91��ɫ vice-president research & innovation. “By signing this agreement, 91��ɫ and Southlake are taking steps to streamline our efforts and maximize our resources to promote greater efficiency of the ethics review process.”

Pat Clifford, director of research at Southlake, echoed Haché’s sentiment and said he��is encouraged by the agreement, as it will lay the groundwork for Southlake to work with 91��ɫ on additional collaborative research projects.

“As Southlake transitions to a ministry-designated teaching and research facility, our relationships and collaborative efforts with our academic partners will become increasingly important,” said Clifford. “This agreement is illustrative of our commitment to advancing our academic and research agenda, and I’m thrilled at the prospect of being able to free up resources so we can conduct additional research with more efficient and less redundant process.”

As part of this agreement, only one board of record will exist for any study conducted at either institution and it will be either the 91��ɫ Research Ethics Board or the Southlake Research Ethics Board depending on the location where the majority of the work will be conducted and/or the��home institution of the majority of the researchers.

As the board of record, Southlake’s Research Ethics Board and the 91��ɫ Research Ethics Board may approve, reject, propose modifications to, put on hold or terminate a research study at its sole discretion.

For more information, contact Alison Collins-Mrakas, 91��ɫ's senior manager & policy adviser, research ethics, at acollins@yorku.ca,��or ext. 55914.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Led by Professor Colin Coates (left), Canada Research Chair��in Canadian Cultural Landscapes and professor of Canadian Studies at Glendon College,��the��project is expected to cast light on the impacts of an earlier period of economic “globalization” as a way of better understanding the challenges of current practices.��It is one of eight projects across Canada that has been granted funding in the 2011 Digging into Data Challenge.

Fourteen teams representing Canada, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States have been awarded grants to investigate how computational techniques can be applied to “big data” to change the nature of humanities and social sciences research. Each team represents collaborations among scholars, scientists and librarians from leading universities worldwide.

Coates, who is also the director of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies at 91��ɫ, is one of the principal investigators on the project titled Trading Consequences,��which received $125,000 in funding. The project��will examine the economic and environmental consequences of commodity trading during the 19th century and��employs information extraction techniques to study large corpora of digitized documents from the 19th century. This innovative digital resource will allow historians to discover novel patterns and to explore new hypotheses through��structured query and a variety of visualization tools.

"Our team of environmental historians is excited to be partners with the Universities of Edinburgh and St. Andrews in the Trading Consequences project. Canadian economic development has historically been defined by commodity flows, and it is important to understand the environmental impacts of this commerce in the past, just as it is today. The focus on Canadian data will test the techniques created through this collaborative project for mapping the scope and impact of international trade in the 19th century," said Coates.

“91��ɫ is proud to receive recognition in the 2011 Digging into Data Challenge,” said Robert Haché, 91��ɫ’s vice-president research & innovation.��“These important research projects advance knowledge as researchers work collaboratively and internationally to find new ways to analyze, search for and store data using digital and electronic technologies.”

“The Digging into Data Challenge is an international initiative that enables Canadian researchers to take advantage of the huge digital resources now available and to develop close partnerships with overseas universities,” said Chad Gaffield, president of the Social Sciences��& Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). “These exciting projects cross both disciplines and national borders; they lead to new insights into human thought and behaviour.”

The successful cohort of��projects received a total of nearly $5 million in funding from eight international research funding agencies. SSHRC’s contribution of��$869,117 will support Canadian researchers from eight of the fourteen teams. ��

For more information, visit the ��website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Over the course of the next year, YFile��will be profiling the projects through videos and stories. Today, the camera's spotlight is on Monahan and��the story of his inspiration for AIF.��

Patrick Monahan grins when he recalls his “Aha!” moment, which��led to the creation of the Academic Innovation Fund.��

Several years ago, 91��ɫ’s vice-president academic & provost��had just completed a series of consultations with 91��ɫ community members regarding the , a document that would outline the future academic priorities of the University. What he discovered during that process energized him.��

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“As we went through the White Paper a couple of years ago, what impressed me were the people who participated in that process,” he said. “We sat in focus groups and we talked about our ideas, dreams and aspirations for the University. What was so striking��was that people had so many great ideas – there were literally hundreds!”

He discovered the main obstacle preventing these ideas from becoming a reality centred on the lack of resources. Monahan had heard of projects in the United States that provided seed funding for academic initiatives. He thought the idea had merit and turned to his colleagues in the Provost’s Office to see if they could find funding that could be used to create a made-in-91��ɫ solution to turn the ideas into working projects.

His��inspiration led to the formation of the Academic Innovation Fund of $2.5 million that would provide an initial investment of resources to bring projects from the drawing board to reality.��In the fall of 2010, applications were invited from the University community for funding (up to $200,000 each) to support new initiatives advancing 91��ɫ’s strategic priorities in relation to teaching and learning and the student experience.

The response, he discovered, was nothing short of amazing. “It was just fantastic because of the tremendous energy and participation," he said. “The committee was only able to fund 39 of those projects, but all the project submissions were very interesting and innovative, and showed a real commitment to the University and to our students."

The 39 projects funded include��clusters of initiatives that support��e-learning,��experiential education and the student experience.��From a project to enhance how first-year students move from high school to university, to a student-run sustainable business initiative, each of the AIF projects��is as diverse as the University community. There is a project to create an online enrolment system for new students, a mentorship program for varsity athletes, a partnership between two faculties to develop a blended learning initiative, a community centred action plan for experiential education, and a project to bring public history into the classroom, to name just a few.

All of the projects, said Monahan, reflect 91��ɫ's DNA. "Each of the projects is about engaging people in these ideas," he said. "I hope that what this does is that it shows people what is possible and that we can build on this energy."

Monahan said that��many people��have told him��how excited they are to see their ideas finally becoming a reality.��"What I find so interesting is that there are ideas that would never have occurred to someone sitting in an office here in the 91��ɫ Research Tower or even in a dean's office," he said. "Ideas like��a project that we have with refugees in Thailand connecting them with researchers and students here in Toronto or a project��to teach area youth how to swim."

The AIF projects provide a concrete example of the potential for innovation and engagement that resides in the 91��ɫ community. "It is an example of the idea that the collective brain is always better then a single brain.��If you get one hundred people in a room and get them thinking and talking – you are going to get more ideas than with 10 people, five or one. That is what makes this a really successful initiative so far."��

By Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91��ɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The event will take place on Saturday, Sept. 24, 2011 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Markham Convergence Centre, 7271 Warden Ave., in Markham, ON.

Please see the for more information��or .��

For more information or partnering opportunities, please contact Brigitte Sharpe, Communications & Events Programing Manager at ventureLAB: bsharpe@venturelab.ca or by phone: 905-248-2735.

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