York Senate approves the University’s new strategic research plan

After eight months of consultation with the community, as well as internal and external research partners, the York Senate has unanimously approved the University’s new strategic research plan, "Building on Strength".

“York’s new strategic research plan commits to building research on our strengths and provides a strong aspirational vision for the development and recognition of York’s research over the next five years,” said Robert Haché, vice-president research & innovation. “I would like to thank the entire York community for your positive response to the consultation process and earnest engagement that made such important contributions to the development of the plan. We will continue to invest in the growth and development of our research as a foundational part of our efforts to grow our academic reputation as a recognized leading research-intensive university.”

Robert Haché

The plan supports the University’s research vision to better understand the human condition and the world around us and to employ the knowledge gained in the service of society as described in six intersecting themes:

advancing fundamental discovery and critical knowledge,
analyzing cultures and mobilizing creativity,
building healthy lives and communities,
exploring the frontiers of science and technology,
forging a just and sustainable world,
integrating entrepreneurial innovation and the public good.

The plan also articulates five areas of opportunities that complement past accomplishments, new developments, momentum and timing to provide particular opportunities for building research success. They include:

digital cultures,
engineering research that matters,
healthy individuals, healthy communities and global health,
public engagement for a just and sustainable world, and
scholarship of socially engaged research.

Through this plan, the University is implementing the objectives set out for research in both the University Academic Plan and the Provost’s 2010 white paper, which identify research intensification as a key University goal and recognize research as a core endeavor that broadly enriches the institution. The plan is meant to be a living document, responsive to the University's successes, as well as being sensitive to a rapidly evolving landscape.

Through a strategic combination of broadly based and focused investments over the course of the next five years, York University will continue its impressive development as a leading Canadian research university whose scholarship enhances our culture and improves society.

To view the full plan, click here.

VP Research & Innovation launches community consultations about a new strategic research plan

Vice-President Research & Innovation Robert Haché officially launched a series of community consultations regarding a new Strategic Research Plan for the University at an open forum held last Tuesday at the Keele campus.

The community consultations are an important part of a process to develop the plan. More than 150 members of the York community attended the open forum to discuss the plan that will articulate the priorities and vision for the future of York research over the next five years. The open forum provided an opportunity for community members to learn more about consultation process and the goals for the plan.

More than 150 members of the York community attended the open forum, which was held in the University’s Senate Chamber

In addition, there was a lively, open and engaging discussion that saw participants share their thoughts and concerns.

Among the comments offered by those present at the open forum was the aspiration that the new Strategic Research Plan would help improve York’s research reputation. Participants articulated the need to develop a strategy that empowers researchers by providing them with appropriate opportunities to focus their attention on research. Many of those welcomed the transparency of the open consultation process, highlighted the need for inclusiveness in defining research areas and stressed the importance of equitable research support.

“York’s new Strategic Research Plan will help us achieve our vision of becoming a more recognized research intensive University – an ambition reflected in the White Paper and University Academic Plan,” said Haché.

Haché chats with a community member

He explained that the goals of the consultation process are to engage the York community in an open, collaborative and ongoing discussion about the University’s core research values to develop a plan that is meaningful to the community.

Haché was joined in the open forum by York President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri, Strategic Research Plan Facilitators Celia Haig-Brown, who is a professor in the Faculty of Education, and Gary Miller, and instructor in the MBA program at the Schulich School of Business and Schulich Executive Education Centre, along with members of the Strategic Research Plan Advisory Committee.

As part of the ongoing nature of the consultation process, York students, staff and faculty are invited to continue the discussion with Haché through upcoming workshops and community chats. The workshops will seek to examine York’s core values with respect to research, understand perceptions and prioritize commitments to the support of research.

The workshops will be held on:

Date	Time	Location
Tuesday, Oct. 2	9 to 11am	305 Lumbers Building, Keele campus
Friday, Oct. 5	9 to 11am	BMO Room, Glendon Manor, Glendon campus
Tuesday, Oct. 16	9 to 11am	Founders Senior Common Room, 305 Founders College, Keele campus
Friday, Oct. 26	1 to 3pm	Harry Crowe Room 109 Atkinson Building, Keele campus
Thursday, Nov. 1	1 to 3pm	519 York Research Tower, Keele campus

To RSVP for the consultation workshops, click here. For more information on the community chats and the Strategic Research Plan, click here.

Republished courtesy of YFile– York University’s daily e-bulletin.

VPRI seeks input from researchers on new strategic research plan

The Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation (VPRI) is launching a consultation process to seek input from the York University research community on the development of a new strategic research plan for 2013-2018. The launch of the consultation process was announced in Senate on Thursday.

VPRI will be advised in the consultation process by a Strategic Research Plan Advisory Committee comprised of individuals from the University and community, whose membership will be announced shortly. The goal is to engage the community in a discussion of goals and values to provide shape to a strategic research plan that will set the vision for the continuing development of research at York for the next several years. The expectation is to provide the community with a draft of the plan before the end of 2012, with a final version going to Senate for approval in spring 2013.

“The establishment of a new strategic research plan will help to advance research intensification broadly at York and identify areas of opportunity for growth and development,” said Robert Haché (left), vice-president research & innovation. “The plan will help to foster the support of research excellence across the University while providing a strategic framework for driving our research reputation forward in areas of opportunity.”

In order to create a document with the broadest possible support, VPRI is inviting all members of the York community to contribute to the development of the strategic research plan by sharing their points of view throughout the consultation and development process. The University community is invited to participate in workshops, focus groups, town hall meetings and other events being organized or through an online form that is available here.

Through an extensive process of broadly-based consultations, VPRI will arrive at a plan that sets well-defined goals within an aspirational vision that is strongly supported by the University academic community, as represented by Senate.

The goals of the strategic research plan consultation process are:

To engage in a collaborative, University-building exercise that articulates a clear valuation and appreciation of research at York and its integration into all aspects of the fabric of the University;
To build a strong, broadly accepted aspirational vision for the development of research based on a comprehensive consultation process with the University community and external stakeholders;
To appropriately identify and articulate areas of opportunity in the strategic development of research across the institution.

Haché, in collaboration with the Strategic Research Plan Advisory Committee, invites all members of the community to be an engaged part of a comprehensive consultation process that will help York University continue to move forward in research excellence and scholarship.

For more information, click here.

Republished courtesy of YFile– York University’s daily e-bulletin.