Research leaders at York University were recognized at the annual Research Celebration event held April 15 in the Second Student Centre on the Keele Campus. Hosted by York President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton and the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation, the celebration paid tribute to the 2018 research leaders.
The research leaders pose with York University’s President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton (third from the left), Associate Vice-President Research Celia Haig Brown, and Associate Vice-President Research Rebecca Pillai Riddell
This annual event celebrated 70 senior, mid- and early career researchers, along with graduate and undergraduate students and postdoctoral Fellows. Celia Haig-Brown, associate vice-president research, officiated the celebration.
York President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton speaks to researchers at the University’s annual Research Leaders Celebration
The festivities began with the premier screening of a new animated video featuring Haig-Brown’s avatar explaining Towards New Heights – York University’s Strategic Research Plan (2018-2023) and profiling future aspirational areas for York, including the integration of Artificial Intelligence into society and Indigenous futurities. After the engaging video, York University President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda L. Lenton brought official greetings and congratulations to the researchers. She spoke with pride about the University’s recent success in the Times Higher Education ranking and the importance of the University’s cross-sector research work, which she said was needed to drive solutions to the complex problems facing the world.
Lenton reiterated her administration’s support for researchers and thanked outgoing Vice-President Research & Innovation Robert Haché, who is moving to Laurentian University in Sudbury to become its 11th president and vice-chancellor. She then announced that Dr. Rui Wang, M.D., who is the current deputy provost responsible for planning York University’s permanent presence in the City of Markham, would step in as the interim vice-president of research & innovation, effective May 1.
Carrie Bourassa (Ts’iotaat Kutx Ayanaha s’eek), scientific director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Indigenous Peoples’ Health (IIPH)
Following the President’s remarks, Rebecca Pillai Riddell, associate vice-president research, introduced the event’s keynote speaker, Carrie Bourassa (Ts’iotaat Kutx Ayanaha s’eek), scientific director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Institute of Indigenous Peoples’ Health (IIPH). Bourassa spoke about the implications of systemic racism for health problems among Indigenous people and the importance of incorporating respect and a place within research processes for the Indigenous community’s expansive knowledge. She encouraged researchers to shift their focus away from deficit solutions and toward the wide ranging potential that Indigenous knowledge contributes to enriching research.
Following Bourassa’s remarks, those present at the event heard about the accomplishments of the research leaders, which were described as rich and varied. Accomplishments ranged from appointments as Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada to York researchers leading a Partnership Grant award by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, to the promise of VISTA and the innovative research of York’s Canada Research Chairs. The recipients of large-scale grants were recognized and student researchers who presented at the University’s annual Undergraduate Research Fair were present at the celebration. A full list of the researchers celebrated at the event can be found in the event program.