The Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation is the central hub for research and innovation at York University, promoting research excellence and facilitating a culture of research engagement that responds to the needs of the University community.
We seek to support our faculty members to create new knowledge and discoveries that accelerate the development of cutting-edge solutions to the world’s most pressing scientific questions and social challenges in collaboration with industry, government, and private and public sectors.
We do this in close partnership with all Faculties and Professional Schools, providing resources, services and tools that enable York’s world-leading researchers to create positive change and further their local and global impact.
Research Vision
York conducts purposeful research that advances knowledge and creates positive change. As a leading international research and teaching university, we are committed to excellence in research and scholarship in all its forms.
Informed by a strong commitment to shared values, including the promotion of social justice, diversity, and the public good, we aspire through our research to better understand the human condition and the world around us and to employ the knowledge we gain in the service of society.
Intensive engagement in research is a core institutional value that permeates the fabric of the University, and it is this foundation on which York’s diverse and welcoming academic environment is built.
What’s On This Page
About the Vice-President Research & Innovation
Dr. Amir Asif was appointed to serve a five-year term as Vice-President Research & Innovation in May 2020. He is a Professor in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Lassonde School of Engineering.
Dr. Asif joined York from Concordia University in Montreal, where he served as the founding Dean (2014-2020) of the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science. He is well known to the York community, having served as the founding Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science from 2006 to 2014.
As a specialist in signal processing and communications, his research interests are focused on developing next generation technologies for every-day applications, including health and medical devices, radar and sonar applications, distributed multiagent networked systems, and electrical power grids.
He is also the Chair of the Ontario Council of University Research (OCUR).
Dr. Asif received his education and professional training from Carnegie Mellon University and Harvard University. He is a registered professional engineer in the province of Ontario.
Speeches and Articles
About the Associate Vice-President Research
Jennifer Hyndman, Associate Vice-President Research
Dr. Jennifer Hyndman is a Professor in the Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change and currently serves as Associate Vice-President of Research. She is also the past Director of the Centre for Refugee Studies at York University.
Hyndman’s research traverses political, economic, cultural, and feminist dimensions of migration, focusing on people’s mobility, displacement, and security. Her scholarship is particularly concerned with the dynamics of conflict and disaster that create refugees and internally displaced persons, as well as international humanitarian responses to such crises.
She earned her BA in Sociology and English at the University of Alberta, her MA in sociology from Lancaster University, and her PhD in geography from the University of British Columbia.
Jennifer Steeves, Associate Vice-President Research
Dr. Jennifer Steeves is a Professor in the Faculty of Health and currently serves as Associate Vice-President Research. She is also a York Research Chair in Non-invasive Visual Brain Stimulation.
Steeves’ research uses neuroimaging (MRI) and non-invasive neuromodulation techniques to study the visual brain in healthy individuals and rare neuro-ophthalmological patients.
She is a triple York alumna, having earned her BA in Psychology, her MA in Experimental Psychology and her PhD in Brain, Behaviour and Cognitive Sciences at York University.
Meet the Team
Learn who’s who in the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation.
Chandra Persaud
Senior Financial Officercpersaud@yorku.ca416.736.2100 x 58284Emma Yuen (she/her)
Operations Manageremmay@yorku.ca
Strategic Research Plan
Learn more about York’s research strengths and opportunities in Knowledge for the Future: From Creation and Discovery to Application, York’s Strategic Research Plan 2023-2028.
Join Us At York
Discover exciting career opportunities in research and innovation at York University.