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Report
on Research Activities at St. Thomas,
October 27 2000
by:
Satya Dev Gupta, Ph.D.
Director of University Research
Tel: (506) 452-0475
Fax: (506) 450-9615
Email: gupta@stthomasu.ca
I
am pleased to submit the following report on the research activities
at St. Thomas for the period of August 1, 2000-October 20, 2000. Since
my appointment as the Director of University Research, August 1, 2000,
I have undertaken several activities to support and encourage faculty
research. Some highlights of these activities are given
below.
- Completed
tasks pending at the beginning of my appointment.
- Developed
criteria for adjudicating applications for course release as set out
in the new Collective Agreement, in consultation with the VP Academic.
- Developed
Research Ethics Policy for St. Thomas University. It will soon be
presented to Senate, and then to the Tri-Council for their comments
and approval.
- Attended
the Joint Meeting of AAU Research and Development Coordinating Committee
and the AAU Research and Development Advisory Committee in Halifax
(September 1, 2000).
- Gave
a presentation on Atlantic Investment Partnership (AIP) Fund and Canada
Foundation for Innovation (CFI) Fund to St. Thomas Faculty.
- Participated
in discussions about AIP initiatives and funding with Vice Presidents
of Research at AAU member universities.
- Kept
liaison between granting councils and faculty, keeping them informed
about new developments on a regular basis.
- Held
discussions with faculty on new opportunities for research funding.
- Lobbied
for support of St. Thomas research grant applications to the local
Member of Parliament.
- Spent
considerable time in discussions with St. Thomas faculty members,
at an individual level, about the possibility of their applications
for research grants to various granting councils, including AIP and
CFI, and in promoting an environment of research at St. Thomas.
- Helped
faculty with their grant applications through extensive comments and
suggestions for improvement, where warranted.
Grant Applications:
We
have succeeded in submitting one application to Canada Institute of
Health Research (CIHR) and seven applications to Social Sciences and
Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), for a total requested amount of
about 1.33 million dollars. In addition, we have two St. Thomas faculty
as co-applicants on grant applications submitted by other institutions.
In total, we have sixteen faculty members involved in this application
process.
Likewise,
we have succeeded in submitting fifteen proposals of intent (initial
areas of interest at ST. Thomas) to Atlantic Investment Partnership
Fund, involving nearly 40 faculty members, for a total requested amount
of over 21 million dollars. A formal call for complete proposals is
expected soon.
Canada
Foundation for Innovation (CFI) allotted $250,000 to St. Thomas University
in March 1998. This allotment will expire soon. I have identified some
faculty members who need infrastructure for research. We are in the
process of putting an application together for nearly $625,000 (as CFI
funds only 40% of the total cost) to CFI.
Highlights
of some major tasks to be undertaken before Christmas:
Soon
we will start work on adjudicating internal grant applications for research,
conference travel and course release. Soon, we need to formalize the
Research Ethics Policy and Research Ethics Board at St. Thomas. As soon
as we hear from AIP, we have to start working on developing formal proposals
for funding.
Some Success
Stories:
I
have heard of two success stories that I would like to share.
- William
Randall and Gary Kenyon have recently published a book entitled, Ordinary
Wisdom: Biographical Aging and the Journey of Life, Praeger publishers.
- Susan
Reid-MacNevin has received a support of $45,000 towards her SSHRC
proposal, "Program Effectiveness in Reducing Young Offender Recidivism:
A Provincial Case Study" from the Department of Public Safety, Government
of New Brunswick.
Please
join me in extending congratulations to Bill, Gary and Susan.
My Reflections:
I
have, and I hope you will agree, witnessed a strong desire for research
by our faculty at St. Thomas. In my view, it compares favorably with
research activities at any other institution of a comparable size and
mandate. It is also evident that our faculty needs strong support, particularly
more internal funding and course releases, to accomplish their research
objectives. In the past few weeks, I have been able to generate this
momentum by devoting more than fifty hours per week on the activities
mentioned above. In my humble opinion, our faculty needs the
support of a full-time research officer to sustain this momentum, and
to promote more research activities at St. Thomas. Finally,
I wish to thank members of the Senate Research committee (Stan Atherton,
Suzanne Prior, Susan Reid-MacNevin, and Jean Sauvageau) and Rick Myers
for their support.
Recognition
of faculty members involved in potential research projects:
In
the end, I would like to recognize publicly the efforts of our faculty
in preparing proposals for funding to SSHRC, CIHR, and AIP, and make
everyone aware of the nature of research at St. Thomas. The names of
principal investigators together with co-applicants and titles for the
proposals are given below. Faculty members whose names appear in the
proposals, but are not principal investigators or co-applicants, are
not mentioned here.
Social
Sciences and Humanities Research Council/Canadian Institute of Health
Research
Clews,
Rosemary (William Randall). Rural stories and helping processes:
An interdisciplinary study, $143,387 (3 years)
MacDonald, Gayle. Prostitution in the Atlantic provinces:
policies and perceptions, $97,315 (3 years)
Randall, William (John Gillis, Suzanne Prior).
Fredericton 80+ Study, $218,310 (3 years)
Reid-MacNevin, Susan. Program Effectiveness in Reducing
Young Offender Recidivism: A Provincial Case Study, $223,843 (3 years)
Reimer, Marilee. Conference on Gender and the Corporate
University, $10,000 (2001)
Schutz, Andrea (Christine Cornell). Prudent Eloquence:
The Poetics of Gower and Lydgate, $93,087 (3 years)
van den Hoonaard, Deborah. By Himself: The Older Man's
Transition to Widowhood, $33,622 (3 years)
Randall, William (John Gillis, Suzanne Prior), The
Fredericton 80+ Study, $515,934 (5 years)
Total for SSHRC
and CIHR : $1,335,498.00
Atlantic
Investment Partnership Fund: Letters of intent
Clow,
Michael. The Centre for Rural and Resource Development Studies,
$1,500,000 (5 years)
Coates, John. The Research Centre on Environment, Economy
and Society, $1,500,000 (5 years)
deVink, Sandra. Knowledge and resource development
for empowering practices with non-traditional families, $346,500 (3
years)
Donovan, Stewart. The Irish in Atlantic Canada: a template
for cultural tourism and economic development, $2,500,000 (3 years)
Gillis, John. Bioinformatics of Aging, $1,900,000(5
years)
Gupta, Dev. Indicators of Human Development for Atlantic
Canada, $1,802,000 (5 years)
Hale, Sylvia. Higher Education for the New Economy,
$690,000 (5 years)
Malcolmson, Patrick/ Masciulli, Joseph. Genomic Research
and Canada's International Human Rights Obligations-Ethical, Legal,
and Political Questions, 425,000 (5 years)
Hon. Kinsela, Noel/ Mascuilli, Joseph. Cyberspace Human
Rights Software Development Project, $1,000,000 (5 years)
Mason, Alan. The Development of Coastal Waters Property
Rights, $2,379,344. (5 years)
Murray, Sharon/Williams, Ray. Centre for the Pedagogical
Use of Technology, $1,375,975 (3 years)
Nicholas, Andrea Bear/ Prior, Suzanne/ Chrisjohn, Roland.
Native Education- Native Language Immersion and Developmental Health,
$1,850,000 (5 years)
Randall, William. The Fredericton 80+ Study, $489,450
(5 years)
Reid-MacNevin, Susan. Atlantic Centre of Criminology
and Criminal Justice, $2,114,000 (4 years)
Reid-MacNevin, Susan. Building Bridges Between Youth-at-Risk
and the Youth Serving Community: Engaging Youth for Meaningful Participation
in Research, Program and Policy Implementation, $1,696,224
(4 years)
Total for AIP: 21,568,493.00
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