Milestones, funding and collaboration highlight research success at York

Header banner for ASPIRE

Welcome to the October issue of Aspire, a special issue of YFile highlighting research and innovation at York University, and the first for the 2023-24 academic year.

Aspire is produced by the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation in partnership with Communications & Public Affairs.

Amir Asif
Amir Asif

This month, we celebrate a milestone anniversary for VISTA (Vision: Science to Applications), one of the largest and most interdisciplinary research programs at York to date, in addition to new federal funds for several collaborative faculty research and knowledge mobilization projects.   

This issue also highlights recent research by Dr. Gordon Flett, a professor of psychology in the Faculty of Health. A long-serving faculty member, Dr. Flett’s scholarly work on perfectionism is world-leading.    

For those interested the University’s global engagement, this month’s newsletter features a story about Dr. Amrita Daftary, an associate professor in the School of Global Health and the School of Health Policy & Management, whose work studying tuberculosis stigma in India illustrates the global impact of York’s research partnerships.  

Also featured is one of the latest examples of how the University continues to drive innovation in the province of Ontario, with a new tri-party agreement. This agreement between York, Seneca Polytechnic and the Ontario Centre for Innovation facilitates new partnerships between our applied researchers and small- and medium-sized enterprises, with the goal of spurring business growth and expansion.  

I am also pleased to announce the appointment of the University’s first associate director research security, Rebecca Irwin. Ms. Irwin joins York after working with the Government of Canada on national security priorities for the last 16 years. I invite you to learn about her new role in more detail here.  

Research and innovation at York is constantly evolving and expanding. I hope this month’s Aspire provides an enticing glimpse into the wealth of activity taking place at York, and amongst our community of changemakers. 

Happy reading.

Sincerely,

Amir Asif
Vice-President Research & Innovation


In this issue:

York’s world-leading vision research program looks towards the future 
VISTA: Vision Science to Application has played a significant role in growing York University’s reputation in the field of vision science, and will continue to create positive change operating as part of the Centre for Vision Research.

Overbearing dads fuel perfectionism in daughters, moms influence sons: York-UBC study
York University’s Gordon Flett continues to delve into what drives perfectionism in a new research collaboration with UBC.

Collaborative research projects exploring international justice, creative tech earn grants
Two researchers in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies are among the latest recipients of the Partnership Engage Grant awarded by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada.

York U health researcher tackles TB stigma through partnership in India 
As a leading international teaching and research university, a key focus at York is global health research, particularly on pressing issues facing the Global South. Associate Professor Amrita Daftary is investigating social determinants of tuberculosis (TB).

York researchers receive federal funding for knowledge mobilization projects
Four York University researchers are among the latest recipients of Connection Grants from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada for various knowledge mobilization activities related to their work.

New partnership empowers businesses through applied research
York University partners with Seneca Polytechnic and the Ontario Centre of Innovation to enhance applied research opportunities for Ontario businesses.

York’s world-leading vision research program looks towards the future 

Doug Crawford with members of VISTA team


By Corey Allen, senior manager, research communications

VISTA: Vision Science to Applications, York University’s first large-scale research program to receive support from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF), will enter a new phase in 2024 after marking its seven-year milestone.     

The novel program was first awarded $33.4 million from CFREF, the country’s top federal research grant, back in 2016. Since then, the VISTA program has established itself as an international leader in vision research across a wide range of real-world applications – from basic visual function to 3D imaging to computer vision and object recognition – and played a significant role in growing York University’s standout reputation in the field of vision science.

Doug Crawford speaking at VISTA event
Doug Crawford speaking at the VISTA celebration.

“VISTA has been a labour of love and it’s taken vision research at York to the next level,” said Doug Crawford, the program’s inaugural scientific director, who now heads up York’s second CFREF program, Connected Minds. “I believe that over these last seven years, VISTA has become the best vision research program in the world.”  

With over 500 international co-authored publications, over 100 research awards, dozens of patent filings and invention disclosures, several startups, among other achievements, the VISTA program has experienced great success.  

VISTA funded 18 new faculty hires and 148 postgraduate trainees, working across five Faculties, including the Lassonde School of Engineering, the Faculty of Health, the Faculty of Science, the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, and the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.  

The program’s partnership and affiliate programs resulted in more than 300 external collaborations across multiple sectors, leading to new applications in law enforcement, clinical diagnosis, art exhibits and space research.  

James Elder with his research demo
James Elder, VISTA member and York Research Chair in Human and Computer Vision, demonstrates his research on an attentive robot.

Altogether, the program’s distinguished membership, including 16 Canada Research Chairs, brought in more than $89 million of external research income, including research grants and partner contributions.  

Now that the CFREF grant is coming to the end of its seven-year term, VISTA will continue to operate as part of the Centre for Vision Research (CVR) at York, where an interdisciplinary team gathers to advance fundamental research that merges techniques in human psychophysics, visual neuroscience, computer vision and computational theory. 

In addition to the historic CFREF grant, contributions from the University and other external partners, the VISTA program received more than $120 million in total funding over its first seven years. 

Guests at the VISTA celebration trying a research demo
Guests at the VISTA celebration event test out some of the research program’s technology applications.

“VISTA forged strong and sustained links between vision science at York and industry partners, nationally and internationally,” said Laurie Wilcox, an esteemed vision researcher and VISTA’s new scientific director. “The program has fostered close collaborations, invested in state-of-the-art equipment and laid the foundation for a continued focus on applied vision with the Centre for Vision Research. I am excited to work with the CVR to establish this new phase of the VISTA program.”

To mark the program’s milestone seventh year and its transition, the Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation hosted a celebration event earlier this month.  

“With many of the world’s top experts conducting cutting-edge research and innovation, training highly qualified personnel, and offering academic programs in the field of biological and computer vision right here at York, the VISTA program is a crowning achievement of their research excellence, and an incredible source of pride for the entire University community,” said Amir Asif, vice-president research and innovation, speaking at the event.

Overbearing dads fuel perfectionism in daughters, moms influence sons: York-UBC study 

mother and child discipline perfectionism


By Corey Allen, senior manager, research communications

Women are more likely to be perfectionists when raised by an overbearing father whereas men are more likely to exhibit perfectionism when raised by an overbearing mother, according to a joint study from York University and the University of British Columbia (UBC).  

It’s the first study of its kind to investigate how the way mothers and fathers bond with their sons and daughters – and how their cold or controlling behaviour – can act as a potential predictor of perfectionist tendencies in young adults.

Gordon Flett
Gordon Flett

“Our research underscores the influence gender-specific parental behaviours can have in the psychological development of children and their risk of perfectionism as they grow older,” said Gordon Flett, the study’s co-author and a professor of psychology in the Faculty of Health at York University. “Perfectionists experience higher levels of depression, anxiety and suicidal tendencies. The pressure children feel to be perfect is more likely to come from the expectations of one parent, with gender as a key factor.” 

Using psychological questionnaires, the researchers surveyed over 400 men and women undergraduate students at UBC. While their analysis revealed this pattern of perfectionism in father-daughter and mother-son relationships, Flett points out there are always exceptions.  

“Perfectionism runs in the family, but further research is needed to fully understand its origins, how it can be fostered differently in boys and girls based on parental bonding behaviours and the gender dynamics at play in child rearing,” he said.  

The study supports previous research by Flett and his longtime collaborator, UBC’s Paul Hewitt, among others, that theorizes an individual can develop perfectionistic traits to compensate for unmet emotional needs from harsh parenting.  

It’s also the latest research contribution for Flett in a career that has spanned over three decades studying perfectionism. Flett’s expert advice to parents is they should strive for excellence – and never perfection – in their kids.  

“There is a subtle, but tremendous difference,” he explains. “Even successful perfectionists never seemed to be satisfied and always focus on what they could have done better. Striving for excellence means parents can model healthy reactions to mistakes that their child can then mimic or imitate.”   

The study, “Father-daughter and mother-son relationships: Parental bonding behaviours and socially prescribed perfectionism in young adults,” was published earlier this year in the journal Personality and Individual Differences. Flett’s co-authors are Sabrina Ge (first author), Chang Chen, and Hewitt at UBC’s Perfectionism & Psychotherapy Lab.    

Flett and Hewitt recently co-wrote a book, Perfectionism in Childhood and Adolescence: A Developmental Analysis, which considers the issues addressed in this study in more detail. The book was a finalist for the 2023 PROSE Awards.

Collaborative research projects exploring international justice, creative tech earn grants 

Ideas grant research innovation partnerships


By Corey Allen, senior manager, research communications

Two researchers in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies are among the latest recipients of the Partnership Engage Grant awarded by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada.  

Annie Bunting, a professor of law and society, and Farshid Shams, an associate professor of strategy and organization studies, have each received nearly $25,000 in support of collaborative research projects conducted with a non-academic partner

Farshid Shams
Farshid Shams
Annie Bunting
Annie Bunting

Bunting’s project, “Transitional Gender Justice in North East Nigeria,” partners with the Explore Humanitarian Aid Initiative. The not-for-profit organization was established in response to the humanitarian crisis brought on by the Boko Haram, a militant extremist group that took over the Borno State region in 2009. Since then, thousands of women and girls have endured sexual assault and abuse at the hands of the insurgents.  

The collaborative work will investigate the barriers faced by survivors of conflict-related sexual violence to obtain legal justice and reparations for crimes committed against them. The project’s findings will help develop policies, support services and programs that centre the needs of survivors. In addition, the project will help the Explore Humanitarian Aid Initiative build capacity in research design, data analysis and report writing, which can be used to enhance their future work in promoting gender equality.   

“Research can help ensure the voices of vulnerable and marginalized groups are heard and taken into account in transitional justice policy and program development,” said Bunting.  

Shams’ project, “The matter of creativity in the high-tech sector: exploring the creativity-productivity paradox in managers’ and employees’ everyday work,” partners with a leading company in the medical technology sector.    

The joint project will explore how Canadian tech companies leverage staff creativity for organizational success, with the partnering company as a case study. The project will advance the understanding of how managers can tap into the creative potential of their staff while simultaneously guiding them to adhere to standardized procedures that may restrict creativity. The project will also consider the tensions between creativity and conformity from the employees’ perspective and assess how resources like office space, virtual tools and templates impact creativity.  

“We expect our project’s results to help improve organizational work practices for our partner, but also be of use in the future for other tech sector employers looking to drive innovation in their company and culture,” said Shams.  

York researchers receive federal funding for knowledge mobilization projects 

Lightbulb with orbs over an open book


By Corey Allen, senior manager, research communications

Four York University researchers are among the latest recipients of Connection Grants from the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). 

Richard Saunders, Johanne Jean-Pierre and Yvonne Su from the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, and S. Nombuso Dlamini from the Faculty of Education, were awarded the funding for various knowledge mobilization activities related to their different research projects.  

The grants fund activities like research events, workshops and community outreach, and are intended to spark new connections between academic and non-academic partners, and collaboration between the public, private and not-for-profit sectors. 

Saunders’ project, “Resource Nationalism and African Mining Policy Innovation: Mobilizing New Research and Engaging Key Stakeholders,” received $49,991. Saunders and his team will organize several outreach activities, including policy workshops on mining reform in Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe, an international research conference at York, and a policy seminar in Ottawa for government officials, African diplomats and non-governmental organizations. Saunders, along with undergraduate and graduate students, will also produce policy briefs on mining sector reforms for distribution across multiple African and Canadian platforms. 

Jean-Pierre’s project, “Symposium: Designing a flourishing future and researching with Black communities in Canada,” received $13,934. The grant supports a conference to be held at York on Nov. 20, bringing together French- and English-speaking Black interdisciplinary scholars to discuss how to conduct research with Black Canadian communities ethically and effectively. Findings from the conference will be shared in a research brief and two open-access, peer-reviewed articles to improve research methods for social scientists and health scholars who engage with Black and other historically excluded populations.   

Su’s project, “Stories of Change: Listening to Global South Perspectives on Climate-Induced Migration,” received $49,945. The SSHRC funding will support a 10-episode educational podcast that will highlight Su and her colleagues’ research, while also focusing on the voices and stories of marginalized people and groups most impacted by climate change – displaced people and migrants, Indigenous communities and grassroots organizations in the Global South. Launch events for the podcast will also be held in Toronto, Nairobi and Berlin.  

Dlamini’s project, “Exploring Connections between Black Youth Civic Participation & Identity,” received $40,636. The project, which also includes York’s Godfred Boateng and Tannaz Zargarian from the University of Fraser Valley, will involve a workshop and two webinars on the access and management of data on the contributions of Black people to Canada. The events will highlight existing and new Canadian research on Black youth civic participation and bring together scholars, youth and community service workers. A hands-on “DIY toolkit” on data access, collection, analysis and management will also be developed for students and service worker participants.  

The four York researchers were among the 64 awardees across the country to receive the latest round of Connection Grants from the SSHRC totalling $1,910,441.  

New partnership empowers businesses through applied research 

partnership collaboration agreement business


By Corey Allen, senior manager, research communications

York University is partnering with Seneca Polytechnic and the Ontario Centre of Innovation (OCI) to boost the number of applied research opportunities for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the Greater Toronto Area and York Region, fostering greater connections between academics and industry.

Jennifer MacLean
Jennifer MacLean

“Through innovative collaborations with our research faculty and students, companies and non-profits gain access to expertise and a talent pool that can generate impactful solutions to their organizational challenges,” said Jennifer MacLean, assistant vice-president innovation and research partnerships at York University. “We look forward to working with our partners to drive further positive change and economic growth across sectors and industries.”  

By engaging in applied research, SMEs will be able to strengthen their research and development capabilities, access the expertise of applied researchers at both institutions, and leverage collaborations to grow their business, improve performance or gain a competitive advantage.  

“Innovation knows no boundaries, and this collaborative partnership exemplifies our shared commitment to fuelling the growth and innovation potential of small- and medium-sized enterprises in Ontario,” said Claudia Krywiak, OCI president and CEO.  

OCI is a non-profit organization that brings industry, academic institutions and government together for collective investments in research and technology development that will benefit the people of Ontario.  

The new partnership establishes a new OCI position for a business development and commercialization manager, tasked with promoting the benefits of applied research to Ontario businesses and helping to enhance the province’s innovation ecosystem.  

“Seneca is excited to work with York University and the Ontario Centre of Innovation to enhance applied research capacity within the innovation ecosystem of the Greater Toronto Area,” said Ben Rogers, dean, Seneca Applied Research. “This partnership will open up new possibilities for our students and faculty as they help local enterprises solve their challenges and grow their operations.” 

For more about the partnership, click here: New Partnership to Connect GTA Businesses with Applied Research Opportunities, Fueling Innovation and Growth – Ontario Centre of Innovation (oc-innovation.ca).  

Contribute to York’s new Sustainability Strategy

Keele campus bikes trees Lassonde

La version française suit la version anglaise. 

Dear colleagues,

We are happy to announce the launch of a community consultation period to help inform the renewal of York University’s Sustainability Strategy. Originally published in 2017, this strategy is critical to ensuring we meet our bold sustainability commitments and uphold our collective responsibility for environmental stewardship.

We are seeking your input to help us develop a data-driven strategy to drive our whole-institution approach to sustainability. Consultations will be led by Mike Layton, chief sustainability officer, and will be open to all students, faculty, instructors, staff and alumni. Through renewal of the strategy, we hope to build awareness, create opportunities to engage all members of our community on sustainability-related topics, promote sustainability as one of our core values, generate feedback to inform the new strategy and inspire lifelong commitment to create positive change through environmental sustainability.

We encourage all community members to review our previous strategy before providing feedback through the following channels:

Please note that personal information shared throughout the consultation process will remain confidential. Feedback will be used to guide and inform strategy development in advance of the renewed strategy’s anticipated launch in 2024.

Aligned with the University’s mission of the pursuit, preservation and dissemination of knowledge, York is also releasing its own detailed emissions data and ecological footprint assessment. With its release, York becomes the first Canadian institution to compile and publicize its own comprehensive emissions data and Ecological Footprint assessment.

As the third largest university in Canada, York has an extensive history of demonstrating a commitment to sustainability that has garnered much recognition, including a spot on Canada’s Greenest Employers list for 11 consecutive years and consistent annual high scores for the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings. Our commitment to sustainability touches every aspect of life on our campuses, from research to teaching and learning to how we heat our buildings and dispose of our waste. This new report from the Ecological Footprint Initiative provides us with more information than ever before to identify opportunities to reduce our emissions and develop innovative sustainability solutions.

Our plan to create positive change affects every corner of our campuses and shapes decision-making at every level of the institution. We look forward to co-creating this strategy with you to advance York’s sustainability goals across our network of campuses and ensure sustainability as our core value is embedded all aspects of university life.

Sincerely,

Carol McAulay
Vice-President Finance and Administration

Amir Asif
Vice-President Research and Innovation


Contribuez à la nouvelle Stratégie de développement durable de York

Chers collègues, chères collègues,

J’ai le plaisir d’annoncer le lancement d’une période de consultation afin que la communauté puisse contribuer au renouvellement de la Stratégie de développement durable de l’Université York. Publiée à l’origine en 2017, cette stratégie est essentielle pour garantir le respect de nos engagements audacieux en matière de développement durable et pour honorer notre responsabilité collective en matière de gestion responsable de l’environnement.

Nous sollicitons votre contribution pour nous aider à élaborer une stratégie fondée sur des données afin d’orienter notre approche du développement durable à l’échelle de l’Université. Les consultations seront ouvertes à tous les membres de la population étudiante, des corps professoral et enseignant, du personnel et de la communauté des diplômés. Il y aura plusieurs façons de fournir de la rétroaction. En renouvelant la stratégie, nous espérons faire de la sensibilisation, créer des occasions d’engager tous les membres de notre communauté sur des sujets liés au développement durable, promouvoir le développement durable comme l’une de nos valeurs fondamentales, générer une rétroaction pour alimenter la nouvelle stratégie et inspirer un engagement à vie pour susciter des changements positifs par le biais du développement durable.

J’encourage tous les membres de la communauté à prendre connaissance de notre stratégie précédente avant de nous faire part de leurs commentaires sur les canaux suivants :

Veuillez noter que les informations personnelles partagées tout au long du processus de consultation resteront confidentielles. Les commentaires seront utilisés pour orienter et étayer le développement de la nouvelle stratégie avant son lancement prévu en 2024.

Conformément à la mission de l’Université, à savoir la recherche, la préservation et la diffusion des connaissances, York publie également ses propres données détaillées sur les émissions et l’évaluation de son empreinte écologique. Avec cette publication, York devient le premier établissement canadien à compiler et à publier ses propres données complètes sur les émissions et son évaluation de l’empreinte écologique.

En tant que troisième université du Canada en matière de taille, York démontre depuis toujours sa détermination d’agir en faveur du développement durable, ce qui lui a valu de nombreuses accolades, notamment une place sur la liste des employeurs les plus verts du Canada pendant 11 années consécutives et des résultats annuels élevés au classement Impact du Times Higher Education. Notre engagement en faveur du développement durable touche tous les aspects de la vie sur nos campus, de la recherche à l’enseignement et à l’apprentissage, en passant par la manière dont nous chauffons nos bâtiments et dont nous éliminons nos déchets. Ce nouveau rapport de l’initiative pour l’empreinte écologique nous fournit plus d’informations que jamais pour définir les possibilités de réduction de nos émissions et pour développer des solutions innovantes en matière de développement durable.

Notre volonté d’être susciter des changements positifs touche chaque recoin de nos campus et façonne la prise de décision à tous les niveaux de l’établissement. Nous nous réjouissons de créer cette stratégie avec vous afin de faire progresser les objectifs de durabilité de York sur nos campus et de garantir que la durabilité fasse partie intégrante de tous les aspects de la vie à l’Université.

Sincères salutations,

Carol McAulay
Vice-présidente des finances et de l’administration

Amir Asif
Vice-président de la recherche et de l’innovation

Applications open for Commercialization Fellowship

man using tablet with graphic image of lightbulb

The Office of the Vice-President Research & Innovation (VPRI) will open the call for applications for the Commercialization Fellowship program that supports projects with commercial potential from across York University on Sept. 7.

The fellowship, organized by Innovation York, is open to postgraduate students and postdoctoral Fellows with approval from their academic supervisor. It provides $7,500 in funding to support commercialization of research. Applications close on Oct. 31.

The fellowships aim to support the research commercialization process by providing strategic, short-term funding to assist in the development of commercially viable projects. The goal is to prepare projects for commercial engagement with industry and/or community partners, with a view to licensing and/or co-development of the project intellectual property.

Visit the Commercialization Fellowship website to review program details and eligibility, and for more details on how to apply.

York University announces 15 new York Research Chairs

man using tablet with graphic image of lightbulb

Fifteen York University researchers have been named new York Research Chairs (YRC), an internal program that mirrors the national Canada Research Chairs (CRC) program which recognizes world-leading researchers in a variety of fields.

“The York Research Chair program is an important complement to the Canada Research Chair program to advance our efforts to strengthen research and related creative activities across the University and enhance the well-being of the communities we serve,” says President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton. “My warm congratulations to the newest recipients on this achievement.”

This year’s YRCs are the 10th cohort to be appointed as of July 1 since the program was first launched by the Office of the Vice President Research and Innovation in 2015.

“These new chair appointments are the latest example of research intensification at York University, a major priority of our new Strategic Research Plan,” said Amir Asif, vice-president research and innovation. “York Research Chairs receive institutional support that is on par with what their counterparts are provided by the national program. This internal program advances research excellence at York and enhances the research capabilities of our faculty to create positive change.”  

The new YRCs will conduct research in a variety of fields that range from human and computer vision to children’s musical cultures to the impacts of climate change on lakes.

The YRC program consists of two tiers. Tier 1 is open to established research leaders at the rank of full professor. Tier 2 is aimed at emerging research leaders within 15 years of their first academic appointment. The Chairs have five-year terms.

Tier 1 York Research Chairs
Rob Allison
Rob Allison

Robert Allison, Lassonde School of Engineering
York Research Chair in Stereoscopic Vision and Depth Perception
Allison’s work as a YRC will study human aspects of virtual and augmented reality. His research program asks: how do we share a common space that is partially or completely virtual? The research results will allow designers to determine whether collaborative experiences and applications are likely to be coherent, consistent and ultimately successful for users. This YRC is administered by York University’s VISTA (Vision: Science to Applications) program, first funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (2016-23).

James Elder
James Elder

James Elder, Faculty of Health and Lassonde School of Engineering
York Research Chair in Human and Computer Vision
Elder’s YRC research program is deeply interdisciplinary, integrating studies of biological perception using behavioural and neuroscience methods, computational modelling of brain processes, statistical modelling of the visual environment, and computer vision algorithm and system design. While advancing fundamental knowledge in perception science and AI, this research has application to safer and more accessible urban mobility, social robotics and sports analytics. This YRC is administered by York University’s VISTA (Vision: Science to Applications) program.

Jimmy Huang
Jimmy Huang

Jimmy Huang, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
York Research Chair in Big Data Analytics
Huang’s research as a YRC will aim to overcome the limitations of the existing information retrieval (IR) methods for web search and develop a new retrieval paradigm called task-aware and context-sensitive information search for big data. This approach, similar to ChatGPT or GoogleBard, will leverage IR techniques to offer an interactive and dynamic search experience. The program’s research results are expected to provide a deeper understanding of user information needs and generate novel techniques and tools.

Lauren Sergio
Lauren Sergio

Lauren Sergio, Faculty of Health
York Research Chair in Brain Health and Gender in Action
Sergio’s research as YRC investigates the impact of gender on brain health, for which there is little study. The research program will aim to characterize the gender-related differences in an individual’s behavioural response to impaired brain health and design appropriately tailored interventions to optimize their return to work, duty or sport. The research results will provide medically relevant and fundamental knowledge necessary to develop targeted brain health assessments and interventions that account for gender. This YRC is administered by York University’s VISTA (Vision: Science to Applications) program, first funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (2016-23).

Marie Christine Pioffet
Marie-Christine Pioffet

Marie-Christine Pioffet, Glendon College
York Research Chair in Franco-Indigenous Relations in the Americas
This YRC is dedicated to the study of texts from the French colonization in America with research focused on Indigenous history and cultural renaissance, European scriptural practices and Indigenous oral traditions, Franco Indigenous intercultural dialogues, and the Great Lakes region, missionary laboratory, and intercultural junction. Pioffet’s research as Chair will rethink Francophone and Indigenous identities and the cultural blending that inspired the writings of the period, while promoting a resurgence of First Nations culture and languages.

Poonam Puri
Poonam Puri

Poonam Puri, Osgoode Hall Law School
York Research Chair in Corporate Governance, Investor Protection and Financial Markets
Puri’s YRC explores the role of the corporation in society and the impact of legal rules, as well as market mechanisms and incentives on corporate behaviour in several key areas of environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG). These include racial justice, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples and climate change, as well as the role of the corporation and financial markets in times of disruptive technological change. Puri’s cutting-edge, empirical, and interdisciplinary research program charts a new course for the modern corporation, casting it not solely as a profit-maximizer for its shareholders, but as a responsible corporate citizen that genuinely considers the interests of a wider range of stakeholders and is accountable to society.

Tier 2 York Research Chairs
Jacob Beck close-up portrait
Jacob Beck

Jacob Beck, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
York Research Chair in Philosophy of Visual Perception
Beck’s work as YRC seeks to combine philosophy and vision science, suggesting new avenues for research in both disciplines. His research explores how longstanding philosophical puzzles about perception can be resolved or recast with the help of vision science. Beck also examines how scientific discussions can be illuminated by philosophy – for example, how numerical perception can be informed by philosophical theories about what numbers are. This YRC is administered by York University’s VISTA (Vision: Science to Applications) program, first funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (2016-23).

Gene Cheung
Gene Cheung

Gene Cheung, Lassonde School of Engineering
York Research Chair in Graph Signal Processing
Cheung’s research as a YRC focuses on signal processing and machine learning. Cheung looks at the frequency analysis and processing of big data residing on irregular kernels described by graphs, in an emerging and fast-growing field called graph signal processing (GSP). His research program involves collaboration with both academic and industry partners to apply GSP theory to a wide range of applications including image/3D point cloud compression, denoising, super-resolution, video summarization, movie recommendation, and crop yield prediction. This YRC is administered by York University’s VISTA (Vision: Science to Applications) program, first funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (2016-23).

andrea emberly
Andrea Emberly

Andrea Emberly, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
York Research Chair in Children’s Musical Cultures
As a YRC, Emberly will take a community-led approach to the study of children’s musical cultures that explores issues around sustaining endangered musical traditions by emphasizing the connection between music and wellbeing. The research program will focus on child-led and intergenerational collaborations that amplify the voices of equity-seeking children and young people who tell their own stories, in their own voices. The work will explore how children and young people are active social agents who locate and activate unique and meaningful pathways to sustain, change and transform musical traditions.

Sapna Sharma
Sapna Sharma

Sapna Sharma, Faculty of Science
York Research Chair in Global Change Biology
Sharma’s research as YRC will seek to gain a deeper understanding of the ecological impacts of climate change on freshwater availability and quality. Sharma’s research will capitalize on long-term climatic and ecological time series collected from thousands of lakes and apply cutting-edge statistical and machine learning analyses to forecast the impacts of global environmental change on freshwater security and help to explain macroecological patterns, drivers and impacts of worldwide lake responses to climate change. The research program will collaborate with researchers across disciplines to develop technological, natural, health and social solutions to water security.

Sue Winton 2022
Sue Winton

Sue Winton, Faculty of Education
York Research Chair in Policy Analysis for Democracy
Winton’s YRC research program will collaborate with multiple public sector organizations to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on education privatization in Canada. Winton’s research will compare policy development, enactment, and effects during and after the pandemic across multiple scales. The research results will create knowledge about local, regional, national and international influences on education privatization and how this process impacts socially disadvantaged groups, teachers’ work and democracy. At York, Winton will establish and lead a cross-disciplinary Community of Practice for new and established researchers with an interest in critical policy research.

Hina Tabassum
Hina Tabassum

Hina Tabassum, Lassonde School of Engineering
York Research Chair in 5G/6G-enabled Wireless Mobility and Sensing Applications
Leveraging tools from statistics, optimization, game theory and machine learning, this YRC focuses on developing novel network deployment planning, radio access design and dimensioning, radio resource allocation and mobility management solutions to address challenges of higher frequencies like millimeter-wave in 5G and THz in 6G. Tabassum’s research will explore the feasibility of novel multi-band network architectures where THz and optical transmissions can complement the RF transmissions optimally. The research results could form a core for Canadian research on multi-band networks with the potential to connect the unconnected in a seamless, safe and resource efficient manner.

Taien Ng-Chan
Taien Ng-Chan

Taien Ng-Chan, School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design
York Research Chair in Marginal & Emergent Media
Ng-Chan’s research explores questions of how emergent media (new technologies such as VR/AR) can aid in the development of original digital and immersive storytelling techniques, foster solidarity and community amongst marginalized groups, particularly from the Asian diaspora, and lead to better representation and inclusion of these groups in culture and society. The YRC program will allow for future long-term collaborations and creative activities that will contribute to more diversity and inclusion in the emergent media industries, a greater sense of community for marginalized groups and better cultural representation in storytelling.

Denielle Elliott

Denielle Elliott, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
York Research Chair in Injured Minds
Elliott’s work as YRC will explore how ethnographic experiments and transdisciplinary collaborations between arts, neuroscience and medical anthropology can contribute to a fuller understanding of conceptions of self, brain trauma and mental health. Her research program involves a multidisciplinary team that will explore the embodied experiences of people living with brain trauma and brain trauma knowledge-making practices in the clinic and laboratory, as well as their convergences. The research results will increase understandings of the effects of brain trauma, facilitate transdisciplinary collaborations between the arts, science and humanities and highlight how uniquely valuable ethnographic methods are to understanding urgent health priorities.

Cary Wu, professor of sociology at York University
Cary Wu

Cary Wu, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies
York Research Chair in Political Sociology of Health
Wu’s YRC program will work to establish a transdisciplinary political sociology of health approach to investigate health inequalities and provide greater understanding of what forces maintain, increase and reduce health inequalities. The research includes theoretical and empirical illustrations that will focus on trust – the belief in the reliability of others and institutions. The program will seek to energize the field of political sociology by introducing a much-needed new research direction that focuses on trust and will advance a unifying theory of trust to explain health inequalities.

Faculty, administrators encouraged to complete ‘Maclean’s’ survey for university rankings 

Diverse teacher and student at a laptop

York faculty members and senior administrators are invited to fill out a reputational survey as part of the Maclean’s University Ranking.  

The Canadian news magazine’s annual rankings are considered to be one of the most influential sources for prospective university students when choosing their school, and boosts reputation in higher education.  

The annual reputational survey is part of the Maclean’s ranking methodology, which aims to gather the opinions of university faculty, senior administration and businesspeople from across Canada.  

The Reputational Survey is now available for York faculty and senior administrators to complete until early September 2023, when the survey closes. The survey takes about 10 minutes to complete. 

The Maclean’s Reputational Survey for Faculty (English version) is available at: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/MacleansAcademicSurvey202302.  

The French-language version of the Reputational Survey is available at:  https://fr.surveymonkey.com/r/MacleansSondageEnseignant202302

“The Maclean’s University ranking is an important signal for prospective students. Strong rankings for York improves awareness about our leadership in higher education, attracting students as well as research funding and strategic partnerships to our academic community. It also supports the University’s efforts to recruit talented future faculty and staff,” says Lisa Philipps, provost and vice-president academic.   

“I encourage faculty colleagues and senior administrators to complete the reputational survey to highlight York’s academic excellence and the advantages of choosing York,” she says. “The University is truly a driving force for positive change.” 

Maclean’s has made two major changes this year: there is no student satisfaction survey; and, they are asking universities to distribute their reputational survey to participants on their behalf, instead of sending directly to participants.  

Maclean’s has advised that when completing the survey, participants should choose the job title that most closely describes their role. For example, “assistant professors” and “associate professors,” will need to choose the “professor” option. Also, any staff member who teaches at York qualifies to complete the survey as an academic.  

 Any eligible faculty and senior administration member who encounters issues while completing the survey is encouraged to contact the Office of Institutional Planning and Analysis at oipa@yorku.ca.  

From a research perspective, York University has much to be proud of: 

  • York leads Connected Minds, a $318.4-million, first-of-its-kind AI research initiative examining how technology is transforming society, drawing on the expertise of core researchers from the Faculty of Health, the School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design, the Lassonde School of Engineering, Osgoode Hall Law School and Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.   
  • York’s total sponsored research income continues to increase amounting to $112 million in 2022-23, the highest in the history of the University.   
  • York successfully hosted 10,310 global scholars at Congress 2023, showcasing leadership on social justice and sustainability and the Faculty of Graduate Studies ensured all graduate students were supported to attend through the Academic Excellence Fund, including equity-deserving groups.   

“From our historic Connected Minds initiative to accelerating research in AI and health to the transformative work of more than 30 Organized Research Units that draw on expertise from STEM, social sciences and humanities, and other various fields, York is an interdisciplinary powerhouse for research excellence,” said Amir Asif, vice-president, research and innovation. “University ranks like Maclean’s help us demonstrate the significant reach and impact of our research faculty.” 

Other points of institutional pride that highlight excellence happening at York include: 

  • The School of the Arts, Media, Performance & Design (AMPD) and the Schulich School of Business Executive Education partnered with Cinespace Studios to create the first micro-credential program in production accounting for professionals in the film and television industry. 
  • York ranked in the Top 40 globally out of 1,500-plus institutions participating in this year’s Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, once again demonstrating the University’s leadership on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals.
  • The Faculty of Science strengthened its training and research capacity by creating a program to train the next generation of technologically advanced graduates for the pharmaceutical industry and secured major research awards including $7.25 million from the International Development Research Centre.  
  • Glendon College launched a first-of-its-kind Certificate in Indigenous Cultural Competency and Trauma-Informed Training, in partnership with Nokiiwin Tribal Council, and funded in part by the Donner Canadian Foundation.  
  • York University Libraries Accessibility Services have been recognized as an international leader for those requiring alternate formats of texts or access to the Libraries’ adaptive lab to conduct research, course work and studies.  
  • Faculty of Education Professor Celia Haig-Brown was one of six York faculty members to be elected by The Royal Society of Canada (RSC) as part of the Class of 2022 and Professor Carl James was one of five recipients of the 2022 Killam Prize, honouring his research on identity, race, class, gender, immigration and creating more equitable societies.  
  • The School of Continuing Studies opened a new state-of-the-art building and increased the number of internationally educated baccalaureate graduates by 64 per cent. These students received post-graduate certificates in programs designed in partnership with industry, focusing on in-demand skills that enable students to launch careers in Canada.
  • The University approved the 2023-2028 Strategic Research Plan – Knowledge for the Future: From Creation and Discovery to Application, laying out a vision for accelerating the growth and supporting the development of our research, scholarship and creative activity over the next five years.