| Home
> About SSHRC > Governance
> Council News
Council News
Highlights from the Otober 2008 Council meeting
 |
| |
Photos: Martin Lipman |
Sagacitas Awards Ceremony
Sagacitas, SSHRC’s annual awards ceremony, was held at the National Arts Centre in Ottawa on October 16, 2008. Council members were invited to attend the prestigious event and extended their congratulations to this year’s winners: SSHRC Gold Medalist and world-renowned philosopher Ian Hacking, SSHRC Aurora Prize winner Anthony Glinoer from the University of Toronto, SSHRC Postdoctoral Prize winner Sarah Desmarais from The University of British Columbia, and the William E. Taylor Fellowship recipient Katherine Madjidi from the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto.
New Council Members
SSHRC’s governing council continues to be renewed with new talent from across all sectors of Canadian society. At the October meeting, Council welcomed three new members: Fred Morley, executive vice-president and chief economist of the Greater Halifax Partnership; Priscilla Renouf, Canada Research Chair in North Atlantic Archaeology at Memorial University of Newfoundland; and Gerri Sinclair, executive director of the Masters of Digital Media graduate school program at Vancouver's Centre for Digital Media. As part of an orientation session organized for new members, Claire Morris, president and CEO of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, Iain Stewart, associate assistant deputy minister of the science and innovation sector at Industry Canada and Ted Hewitt, vice-president (research and international relations) at The University of Western Ontario gave presentations to help council better understand the environment within which it carries out its work.
Council also bid farewell to three longstanding members: Stephen McClatchie, university provost and vice-president, academic and research, at Mount Allison University; Barbara Neis, professor of sociology, Memorial University of Newfoundland; and Stephen Toope, president of The University of British Columbia. Their individual contributions to council have been essential to SSHRC’s growth and development over the past several years.
SSHRC Priorities
Senior management provided Council with a progress report on the implementation of SSHRC’s corporate priorities for 2008-09, which were outlined in Framing Our Direction and endorsed by Council in March 2008. The report included a mid-year scorecard and a short status report for each priority after six months of implementation, as well as updates on additional priorities that emerged since the beginning of the year. Specific highlights included:
- SSHRC’s 2008-09 investment strategy for its Management, Business and Finance programs as well as follow-up activities and ongoing consultations;
- the launch of two suites of funding opportunities in August 2008—Canadian Environmental Issues: Special Call and Northern Communities: Towards Social and Economic Prosperity—in response to additional funds received in Budget 2008 for research on the environment and on Canada’s North;
- the implementation of two tri-agency initiatives designed to position Canada as a global centre of excellence in research and education: the Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) program and the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarships; and
- an update on the implementation of the new partnerships strategy, including a planned review of SSHRC’s thematic research priorities; a planned review of partnership mechanisms with the goal of developing a more integrated and flexible funding suite; and a more pro-active approach to partnering with the private, public and not-for-profit sectors as well as supporting international collaborations.
Potential organizational priorities for 2009-10 were also presented to Council for discussion. These priorities will build on the work completed and the many projects launched this year, and continue SSHRC’s efforts to implement the strategic ambitions outlined in Framing Our Direction.
Service Delivery
In a joint effort to improve service delivery through the more effective use of information and communications technology, SSHRC and NSERC are testing a new online application system. The Enterprise Award Management System (EAMS) is intended to simplify the process that researchers, graduate students and universities follow in order to apply to SSHRC and NSERC programs. SSHRC is using the 2009-10 competition of the postdoctoral fellowship program to test the system. SSHRC and NSERC will assess the results of their pilot projects in the next few months and will determine whether to extend the use of the EAMS system to their full suite of programs.
Blue Ribbon Panel on Peer Review
As described in Framing Our Direction, SSHRC is undertaking an objective, arm’s length assessment of the quality and integrity of its peer-review practices with a view toward ensuring we are world leaders in the expert evaluation of proposals.
Camille Limoges, who is managing this exercise on Council’s behalf, provided an update on the work of the panel. In addition to interviews with SSHRC staff, former adjudication committee members, standing committee members and Standard Research Grants observers, the panel carried out an online survey to gather the opinions of researchers across Canada on SSHRC policies and practices. Council was extremely pleased with the more than 6,000 responses received and expressed its appreciation to the community for taking the time to participate. The panel will meet again later this month to review and discuss the survey results, and the final report will be published in the spring of 2009
SSHRC Leaders
SSHRC Leaders are senior university administrators who act as points of contact between SSHRC and their respective universities—providing a supplementary channel of communication to exchange information and advice on the development of SSHRC programs and policies. Since the last Council meeting, SSHRC Leaders were informed of recent developments and future consultations with respect to the evolving research ethics dossier, were invited to provide institutional input on the development of the management, business and finance strategy, and were invited to participate in the survey regarding the blue ribbon panel as well as promote information about the work of the panel within their universities. Leaders also participated in a teleconference briefing regarding the new Canada Excellence Research Chairs.
On December 12, 2008, the SSHRC Leaders will meet with SSHRC to discuss various program and policy priorities and contribute to the environmental scan to be presented to Council in June.
Governance
In 2006, Council initiated a series of reforms to strengthen its governance structures and practices, including:
- Separating the roles of president and chair of Council to improve Council’s ability to provide independent oversight and impartial guidance. In March 2007, Council elected a new vice-president, Tom Kierans, to serve as chair of Council.
- Ensuring Council membership reflects the complexity and diversity of Canadian society. With the appointment of new members in July 2008, half of Council’s membership is now made up of esteemed researchers and academics holding senior positions in universities across the country, while the other half is composed of prominent individuals with diverse backgrounds in the private, public and not-for-profit sectors.
- Revamping Council’s terms of reference and committee structure to focus on strategic direction, priority-setting and the achievement of excellence.
Decisions made at the October meeting put new committee mandates and membership slates in place, and mark the completion of this renewal initiative.
The new Executive, Governance and Nominations Committee will make recommendations to Council on governance matters including: procedures; Council agendas; committee mandates, composition and membership; and performance management of Council. It is also responsible for overseeing SSHRC’s human resources policies and practices.
The Programs and Quality Committee, chaired by Les Monkman of Queen’s University, will monitor the overall design, coherence and performance of SSHRC’s suite of programs and program-related policies in the context of strategic direction and the pursuit of excellence. In addition to seven members of Council, the committee includes four external representatives: Jo-Ann Archibald of The University of British Columbia; Mingjun Lu of the University of Toronto; Barbara Neis of Memorial University of Newfoundland; and Jean-Pierre Voyer of the Social Research and Demonstration Corporation.
SSHRC’s president and Council will also receive advice from a new Audit and Risk Committee composed of three external experts selected by government, as well as the president and the vice-president and chair of Council. Another member of Council will attend meetings as an observer.
Council is confident that the changes made to its governance over the past two years strengthen its ability to guide SSHRC’s future direction and to tell the compelling story of humanities and social sciences research across Canada.
Competition Policy Review
In June 2008, the Competition Policy Review Panel released its report to the Government of Canada. The report puts forward a series of policy recommendations aimed at making Canada a more attractive destination for talent, investment and innovation. SSHRC council member Tom Jenkins—who was a member of the panel—provided Council with an overview of the panel’s recommendations and their implications for social sciences and humanities research in Canada.
Overall, Jenkins emphasized the importance of SSHRC’s role in building Canadian research capacity on innovation and competition, so Canada can continue to excel on the world stage. He also highlighted opportunities where SSHRC can take a lead role in this area by linking research knowledge across sectors and supporting research on education, innovation, intellectual property and the pace of change in the world.
Next Meeting
The next meeting of Council will take place on March 6, 2009 in Ottawa.
Updated:
11/8/2008 3:46:32 PM
|
