Purpose Report of the Associate Dean - Research To the General Assembly of the Faculty of Environment Fiscal 2016-2017 Activities Mike Stone & Claude Duguay The activities of the Associate Dean, Research (ADR) are directed towards advancing research in the Faculty of Environment at the University of Waterloo. Dr. Mike Stone served as the ADR from January 1 st, 2016 to December 31 st, 2016. Dr. Claude Duguay is the current ADR. Funded Faculty Research For the past five years, research funding in the Faculty of Environment has been averaging around $7 million per year (Figure 1). During the last fiscal year, 171 proposals were submitted. A total of $6.968 million was awarded in grant and contract research funding to professors in the Faculty of Environment. Funding sources included Federal ($2.712 million), Industry ($.838 million), Provincial ($.533 million) and other sources ($2.885 million) (Table 1). A portion of the Federal funding ($1.334 million) was generated by Tri-Council (SSHRC, NSERC and CIHR). The distribution of funding by each Department for the past five years is presented in Figure 2. ADR s Office - Key activities during the past year Some of the main activities of the ADR s office during the past year are briefly described below: Review research grant/contract applications: The ADR s office ensures research proposals and coversheets are compliant with respect to academic content and financial budgeting. All applications submitted and funds awarded are tracked in a data base. Requests for in-kind or cash support for proposals are also handled by the ADR s office and referred to the Dean. The ADR signs off on coversheets and applications for budget amounts less than $500,000 and the Dean for amounts greater than $500,000. This policy has worked well to streamline the approval process. The ADR s office supports the practical aspects of grant applications via the Faculty of Environment Research College (FERC). At the request of researchers who are applying for a grant, FERC will review the application and provide feedback and advice. Representation on University governance committees: The ADR represents the Faculty of Environment on the Senate Graduate and Research Affairs committee, and the Associate Deans of Research committee. Strategic Research Planning: The ADR contributes to strategic research planning in the Faculty through initiatives such as securing Canada Research Chair (CRC) appointments and providing advice/assistance on wider research proposal activities across the campus. Dr. Christine Dow (Department of Geography and Environmental Management) was recently awarded a Tier 2 CRC (NSERC).
Support for the Research Proposal Process: The ADR s office supports the research proposal process as follows: Disseminates information about upcoming research opportunities and calls for proposals; Coordinates the grant application process, directing funding questions as appropriate to various personnel in the Office of Research on behalf of faculty members; Reviews research procedures and guidelines for submitting applications (posted on Environment s website) with relevant links to other resources/websites in an effort to make the application process easier and smoother for researchers; Tracks and updates spreadsheets to monitor the number of applications submitted to various sponsors, grants awarded, cover sheets, and overhead/indirect costs; Represents the faculty as members of the University s Waterloo Awards Committee (WAC); Coordinates and updates information on ENV webpages with the Communication s Officer; Maintains a database of Faculty members CVs and CCVs; Completes space agreements and maintains ongoing updates of space use. Acknowledgements The ADR wishes to express his appreciation to all Faculty members who are working to advance the research agenda in Environment. Special thanks to Sandra Ramautarsingh for her continued strong contribution to support the ongoing research efforts of Faculty members and the role she plays in the ADR s office.
Figure 1: Funding trend for the Faculty of Environment (Fiscal Year 2009/10 to 2016/17).
Table 1: Research Award Summary for 2016/17* by Departments and Sources. Source: Data obtained from the Office of Research * The current year (2016/17) will be updated on a monthly basis Federal (Includes Tri- Council) Industry Other Provincial Total CKI - Centre for Knowledge Integration 104,447 10,000 28,000 142,447 Dean of Environment 117,483 46,434 70,969 234,886 School of Environment & Resource and Sustainability 360,467 124,101 907,209 84,027 1,475,804 Geography & Environmental Management 1,555,087 555,761 1,462,366 207,521 3,780,736 Heritage Resource Centre 5,000 5,000 School of Planning 183,509 22,500 198,832 133,000 537,841 SEED (School of Environment, Enterprise & Development) 390,830 84,833 235,458 80,630 791,751 2,711,823 838,629 2,884,835 533,178 6,968,465
Figure 2: Faculty of Environment Research Award Funding by Departments for the last five fiscal years.