The new directors are Professor Colin Coates, director of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies (RCCS); Professor Laurence Harris, director of the Centre for Vision Research (CVR); Professor Christina Kraenzle, director of the Canadian Centre for German & European Studies (CCGES); Professor David Mutimer, director of the Centre for International & Security Studies (YCISS); and Professor Lisa Philipps, director of the Centre for Public Policy & Law (YCPPL).����

“On behalf of the �첥��Ƶ research community, I would like to congratulate Professors Coates, Harris, Kraenzle, Mutimer and Philipps on their appointments,” said Robert Haché, York's vice-president research & innovation. “Their leadership expertise will be essential to further strengthening the unique and exciting opportunities for interdisciplinary research, collaborations and partnerships at York’s research centres and institutes.”

Colin Coates (left), Canada Research Chair in Cultural Landscapes, is also professor in the Canadian Studies program at Glendon College and president of the Canadian Studies Network-Réseau d’études canadiennes. His research examines political culture in New France and the history of Canadian utopias. He also conducts research in the area of environmental history, and is an executive member of the Network in Canadian History & Environment – Nouvelle initiative canadienne en histoire de l’environnement, funded by the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC). Coates has co-edited and authored several books including, Introduction aux études canadiennes: histoires, identités et cultures (with Professor Geoffrey Ewen, Glendon) and Visions: the Canadian History Modules Project (with Professor Marcel Martel, Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies,��along with four colleagues from other universities), Majesty in Canada: Essays on the Role of Royalty among others. Coates won the Lionel Groulx-Yves Saint-Germain Foundation’s prize for Heroines and History – Representations of Madeleine de Verchères and Laura Secord (co-authored with Cecilia Morgan of OISE).

Laurence Harris (right) is a professor in the Department of Psychology, Faculty of Health, a member of the graduate programs in Kinesiology & Health Science and in Biology, and has served as chair of the Psychology Department. He is the director the Multisensory Integration Laboratory at �첥��Ƶ, which investigates how information from visual, auditory, vestibular, proprioceptive and tactile senses is combined by the brain to create our perception of body and space. Applications of his research include the design of virtual environments and improving perception in situations where sensory information is impoverished, such as in the unusual environments of underwater or in space, in ageing or in clinical conditions such as partial blindness or Parkinson’s disease. Recently, Harris ran an experiment on the International Space Station looking at astronauts’ perception of orientation. He is the author of more than 100 scientific articles and has edited nine books on topics pertaining to vision including Vision in 3D Environments, Cortical Mechanisms of Vision, Seeing Spatial Form, and Levels of Perception.  He is editor-in-chief of the journal Seeing and Perceiving: a journal of multisensory science.

Christina Kraenzle (left) is a professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures & Linguistics (DLLL) in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. She has served as a CCGES affiliate since 2004 and been a member of the centre’s executive committee since 2005 through her role as the coordinator of the German Studies Program within DLLL. Kraenzle’s research explores modern German literature, film and culture, with a focus on transnational cultural production, migration, travel and globalization. Her recent publications include Mapping Channels Between Ganges and Rhein: German-Indian Cross-Cultural Relations (with Jörg Esleben and Sukanya Kulkarni, 2008) as well as articles in The German Quarterly, German Life and Letters, Transit: A Journal of Travel, Migration and Multiculturalism in the German-Speaking World, and the volume Searching for Sebald: Photography after W. G. Sebald.

David Mutimer (right), a professor in the Department of Political Science, is also the founding editor of Critical Studies on Security and the editor of The Canadian Annual Review of Politics and Public Affairs.  He has been a member of YCISS since 1987 and has previously served as its deputy director. Mutimer was also a visiting professor at the University of Geneva in Switzerland and Newcastle University in the United Kingdom (UK), as well as a principal research fellow in the Department of Peace Studies at the University of Bradford in the UK. Mutimer’s research considers issues of contemporary international security through lenses provided by critical social theory and explores the reproduction of security in and through popular culture. His research has focused on various aspects of weapons production and control, and more recently on the politics of the global war on terror, and of the regional wars around the world which are being fought by Canada and its allies. Mutimer is presently leading a SSHRC-funded international research project on arms export controls. His recent published work includes journal articles in Studies in Social Justice, The Cambridge Review of International Affairs and Contemporary Security Policy among others.

Lisa Philipps (left) has been a faculty member at Osgoode Hall Law School since 1996. Prior to that, she held appointments in the faculties of law at the University of Victoria and the University of British Columbia, and has held visiting professorships at Melbourne Law School, University College London and the University of Toronto among other institutions. She served as associate dean research, graduate studies & institutional relations at Osgoode from 2009 to 2011. Philipps' research focuses on tax law, budgets and feminist legal studies. She has published widely on topics, including fiscal transparency, income splitting, gender budgeting, the distributional impact of tax cuts, the tax treatment of unpaid work, charitable tax incentives and more. Most recently she published two co-edited books on Tax Expenditures: State of the Art and Challenging Gender Inequality in Tax Policy Making: Comparative Perspectives.����

In all, York lists 29 research centres and institutes.

Republished courtesy of YFile– �첥��Ƶ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Funded through the  program of the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the principal investigator of the project – Le français à la mesure d'un continent : un patrimoine en partage (French Language Across a Continent: A Shared Heritage) – is Professor France Martineau of the University of Ottawa who holds a University Research Chair in Language and Migration in French America and is the director of Le laboratoire Les Polyphonies du français and co-founder of the Laboratoire de français ancien.

The study will include 13 fellow researchers and 59 partners from Canada, the United States, France and Japan working in a variety of disciplines, including linguistics, anthropology, history, geography and computer science.

Right: Raymond Mougeon

Other members of the involved in the project include Hélène Blondeau of the University of Florida, Annette Boudreau and Rodrigue Landry of the Université de Moncton, Yves Frenette of the University of Ottawa, Françoise Gadet of the Université de Paris Ouest Nanterre La Défense (Paris X) and Ruth King of �첥��Ƶ.

The way French is spoken in places as diverse as Gatineau, Shediac and New Orleans can tell a lot about how Francophone communities evolved in North America. "We are looking at three fields of expansion from France: New France – now known as Quebec – Louisiana and Acadia," says Mougeon.

"If we just focused on Canada, we would miss some important components of the North American francophonie, mainly Louisiana, probably one of the most interesting colonial settings, because it involved not only colonization from France, but also secondary migration from Acadia – basically the French language continued to live, but in a completely different setting from the original."

According to Mougeon, the project team plans to reach beyond linguistics to include history and sociology. "We believe that you can only understand the evolution of language if you can actually place it in its broader socio-historical setting.”

The study will use innovative approaches, by presenting individuals and their language as a central factor in the changes that society undergoes and by examining the relationship between the cognitive and cultural aspects of language. Relying on extensive documentation, the study will seek to identify the concerns of present-day francophone communities, in majority, minority or multicultural settings.

The research will also help produce a major corpus of French in North America, which will include informal exchanges between individuals in the form of private correspondence or spontaneous conversation. This publicly accessible tool will be useful as a starting point to systematically compare francophone communities.

Mougeon has conducted research on the diversity of spoken French in Ontario, the demo-linguistic vitality of the Franco-Ontarian community, the sociolinguistic history of French in Quebec and France from the colonial period to the present day and the sociolinguistic competence of French-immersion students. He is the author or co-author of several publications and has participated in 36 research projects with funds representing over $5 million in research grants, including those from SSHRC, the Ontario Ministry of Education and the Association of Canadian Studies.

By Marika Kemeny, Glendon communications officer.

Republished courtesy of YFile– �첥��Ƶ’s daily e-bulletin.

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The event, which took place in Halifax, NS,��is part of ’s ongoing effort to bring together the best brains of research and decision-making on a government identified, high priority issue.

Right: Faculty of Health Professor Mary Wiktorowicz

Friday’s Best Brains Exchange, titled “Governance Models to Support an Integrated System of Care for Mental Health and Addictions Services”, was developed by CIHR in cooperation with the Nova Scotia government.

Wiktorowicz was approached to be on the panel of experts to the advisory committee on mental health for Nova Scotia’s Department of Health because of her research comparing the modes of governance used in 10 mental health networks in rural versus urban and regionalized versus non-regional contexts, published in the October to December 2010 issue of the .

Wiktorowicz’s research found that collaboration is a key factor for effective and safe care, especially since organizations across different jurisdictions make up the health-care system.

“Mental health care goes beyond treatment – it involves a range of supports that help individuals recover and manage their lives, such as housing and income assistance that are run by different organizations in separate jurisdictions," said Wiktorowicz.

"If collaboration between these organizations is not built into the system, the continuity of care is easily broken. Without the appropriate supports, an individual may eventually experience a mental health crisis and patient safety can become a real risk," she added.

The advisory committee on mental health was struck following the release of the Hyde Report, which used findings from an investigation into the death of , a client in Nova Scotia's mental health system. Hyde died in November 2007, in a jail cell following a series of altercations with police and prison guards. Law enforcement officials had tried and failed to find him access to emergency psychiatric care.

Knowledge exchanged at the Best Brains panel will provide the Nova Scotia Mental Health Strategy Advisory Committee with an overview of the latest evidence, as well as timely advice from experts in the field of mental health and governance in health care. The panel was comprised of researchers, administrators, clinicians and policy-makers. Participation was based on each individual's expertise and knowledge on critical issues related to access to mental health and addictions services.

"Research shows that even in decentralized systems, policy and organizational processes can foster more collaboration and lead to better care," said Wiktorowicz. "For example, appointing a director of mental health for a region whose mandate is to bring together representatives from diverse organizations can lead to information sharing and innovations supported by inter-organizational coordination within the system."

The Best Brains Exchange is part of a CIHR provincial engagement strategy, called Evidence on Tap, to make high-quality evidence that addresses health system priorities accessible to decision makers.

More about Mary Wiktorowicz

Wiktorowicz adopts a comparative lens to study models of health system governance, focusing on mental health policy and pharmaceutical policy. Her comparative policy research also analyses international  pharmaceutical regulatory policy and develops frameworks to enhance our understanding of them. Her most recent research compares international pharmaco-surveillance strategies and the decision frameworks that guide them.

By Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor

Republished courtesy of YFile– �첥��Ƶ’s daily e-bulletin

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York Professors Chris Ardern, , Paul Ritvo and Lauren Sergio will work on site for one to two days a week with hospital clinicians to foster research collaborations and knowledge exchange, and engage in joint knowledge mobilization efforts.

The partnership will realize important benefits to the research communities at both institutions and for the general public, says York Professor (right), associate vice-president research, science & technology, who led the effort to develop the partnership with Southlake Regional Health Centre.

"The embedded York researchers are senior scientists who will explore and cultivate research collaborations between �첥��Ƶ and Southlake researchers and clinicians," says Siu. "They will act as 'matchmakers' and brokers and will bring �첥��Ƶ's research expertise and knowledge to Southlake to facilitate collaboration.

"The partnership will broaden the research capacity for both York researchers and the Southlake clinicians," says Siu. "�첥��Ƶ does not have a Faculty of Medicine or a teaching hospital. As a result,��University researchers do not have the patient access they would like to have. By working with Southlake,��the University is enhancing a collaboration that would benefit both parties."

The embedded University scientists bring to Southlake Regional Health Centre their recognized expertise in biomedical and health research. Southlake is the only community-based hospital in Ontario to offer six regional tertiary programs, including child and adolescent mental health, maternal and child,��cardiac and cancer care.

"We anticipate this to be an outstanding opportunity for both Southlake and �첥��Ƶ," says , director of research at Southlake.

"Serving some 1.5 million people through our regional programs and providing tertiary level care in many areas, the depth and breadth of programs and services, and the unexplored opportunities for reasearch collaboration between Southlake and �첥��Ƶ are endless," says Clifford.

"Southlake is interested in strengthening its research in terms of breadth and depth and in fact, Southlake is developing a research institute with a plan to become a teaching hospital with an official affiliation with a Canadian university," says Siu.

�첥��Ƶ is a preferred candidate for this kind of partnership with Southlake, says Siu,��because the two institutions have shared goals and visions, and a willingness to work together.

The partnership offers exceptional training and educational opportunities for graduate and undergraduate students working in the research teams, says Siu.

In addition, the opportunity presented by the collaboration between the two institutions is consistent with the goal of integrating teaching and research with the world outside the University that was articulated in York's recent .

More about the York-Southlake embedded researchers

Chris Ardern (left) is a professor in the School of Kinesiology & Health Science in York's Faculty of Health. His current research interests include the epidemiology of physical activity, obesity and cardiometabolic risk. His most recent work has focused on the use of risk algorithms, behavioural profiling and trajectory modelling approaches to identify high-risk subgroups for the development of the metabolic syndrome and cardiovascular disease mortality. Arden is currently investigating the role of geospatial analysis to improve the surveillance of cardiovascular disease in York Region, and is a co-investigator on the Pre-diabetes Detection & Physical Activity Intervention and Delivery (PRE-PAID) program, a six-month trial of culturally-preferred physical activity. Ardern will be embedded in Southlake's chronic disease portfolio.

In her research, (right) works on a family of proteins known as nucleoside transporters. These transporters play significant roles in a number of clinical settings because they transport drugs used in cancer and are targets of drugs used in some cardiac care settings. Despite their clinical relevance, Coe, who is a professor of biology in York's Faculty of Science & Engineering, says researchers know very little about how these transporters work and how they differ in terms of their distribution, activity and regulation in individual patients. Using a molecular diagnostics approach, Coe and her team will work with Southlake clinicians from both the cardiac care and oncology portfolios to investigate the transporter profiles in individual patients and correlate these profiles with drug treatments and outcomes. The ultimate goal of this work is to contribute to the efforts to develop more personalized approaches to the treatment of disease.

Paul Ritvo (left) is a behavioural scientist who will serve as the research adviser, physical and mental health liaison and special projects scientist. A professor in York’s Faculty of Health, Ritvo’s research interests focus on electronic health interventions that employ cell phones, smartphones and online programs to change health behaviours in diabetics, HIV-positive individuals and individuals with mental health difficulties. Ritvo will work with Southlake clinicians to extend current intervention studies that use Blackberry smartphones and innovative software applications to help patients reduce health risks by way of healthy exercise, diet and improved medication adherence.

Lauren Sergio (right) is a neuroscientist working in �첥��Ƶ's Sherman Health Science Research Centre. Her current research projects examine the effects of age, sex, neurological disease and past head injuries (of athletes versus non-athletes) on the brain's control of complex movement. In her role with Southlake Regional Health Centre, Sergio will be an embedded researcher in the chronic disease, emergency medicine and surgical portfolios. She works with a wide range of adult populations, including professional hockey players and Alzheimer's disease patients. Her findings have implications for neurological disease diagnosis and rehabilitation and for understanding the fundamental brain mechanisms for movement control. She is using cognitive-motor integration research to test if new instrumentation developed in her laboratory can differentiate between types of dementia. She is also researching the long-term effects of concussion in young athletes. Sergio is a member of the .

The embedded researcher program at Southlake Regional Health Centre is an example of the collaboration between the Faculty of Science & Engineering and the Faculty of Health at �첥��Ƶ and is part of an ongoing commitment by the Faculties' deans to work together.

For more information on �첥��Ƶ's partnerships with regional hospitals, see YFile,��April 17, 2009 and  April 21, 2009.

By Jenny Pitt-Clark, YFile editor.

Republished courtesy of YFile – �첥��Ƶ’s daily e-bulletin.

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It will not only ensure patients receive leading-edge care but help build a reputation for excellence at the hospital, the [York Central] chief of emergency medicine says. And that's why he is participating in the initiative.

Knowledge translation, Ghosh explains, makes that important link between research and its application in health care. "We know there is good evidence-based, science-based research that has not been translated into clinical practice," he says. "A gap exists."

To narrow that gap, York Central Hospital made a decision to forge a collaborative effort with �첥��Ƶ about two years ago. Researchers with a specialty in two of YCH's areas of focus, seniors' health and chronic disease management, now have offices at the hospital.

For example, Dr. William Gage, whose research focuses on seniors' health, has connected York Central staff with a �첥��Ƶ researcher examining changes in motor performance among patients with mild cognitive impairment.

Researcher Sherry Grace [] worked with Tiziana Rivera, chief practice officer at York Central and others on publishing a review of studies on women and cardiac rehabilitation, program adherence and preference for alternative models of care. YCH staff can use the information when setting rehabilitation programs for their female cardiac patients.

Republished courtesy of YFile – �첥��Ƶ’s daily e-bulletin

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The key mandate for these meetings is to enable researchers from �첥��Ƶ and from across India to establish joint bilateral research and developmental projects. �첥��Ƶ, the third largest university in Canada, is the country's leading interdisciplinary research and teaching institution with an academic community of 50,000 students and 7,000 faculty and staff, as well as 200,000 alumni worldwide.

Leader of the delegation is , dean of the Faculty of Science & Engineering, and professor in York’s Department of Earth & Space Sciences & Engineering. Among others, Kozinski's brainchild is an anti-terrorism project evocatively called eWAR (Early Warning & Advance Response) system that seeks to detect, quantify and initiate an effective response to chemical and biological agents released in public buildings.

In a special interview to Business Line during his visit to this newspaper office in Mumbai despite a hectic schedule, Kozinski shared for the benefit of readers the mission's objectives, research priorities, funding and related matters:

Kozinski: India is one of our three focal points. We want to engage in projects with practical social applications. Specifically, we are looking at, among other areas, space science which would cover micro and nano satellites to carry communications tools. Our focus would also be atmospheric monitoring to study global warming and climate change.

Also, we are keen to develop partnerships in the field of biotechnology for healthcare; analyse propagation of infectious diseases – their origin, spread, control and eradication through bio-sensors.

We firmly believe in creating value and sharing it with the society. Where societal benefits are involved, I am somewhat wary of creating barriers like intellectual property rights and so on. We want the society at large to benefit from our research.

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�첥��Ƶ has answered this challenge by launching (IY). Strategically located in York Region, IY is the public face and conduit between York researchers and their applied research partners who will collaboratively grow their ideas and introduce new products and services to the marketplace.

Above: From left, Peter Pekos, chair of VentureLab; Markham-Unionville MPP Michael Chan; Frank Scarpitti,��mayor of the Town of Markham; Ontario's Minister of Research & Innovation Glen Murray; Richmond Hill MPP Reza Moridi; York President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri; and York Vice-President Research & Innovation Stan Shapson

IY will provide commercialization and knowledge mobilization services to industry, public sector organizations and academic researchers while playing a strong role in supporting VentureLab, York Region’s Regional Innovation Centre, which was officially opened yesterday by Ontario's Minister of Research & Innovation Glen Murray.

“�첥��Ƶ is proud of our partnerships with governments, academic institutions and industry,” said �첥��Ƶ President and Vice-Chancellor, Mamdouh Shoukri. “This collaborative approach allows our researchers and industry stakeholders to engage and share ideas, a concept that complements York’s interdisciplinary approach to research and learning.”

Right: Click on the photograph to view a Flickr slideshow of images from the opening of the Markham Convergence Centre and Innovation York

“�첥��Ƶ is York Region’s research and innovation university,” said Stan Shapson, vice-president research & innovation. “We have a critical role to play in collaborating with entrepreneurs, industry and municipal partners to develop new ideas, products and services that will help Ontario gain a competitive advantage in the global economy. IY’s presence throughout York Region will make the world-class expertise of over 1,500 researchers integral to accelerating R&D growth and strengthening communities where people want to work and enjoy a high quality of life.”

IY’s location in the , along with VentureLab and other key collaborators, presents unique opportunities.

“Across York Region, there are impressive sectoral strengths in information technology, environmental technologies and the life sciences, particularly in medical device technologies,” said Shapson. “Combined with Canada’s fastest growing and most diverse population base, this presents a particularly compelling case for innovation. Through our presence in York Region, IY will be positioned to better understand our partners’ needs within the economic and social ecosystems they operate within as we explore new ways to work together to mutual advantage.”

“The strength of Ontario’s creative environment, diverse culture, highly skilled workforce, world-class education system, internationally recognized research community and proven entrepreneurs is second to none,” said Murray. “ links these talents together across the province to ensure all great ideas have the opportunity to flourish – creating jobs and improving our lives now and in the future.”

As part of the province-wide ONE network, VentureLab will give entrepreneurs access to a broad range of experts – including researchers, academics, businesses, government and investors – who can help sell an innovative idea, bring it to the marketplace and grow a business worldwide.

Submitted by Elizabeth Monier Williams, research communications officer

Photos and video republished courtesy of Jenny Pitt-Clark, editor of YFile, �첥��Ƶ’s daily e-bulletin

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The clip focuses on recent efforts to teach AQUA to move as easily on sand as it does in the water, and its first attempt at tether-less swimming. Several students attached to the project also appear in the footage. You can watch it on the .

Jenkin is just one of the researchers based in York’s state-of-the-art Sherman Health Science Research Centre. Jenkin leads the Canadian Centre for Field Robotics, which is based on the building’s main level, and is a member of the .

The AQUA project is funded in part by the .

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– �첥��Ƶ’s daily e-bulletin

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Homeless young people are victims of crime at rates that society would consider unacceptable for any other group, according to a new report by researchers at �첥��Ƶ and the University of Guelph.

The report, , highlights the degree to which it is street youth themselves − often perceived as delinquent and dangerous − who are vulnerable to crime and violence.

“The very people we are taught to fear are the ones who are most at risk,” said Professor (right), associate dean of research and field development in York’s . ”More than 76 per cent of the homeless youth we surveyed said they had been victims of violent crime in the past year, and almost three-quarters of them reported multiple incidents.”

In comparison, about 40 per cent of young people in the general population reported that they had been victimized in the previous year, when the last asked them about it in 1999 − and they experienced mostly property crime.

Gaetz and University of Guelph Professor interviewed 244 homeless youths across Toronto last year about life on the streets. Their report was commissioned by , a not-for-profit legal aid clinic that operates a Street Youth Legal Services program, providing legal advice and support to homeless youth in Toronto.

The solution to problems youth face on the streets lies in changing the way youth homelessness is addressed, according to the report. It calls for a balanced response that, instead of relying mostly on emergency services, would balance preventive measures, an emergency response, and transitional support to move young people out of homelessness quickly.

Above: A homeless youth keeps dry under a bridge in downtown Toronto. Photo: Wikimedia Commons.

In the interviews, conducted at agencies serving youth in downtown Toronto and the suburbs:

• female street youth were more likely than males to report being victims of crime (85.9 per cent compared to 71.8 per cent).
• 38.2 per cent of the female street youth reported being victims of sexual assault. Reports of sexual assault were higher among black females (47 per cent) than white females (33 per cent).
• 60 per cent of lesbian and bisexual females reported that they had been sexually assaulted in the past year, making them perhaps the most victimized group among street youth.
• young homeless women reported extremely high levels of violence and abuse from their intimate partners.
• youths who had become homeless at a young age (16 or 17) were much more likely to have been violently victimized than young people who became homeless later.
• only 20 per cent of all respondents said they had alerted police about their victimization.

Much has changed since Gaetz first wrote a report on homeless youth in Toronto, also for Justice for Children and Youth, seven years ago. The and non-profit agencies have improved services, and the City has expanded its Streets to Homes program to move youth into housing. Street Youth Legal Services, a program of Justice for Children and Youth, has expanded its capacity to support young people with their legal and justice issues.

However, the report concludes federal, provincial and municipal governments should be addressing youth homelessness with an integrated strategy that includes: an adequate supply of supported, affordable housing for young people; efforts by health and mental health sectors, corrections and child welfare services to ensure their practices do not contribute to homelessness; crisis intervention and family mediation to help young people remain housed; and transitional approaches with income, social and health care supports for young people.

“Many people, including policy makers, believe that youth homelessness and crime are linked, and they use laws such as the Safe Streets Act to ‘move along’ young people,” said Gaetz. “In fact, our findings show that young homeless people are among the most victimized people in our society, and they need our protection.”

Gaetz leads the (CHRN), which enhances the impact of homelessness research on homelessness and the housing crisis by increasing collaboration and discussion among researchers, policy-makers and community workers. One of Canada’s leading experts on homelessness, Gaetz also created the – the world’s first digital hub to mobilize homelessness research – to support collaboration, knowledge exchange, and public engagement among regional and clustered research networks. CHRN, , received $2.1 million through the strategic knowledge clusters program.

By Janice Walls, media relations coordinator. Republished courtesy of YFile – �첥��Ƶ’s daily e-bulletin.

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CASS has over 30 research institutes, while York has one of the largest faculties of social sciences and humanities in Canada, which makes this an ideal partnership. “CASS is the premier institution in China for social sciences research,” says , associate vice-president international. “As York International researchers and York faculty members have already partnered with CASS researchers, I thought it was probably time we formalize what we were doing.”

Right: Delegates from the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences meet with Lorna Wright (centre)

Six delegates from CASS came to York from China to meet with York researchers and discuss future initiatives and collaborations. “Basically, it will give York researchers better access to opportunities in China for research and we’ll have a partner for that research,” says Wright.

One of those researchers is York political science Professor Gregory Chin in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, who currently has about six research projects on the go all involving CASS scholars in one way or another across disciplines. "The signing of this agreement with CASS will further strengthen these links," he said.

As the two delegations discussed areas of mutual interest, , associate vice-president research (social sciences & humanities), said he has worked with several CASS researchers in the past, in the 1990s. “York used to work a lot with CASS researchers. I hope this will afford us the opportunity to start that again.”

Left: Wright signs a collaboration agreement with the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences. From left, Zhang Youyun, deputy director general in CASS's Bureau of International Cooperation; vice-president of CASS Professor Wu Yin; Wright and Gregory Chin.

, chair of the Department of Anthropology, agreed saying,��“There are so many areas where we could work together.”

Chin, Dewitt and Lumsden, along with Bernie Frolic, director of the Asian Business & Management Program; Susan Henders, director of the York Centre for Asian Research; Faculty of Education Professor Qiang Zha; Haideh Moghissi, associate dean, external relations, for the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies; and Professor , chair of the Department of Political Science, discussed some of their research interests with delegates from CASS to get a better understanding of their mutual goals.

The Chinese delegation from CASS included: Professor Wu Yin, vice-president; Professor Zhang Changdong, deputy director general in the General Office; Professor Wang Zheng, deputy director general of the Bureau of Scientific Research Management; Professor Hu Guocheng, research fellow in the Institute of American Studies; Professor Zhang Youyun, deputy director general of the Bureau of International Cooperation; and Li Bin, program officer in the Bureau of International Cooperation.

As Wright pointed out, the collaborative nature of the agreement will also be beneficial when it comes to securing funding from granting agencies, as the agencies are always looking for international partnerships. “And CASS is a very prestigious partner.” In addition, the partnership will also facilitate faculty exchanges.

“I hope the agreement will result in further concrete results and research collaborative projects,” says Wright. "It was agreed that the next step would be a meeting at CASS in Beijing during Dean trip next month when a task force of Martin Singer, Bernie Frolic and myself would convene with researchers from CASS to discuss the strategic direction."

Following the signing, the CASS delegates had a tour of the campus and lunch with York President & Vice-Chancellor Mamdouh Shoukri.

Republished courtesy of YFile– �첥��Ƶ’s daily e-bulletin.

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