We encourage the research community to continue to check the Vice-Principal Research VPR COVID-19 website for updates. Associate Deans of Research will also provide additional details and guidance on matters particular to your faculty, and they are your first point of contact for questions. As previously communicated, we have prepared a Continuity of Research Protocol to guide the continuation of certain research activity.
Research News
The Queen’s Research Opportunities Funds (QROF) competition awards researchers from across disciplines a chance to begin innovative projects while helping to advance the objectives of the institution. QROF also offers an opportunity to leverage external funding to build on areas of institutional research strength.
- The Catalyst Fund is intended to enhance areas of research excellence that are of strategic importance to the University by giving scholars an opportunity to accelerate their research programs. Ten awards will be allocated, in the amount of $25,000, with a funding period of two years. A minimum of six of the awards will be allocated to Early Career Researchers (ECRs). The next competition will be launched in February. Terms of reference for the Catalyst Fund are available on the VPR website.
- The Post-Doctoral Fund is intended to both attract outstanding post-doctoral fellows to Queen’s and to support their contributions to research and to the university. Funding provides one year of salary support for up to three PDFs who have indicated their intention to hold the post-doctoral fellowship at Queen’s University. The start date for the Post-Doctoral Fellowship will normally begin on July 1, and the PhD must be complete at that time. The application deadline is March 31, 2021. More details about the Post-Doctoral Fund are available on the VPR website.
The Resources for Research at Queen’s (R4R@Q) series hosted by the Vice-Principal Research portfolio is intended to help researchers learn more about the many services that can help them throughout the development of their research projects. On topics from project conception to knowledge mobilization and promotion, speakers from across the university will give presentations, take questions, and provide resources on how researchers can leverage their units’ services. More information about R4R@Q can be found on the VPR website.
The Undergraduate Student Summer Research Fellowships (USSRF), an annual program sponsored by the Vice-Principal Research portfolio, is intended to provide students with meaningful opportunities to engage in discovery-based learning and to develop research and presentation skills. Over the course of the summer, students develop a research project in social sciences, humanities, or creative arts under the supervision of a Queen’s faculty member. Students may consider projects in disciplines outside of their own field of study or outside of their focus study areas, as well as those directly connected to their prime area of study. A minimum of twenty-one fellowships, dependent on funding, will be available. The application deadline for the 2021 USSRF program is 9:00am EST, March 1, 2021.
Partnerships and Innovation
FedDev Ontario has made an investment of $3 million for the City of Kingston, in partnership with Queen’s University, St. Lawrence College, GreenCentre Canada, Kingston Health Sciences Centre and Kingston Economic Development Corporation, to establish a health innovation ecosystem in the region and create 100 jobs. The project will position Kingston as a place to develop, test and scale health sector innovations. The project aims to capitalize on Kingston’s strong health care and post-secondary sectors and create an ecosystem that will guide health innovators through all phases of business/product development.
A part of the WE-CAN Project led by Queen’s University, the YourWay program is designed to help newcomer women to Canada, BIPOC (Black Indigenous People of Colour) women, or women with disabilities launch their own business venture. For more than 20 women in the greater Kingston region, the YourWay Program delivered by a partnership between KEYS Job Centre, St Lawrence College and the City of Kingston has provided a pathway to possibility over the past few months and opened new doors to valuable connections and useful resources. To date, YourWay has engaged women entrepreneurs representing 11 countries and who speak 11 different languages.
Honours and Accolades
Graeme Howe and Chantelle Capicciotti (Chemistry) received the 2021 Thieme Chemistry Journals Award, which is presented every year to up-and-coming researchers worldwide who are in the early stages of their independent academic career as assistant or junior professors.
Andrew Evans (Chemistry) has received the Harry and Carol Mosher Award from the American Chemical Society. This is the first time a researcher from a Canadian university has won this award.
Oluwatobiloba (Tobi) Moody, PhD’16, has advised Canada’s federal and provincial governments on key intellectual property policy initiatives, and has overseen the establishment of the World Intellectual Property Organization’s first Sub-Saharan African External Office in Nigeria. This fall, he will return to his alma mater as the Queen’s National Scholar in International Economic Law.