For Details on Membership and Current Vacancies for this Committee, please visit our Governance Portal.
For Details on Research Centres and Institutes, please visit the Research website.
Terms of Reference
(Composition revised by Senate in April 2016)
The Senate Advisory Research Committee’s activities are directly related to the policies, initiatives, and strategic documents falling under Senate’s jurisdiction. While advice and feedback may also be provided by SARC on administrative research policies and plans, SARC does not have direct jurisdiction over such documents.
The Senate Advisory Research Committee shall be accountable to the Senate, and shall provide advice and recommendations to the Senate. The Committee serves as the university’s primary advisory body on research-related strategy, policy development and review, and initiatives.
The Senate Advisory Research Committee shall, within the scope of general policy as determined by the Senate:
- Maintain, in cooperation with the Vice-Principal (Research), Faculties, Schools, Institutes, and Departments, a general overview of the overall state of research at Queen's University;
- Work to ensure consistent research-related policies and practices across units, when practicable, and recommend to Senate the establishment of research policies appropriate to Queen’s;
- Act in an advisory and consultative capacity to support the development and execution of university-wide strategic plans, such as the Strategic Research Plan and the Strategic Framework;
- Approve the formation, renewal, and/or suspension of research centres and institutes in accordance with the Senate policy "Procedures Governing the Establishment, Reporting and Review of Research Centres, Institutes, and Other Entities at Queen's University";
- Receive an annual report from each Faculty/School regarding its research groups and entities other than centres and institutes, with information on each group’s name, its members, and its activities, which shall be presented in summary form on the University Secretariat website as the official record of research groups and other entities on campus;
- Advise the Vice-Principal (Research) on the budgeting or funding of research generally, and specifically on internal University research funds;
- Upon recommendation from the subcommittees, approve the results of the adjudication for the Queen’s Research Opportunity Fund, the Postdoctoral Fellowship Support Program, and the Prizes for Excellence in Research, and any proposed changes related to such adjudication processes;
- Assess and approve reports and recommendations of the various Research Subcommittees;
- Report annually to the Senate, including an updated list of all approved groups and entities, and the allocation of internal awards.
- The Senate Advisory Research Committee may at any time establish a special task force or sub-committee to advise it in relation to the development of new initiatives or policies as per its jurisdiction.
Research Subcommittees
There shall be five Research Subcommittees as follows:
- Subcommittee I - Health Sciences
- Subcommittee II - Arts and Humanities
- Subcommittee III - Engineering and Applied Science
- Subcommittee IV - Physical Sciences, Mathematics & Statistics and Computing & Information Science
- Subcommittee V - Social Sciences and Professional Schools
The Chairs of the Research Subcommittees shall be appointed from appropriate disciplines by the Vice-Principal (Research) for a period of from one to three years and shall not be eligible for immediate re-appointment.
The Senate Advisory Research committee shall determine the membership and the number of members in each Subcommittee ensuring appropriate representation from the range of research disciplines. Each member shall serve for three years and members shall not be eligible for immediate re-appointment.