The Wicked Ideas Competition is a Vice-Principal (Research) pilot initiative to fund and support research collaboration and excellence. This will be a pilot program for the 2020-21 funding period. Notices of intent are due on February 3, 2020.

The Office of the Vice-Principal (Research) at Queen’s University hosted its first Canada Research Chair (CRC) networking event in January 2020, bringing together CRCs from  across campus for an afternoon of discussion and networking. New CRCs (pictured l to r) Dr. Anna Panchenko (Tier 1 CRC in Computational Biology and Biophysics), Dr. Lindsay Morcom (Tier 2 CRC in Language Revitalization and Decolonizing Education), and Dr. Heather Aldersey (Tier 2 CRC in Disability and Inclusive Development), gave brief presentations on their research to the group. See "A Network of Research Excellence" in the Gazette online.

Congratulations to Dr. Brian Osborne (Geography and Planning), Dr. Duncan Sinclair (Physiology, School of Policy Studies), and Dr. Peter Harrison (School of Policy Studies) for being named to the Order of Canada. See "Three professor emeriti appointed to the Order of Canada" in the Gazette online.

Congratulations to Dr. Brian Cumming (Biology) for being named this year’s recipient of the Frank Rigler Award, the highest honour given by the Society of Canadian Limnologists. Professor Cumming will present the Frank Rigler Memorial Award Lecture.

Congratulations to Dr. Will Kymlicka — Canada Research Chair in Political Philosophy — for being awarded the the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Gold Medal, one of the highest honours for the social sciences in Canada. "His groundbreaking work on the link between democracy and diversity has advanced knowledge on models of citizenship and social justice within multicultural societies." Find out more about Dr. Kymlicka in "Inspiring future generations" in the Gazette online. Listen to Professor Kymlicka's interview with Alan Neal on CBC's All in A Day.

Over 60 faculty members took part in the 2019 Faculty Writing Retreat on December 11. In addition to dedicated writing time, researchers could participate in workshops on "Finding and Protecting Your Writing Time" and "Writing Efficiently" with writing strategists from the Writing Centre (SASS) with whom they could also book one-on-one consultations. Faculty could also have one-on-one consultations withe Research Projects Advisors from URS . Thank you to all our participants and facilitators.

Congratulations to Dr. Awet Weldemichael for being awarded the 2019 Best Book Award in the study of Organized Crime by the International Association for the Study of Organized Crime for Piracy in Somalia: Violence and Development in the Horn of Africa. Dr. Weldemichael received his prize at an awards ceremony in San Francisco on November 14, 2019.

Congratulations to (top l-r) Dr. Rosa Bruno-Jofré (Faculty of Education), Dr. Margaret Moore (Department of Political Studies, cross-appointed to Philosophy), and (bottom l-r) Dr. Kim Nossal (Department of Political Studies & School of Policy Studies) for being elected as Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada (RSC), and to Dr. Grégoire Webber for being elected to the RSC College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists. Announcements for the Class of 2019 were made on September 10 with induction to occur in November of 2019. Read more in "A Royal Honour for Research" in the Gazette online:

Congratulations to Queen's researchers, Margaret Moore (Poliltical Studies), Tucker Carrington (Chemistry; Physics, Engineering Physics & Astronomy), Mark Daymond (Mechanical and Materials Engineering; Physics, Engineering Physics & Astronomy), Robert Ross (Kinesiology and Health Studies), and Nancy van Deusen (History), recipients of the 2019 Prizes for Excellence in Research! Recipients were honoured at Spring Convocation. See Gazette story "Recognizing research excellence at Queen’s" online.

Science Rendezvous attracted over 5000 visitors on Saturday, May 19 at the Leon's Centre. One significant visitor was Dippy the Diplodocus (measuring 26 m in length), a long-necked, plant-eating dinosaur from the Jurassic period. More pictures from the event can be found in the Science Rendezvous Kingston 2019 Flickr album. See the Gazette story on this "day of learning and exploring with Queen’s Research".