Canada Research Chairs (CRC)

09-30-2024 —  Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Supercomputing / High Performance Computing (PDF 214 KB) (Closed)

11-04-2023 —  Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Nuclear Waste Storage Corrosion (PDF 261 KB) (Closed)

06-15-2023 —   Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Astronomy and Astrophysics (PDF 182 KB) (Closed)

04-24-2023 —  Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Nuclear Materials and/or Materials Degradation (PDF 196 KB) (Closed)

04-19-2023 —  Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in non-human Primate Models of Health and Disease (PDF 142 KB) (Closed)

03-29-2023 —  Special Call: Tier 1 and Tier 2 Canada Research Chairs – Open Competition (PDF 254 KB) (Closed)

01-18-2023 —  Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Chemical Extraction of Critical Metals (PDF 159 KB) (Closed)

Queen’s University’s current CRC allocation, as determined by the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat (TIPS), includes 48 Chairs divided across tri-agencies and tiers per the table below.

University oversight of the CRC Program resides in the Vice-Principal Research portfolio, with chair management and utilization decisions informed by consultation, as appropriate, with the Provost and Vice-Principal (Academic), the Vice-Principal (Culture, Equity and Inclusion), Deputy and Associate Vice-Principals Research, and leadership within the faculties and academic departments/units. All decisions related to filling a chair allocation are made with consideration of alignment with the university’s Strategic Research Plan and the need to meet and sustain institutional CRC equity targets.   

In addition to the CRC Program’s policies, all staffing of CRC positions at the institution must align with the policies outlined in the Queen’s University Faculty Association (QUFA) Collective Agreement and the university’s Employment Equity Policy and Procedure. Additionally, the university’s Targeted Hiring Policy applies when CRC positions include proactive recruitment strategies aimed at broadening the representation of equity-deserving groups.

The Queen’s University Senate pledged commitment to inclusive excellence in the CRC Program by endorsing the following equity in research statement: 

"Queen’s is committed to excellence in research and research training for the benefit of Canadians and to achieving a more equitable, diverse and inclusive Canadian research enterprise. Queen’s University has in place many institutional supports for these values and regularly monitors and reports on its progress in achieving inclusive goals. Queen’s University demonstrates its commitment to advancing diversity and inclusion by ongoing self-study and by implementing best practices on an ongoing basis. The research community at Queen's is committed to and recognizes that building a culture of diversity is a socially responsible approach that actively removes discrimination and barriers to inclusion to provide benefits that reach beyond Queen's University. At Queen's, we recognize that diversity advances research for the greater good by valuing alternate perspectives, thereby unlocking creative potential and stimulating novel collaborations. To that end, Queen's values its responsibility to promote equity in the employment of women, racialized/visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, and persons with disabilities; Queen's is an advocate for equity within the Canada Research Chairs Program. Queen's commits to evaluating representation of the four Designated Groups listed above within its Canada Research Chair Program and commits further to striving proactively to meet and to maintain its equity targets among the exceptional researchers recruited to this program." 

(Approved by Queen's University Senate, November 28, 2017.) 

The CRC Program requires that universities with an allocation of five or more CRCs develop an EDI action plan, indicating how the institution will introduce systemic, structured and sustainable change to foster the full participation of individuals from the four designated groups—racialized individuals, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities, and women and gender equity-seeking groups. As the CRC Program initiates data collection and analyses on other groups, including 2SLGBTQ+, there should be a better understanding of the full representation of diversity. Moreover, utilizing the lens of intersectionality deepens our understanding of the lived experience of researchers who self-identify in more than one group. 

Building on the Queen’s Principal’s Implementation Committee on Racism, Diversity and Inclusion (2016-2017), the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2017-2018), and consultations across the University throughout 2017-2019, including CRCs, representatives from equity-deserving groups, senior administrators and faculty with expertise in equity and inclusion, Queen’s University developed this action plan to identify potential barriers to equity and inclusion in the program at Queen’s and specific actions to address them. The Vice-Principal Research is responsible for ongoing monitoring and updating of this plan and, in concert with the Provost’s Office, the Human Rights and Equity Office, the Deans and departments/units, ensuring the plan is successfully enacted. 

Governance and approval also ensure consistency with Queen’s EDI policies and the Queen’s University Administration’s Declaration of Commitment to Address Systemic Racism. 

Read the Queen's CRC EDI Action Plan (PDF 1.8 MB)

• 2024-2025 Institutional Progress Report
• 2022-2023 EDI Progress Report
• 2021-2022 EDI Progress Report
• 2020-2021 EDI Progress Report
• 2019-2020 EDI Progress Report
• 2018-2019 EDI Progress Report

Queen’s University’s equity targets and the number of chairholders who have self-identified with each of the four designated groups are summarized in the tables below. The information is accurate as of October 28, 2025.

Queen's equity targets: 2021-2029

Queen's representation of individuals from the four designated groups within active CRCs as of October 28, 2025

*To protect the privacy of chairholders, numbers less than five have been omitted, in alignment with the Privacy Act.  

Note: This chart includes only nominations that have been publicly announced by the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat. These data reflect targets as of October 28, 2025.

Queen's strategies for raising awareness of its commitment to and the benefits of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) within the Canada Research Chair Program and the broader research enterprise include: 

• creation of the Vice-Principal (Culture, Equity, and Inclusion) position to lead, inspire, and collaborate with students, staff, faculty, and the broader community to cultivate a culture of equity, diversity, and inclusion 
• creation of the Associate Vice-Principal (Indigenous Initiatives) position to build community, advance reconciliation/conciliation and integrate Indigenous ways of knowing and being into the fabric and life of the university 
• creation of the Special Advisor (Student Academic Accommodations and Considerations) role within the Office of the Provost to implement recommendations of the Academic Accommodations Interim Working Group Final Report, completed June 2025.  
• the Queen's Employment Equity Policy and Annual Plan, designed to ensure that all individuals have a fair chance in the areas of recruitment, hiring, renumeration, promotion and training 
• the Human Rights and Equity Office, which fosters a culture of human rights, equity, and inclusion through innovative equity strategies, policy guidance, unbiased support for sexual violence prevention, and enhanced campus accessibility. 
• the Queen's Equity Appointments Process (QEAP): an innovative and award-winning web application that collects, tracks, and reports on employment equity data 
• the Principal's Declaration of Commitment to Address Systemic Racism through the critical examination of the roles each one of us may play in its perpetuation and in the practices and policies that may support persistent inequities 
• creation of the Indigenous Council of Queen's University and its working groups to provide guidance on Indigenous programs and services at Queen’s.  
• creation of Associate Director, Inclusive Research and Research Advisor, Inclusion and Community Engagement positions within the Vice-Principal Research portfolio  
• the Diversity and Equity Assessment and Planning (DEAP) Tool, developed by Queen’s Equity Services: a self-audit tool for internal Units to better understand the environments and climate relating to equity and diversity in their Units 
• development of EDI in Research training tools for researchers.  
• the Inclusive Queen’s webpage, a central location to access resources  

We invite you to view the Vice-Principal (Culture, Equity, and Inclusion) Annual Reports for more information on these and many more exciting initiatives at Queen’s.  

With oversight from the Vice-Principal (Culture, Equity and Inclusion), the Human Rights and Equity Office (HREO) monitors progress and reports regularly to the faculty union, the deans, and the senior administration on progress toward increasing the representation of designated groups in the University’s academic ranks. These progress reports also form the basis of discussion for improving employment equity and may also be used to make policy recommendations to the Queen’s Senate. 

During the recruitment process, using the QEAP system, the HREO, with the assistance of the employment equity representative, provides the appointments committee with confidential information on the diversity of the applicants who have applied to the position, and informs the committee on how diverse the applicant pool remains as the committee goes through the process of creating a long list of candidates, a short-list, a rank of applicants who are considered suitable for the job and finally, hiring. This information shows the academic units whether equity targets have been met and allows units to develop a strategy to meet those targets.

The Equity Office staff includes the University Advisor on Equity and Equity Officers who are available to address concerns during hiring and planning; they ensure that the appropriate senior administrators are engaged in addressing any concerns and, when needed, that an appropriate process to resolve concerns is enacted.

Contact information

For more information on the implementation of Queen’s CRC EDI Action Plan, or to report a concern regarding equity in the CRC Program at Queen's, please contact one of the following: 

  Vice-Principal Research

  Queen's Equity Services

  Lavonne Hood, Associate Vice-Principal (Human Rights, Equity and Inclusion)

  Teri Shearer, Deputy Provost (Academic Operations and Inclusion)