The Government of Canada recently announced a new round of awards under its Dimensions Canada program, which includes one project led by the University of New Brunswick and a second one which counts UNB among its partners.
Dimensions Canada is administered by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, in collaboration with the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. The program seeks to support transformative change to increase equity, diversity and inclusion in the higher education research environment.
Around the world, academic institutions use a variety of processes to assess a faculty member's contributions to their institution and their field. These assessments often form a major part of a scholar's tenure and promotion evaluation, processes that have a significant impact on their job security and their status in the field.
In many cases, those assessments rely on traditional metrics of research activity and excellence metrics that systematically under-recognize certain forms of scholarship, teaching, and service and community engagement work. This under-recognition especially affects faculty members from equity-deserving groups.
UNB has been awarded $100,000 to lead a project, in collaboration with partners at Cape Breton University, Dalhousie University and Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU) that will update assessment models for more comprehensive and systematic recognition of this undervalued work and develop a toolkit to support universities recognizing more diverse forms of activities and contributions.
UNB is also partnering with Atlantic Canadian university colleagues on a second Dimensions-funded project receiving $100,000, led by MSVU.
Recognizing that many smaller institutions have limited resources to develop equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility (EDIA) tools and programs independently, MSVU and its partners will develop an EDI Ambassadors Program. This will include an eLearning platform to expand EDIA initiatives and practices in research, teaching and scholarship first across Atlantic Canada, and then across Canada.
Joining MSVU as partners in the project alongside UNB are Université Sainte-Anne, the University of Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia Community College.
"I'd like to express my appreciation for this continued support for advancing our EDI practices and changing our academic culture for the better," said Dr. David MaGee, UNB's vice president research.
"UNB was part of the Dimensions Canada pilot project, has signed onto the Scarborough Charter as one of its few current Canadian institutions, and we have continued to expand and improve our policies and practices. However, we know there is still much work to be done across our sector as a whole, and I am proud to see us lead and support these new projects."
