By Jeff Green

The Canada Research Chairs Program (CRCP) has launched the inaugural Robbins-Ollivier Award for Excellence in Equity.

The award recognizes the significant contributions that Marjorie Griffin Cohen, Louise Forsyth, Glenis Joyce, Audrey Kobayashi, Shree Mulay — who is based in Memorial’s Faculty of Medicine — Susan Prentice, Michèle Ollivier and Wendy Robbins have made to increase the level of equity within the Canada Research Chairs Program and Canada’s research ecosystem more broadly.

These efforts include their 2003 Canadian Human Rights complaints and their concerted efforts in the mediation processes, which led to both the 2006 settlement agreement and its addendum in 2019.

Up to three awards, valued at $100,000, will be awarded annually through a peer review process led by the program’s Advisory Committee on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Policy.

According to the CRCP, post-secondary institutions are invited to nominate an eligible faculty member or a team of eligible faculty members, who will “lead bold and potentially game-changing projects that will challenge the status quo, spark change and take action to address persistent systemic barriers in the research ecosystem and academia.”

Information session

Universities may submit only one nomination in a given year.

Those interested in learning more about the award, as well as the institutional process regarding Memorial’s nomination, are invited to attend a virtual information session.

Ellen Steinhauer and Pamela White, from the Research Initiatives and Services team, will facilitate a discussion about the honour and the institutional process that Memorial will be using to select a candidate for nomination.

The session is scheduled for Wednesday, May 18, from 11 a.m.-noon. Those interested in attending can contact Tina Winsor for the log-in instructions.

Jeff Green is manager of communications in the Office of the Vice-President (Research). He can be reached at jeffg@mun.ca.