Enhancing the Research Partner Network

Heather Young-Leslie, Sylvia Ijeoma Madueke, Ayantika Mukherjee and Craig Taylor

Through the Research Partner Network and the recently-established Office of Research, scholars in the College of Social Sciences and Humanities (CSSH) will now have even greater access to a team of colleagues who will be instrumental in supporting their research efforts.

These new colleagues, announced in detail below, bring a wealth of insight and postsecondary experience to their roles, and they are dedicated to helping researchers take their projects from idea to reality, offering expert guidance through all the stages of the funding journey.

Research Partner Network

Operating in the portfolio of the Vice-President (Research and Innovation), the university-wide Research Partner Network supports CSSH with a dedicated group of partners. 

The partner network is currently undergoing significant growth and will soon include three partners supporting the work of CSSH across the social sciences, humanities and fine arts. 

“All of the research partners can be thought of as intellectually-engaged colleagues,” explains senior research partner Heather Young-Leslie. “These are what I call ‘para-academics’ – people with PhDs who know what it means to do research, who can help you strategize what the research design should be like,  and who can help you tease out how to make that question interesting to an adjudication committee.”

The research partners each have genre-based portfolios to help target specific areas within the disciplines represented by CSSH. 

Craig Taylor focuses on major research grants such as the SSHRC Partnership and Insight Grants. He holds a PhD in Classical Archaeology, focused on Roman archaeology in North Africa. 

Ayantika Mukherjee will focus on the brand new area of creative-arts and research-creation and will be leading the SSHRC Connection Grants. She is set to defend her PhD dissertation in English Literature, which explores the way informal modes of education in 19th century America, such as literature and games, perpetuated colonial ideas.

Sylvia Ijeoma Madueke joins the team in June to specialize in the areas of business and law. She holds a PhD in French Language and Literatures, which examined the cultural, political and linguistic factors that impact the translation of African literature into French.

In her role as senior research partner Heather Young-Leslie (who has a PhD in Anthropology) works closely with CSSH leadership to provide strategic advice and take the lead on large international and interdisciplinary grants. 

The Research Partner Network is set to expand even further in the coming months with the addition of 16 new Research Administration Specialist positions. These roles will provide researchers with direct, hands-on support for administrative tasks.  

Office of Research

Earlier this year, CSSH established a college-level Office of Research to offer further support to researchers to increase external research revenue, particularly for interdisciplinary, large-scale, multi-partner, national and international research collaborations. 

The Office of Research works closely with researchers and research teams across the four faculties, as well as with the Research Partner Network. 

“We’re here to help build research capacity, as well as to provide stewardship for projects that are already in motion,” explains director Oliver Rossier. “We’re here to fill strategic service gaps, not duplicate – and there are a number of teams that are either already established or growing, like the Research Partner Network.” 

“We’re committed to building and mobilizing tools for CSSH research teams in collaboration with strategic partners across campus,” he adds.

Providing leadership for these efforts is Professor Joanna Harrington, who serves as the inaugural Associate Dean Research for CSSH. She brings a wealth of research experience to the role from her over 20 years as a law professor, where her scholarly activities focus on foreign relations law, public international law, human rights and transnational crime. 

Professor Harrington is supported by the work of Rossier, who comes to the director position with over 20 years of experience in postsecondary administration, most recently as a senior officer for the Arts Collaboration Enterprise in the Faculty of Arts. 

The Office of Research is excited to be expanding its team further in the coming weeks with the addition of a number of research coordinators. 

Joanna Harrington and Oliver Rossier