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Wednesday, November 21

1:00-4:30pm
York University, York Lanes Room 280

1:00-2:30pm

Fall Rush/Grant Writing

Topics include: hosting seminars and workshops, strategies for managing volume, providing feedback on proposals, developing tools that support the grant writing process.

Training and Orientation for Research Officers: Needs and Challenges

Topics include: human resource performance indicators, coaching and facilitating outside one’s area of expertise or discipline, creating web resources, archives and other resources for grant facilitators.

Innovative Strategies for Fostering a “Research Culture”

Topics include: the meaning of “research culture” in different contexts, hosting seminars and workshops, creating infrastructure that encourages research and funding applications, celebrating and recognizing research success, finding funding beyond the Tri-council.

Faculty Member-Research Officer Communication

Topics include: mentoring junior faculty, building relationships with faculty members, coaching and providing both support and encouragement, reviewing competition results, dealing with difficult personalities.

3:00-4:30pm

Session will be divided into four discussion groups. The purpose of the session is to trouble shoot and find solutions for grant facilitators working either in discipline-based faculties or in a centralized grant support office. If enrolments for this session are high, the four large groups will subdivide into smaller, more specific discipline-based groups.

1. Health, Science and Environmental Studies
2. Social Sciences, Humanities, Education, Business and Law, and Fine Arts
3. Centralized or Multi-disciplinary grant support

 

Thursday, November 22

Stan Shapson, OCUR Chair
York is pleased to be host to CAURA Ontario 2007.
As a research intensive university with a distinctive portfolio of interdisciplinary and collaborative research, York is pleased to present you with a diverse conference program appealing to all university research administrators and their allied stakeholders from government and industry. All Ontario universities strive to provide high quality, responsive research services, research infrastructure and research support to researchers, graduate students and post-docs from the humanities and performing arts, social sciences, sciences and engineering and professional schools. Our world of research administration is changing given our more complex and specialized environment emphasizing indicators, transparency and accountability. This CAURA conference will provide you with tools and best practices to help you serve our research faculty.
I welcome you to York and wish you all the best for a challenging and enjoyable conference.

10:00-10:30am

Holiday Inn Toronto Yorkdale, York Halls

Trudy Pound-Curtis, Master of Ceremony

10:30am-12:00pm

Tri-Council Post-Award

Tri-Council representatives will discuss eligibility of expenditures against SSHRC and NSERC grants; therefore bring all your questions. They will also discuss the implementation of the internal control framework at Universities.

Canada Research Chairs and Indirect Costs Update
Lorrie Lafrance, Senior Program Officer

This session will provide an update on important changes for the Canada Research Chairs program and the Indirect Costs program. The presentation will provide an overview of changes to the organization of the CRC secretariat and program policy, as well as the performance measurement strategy for both programs. The presenters will focus on changes to the programs' reporting forms, their use, their challenges, their successes, and the results of the validation study of the CRC form. Time will be reserved at the end of the session for questions and answers.

Ontario Granting Agencies + CFI

This session will provide updates on Ontario Research Fund (ORF) programs and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).

 

1:00-2:00pm
Ontario Centres of Excellence

Mark Romoff joined the Ontario Centres of Excellence (OCE) Inc. as President and CEO in fall 2004. Mr. Romoff is leading an organization at the centre of Ontario’s innovation and economic development agenda. He has a strong track record of advancing the competitive interests and opportunities for Canadian companies internationally.
The Ontario Centres of Excellence Inc. (OCE) is the pre-eminent research-to-commercialization vehicle in Ontario. Created in response to Ontario’s most critical competitive challenges OCE facilitates economic growth through support for industrially relevant R&D, the opening of new market opportunities and the commercialization of leading edge research. OCE builds strong industry academic collaborations, stimulates knowledge transfer through the development of bright minds and the movement of their skills to the market. We all work with OCE contracts; therefore, we welcome Mark Romoff, President and CEO of OCE Inc. to share past successes and future plans for OCE.

2:15-5:15pm

Taxation Issues

This session will review relevant areas of taxation as they apply in a research setting.
Among the topics that will be covered, the following areas have particular relevance in a research environment:

• Ontario Provincial Sale Tax
• PST considerations when purchasing research equipment, publications, computer software
• Self-assessment considerations
• Goods and Services Tax
• General rebate provisions, self assessment
• Income Tax
• Independent contractor or employee, self-funding of research by principal investigators, non-resident taxation issues

The session will be directed to non-accountants and will review areas that often present challenges to universities.

Fine Arts: Challenges and Opportunities in Research/Creation

Lead by programs such as the SSHRC Research/Creation Grants funding for creative work as a part of the university’s research enterprise is on the rise. Creative artists as researchers have challenged traditional notions of research everywhere from pre- and post-award services to ethics and to dissemination and knowledge exchange. The Fine Arts are proving to be strong contributors not only to culture but to local and national economies beyond just the culture industry. Attendees at this session will see an overview of the experience of artists working as researcher creators in post secondary institutions that will help develop processes and policies to recognize this growing part of university research.

Tricks of the Trade: Research Facilitators Share Ideas and Experiences

This session will feature reporting from a satellite meeting of research officers and grants facilitators. If you are working in a decentralized or a centralized research services office this session will provide insights into working more effectively with research services “at the front lines”.

Value for Money Audit on Research

The reality in Ontario is that the Auditor General of Ontario now has the mandate to conduct value for money audits of universities. Given the importance of research development to the Ontario economy and the large investment dollars involved, Research Administration may at some point in the future be reviewed by the Auditor General.
This session will examine what areas research administrators should consider in preparing for such a review. The session will review the principles of value for money auditing, role of administrators and Internal Audit along with offering some insights into past audits that the Auditor General has conducted.

Research Metrics: Does What We Measure Really Matter?

Evidence-based practice means we need evidence of what works and what doesn’t. We all count what we’re told to count and report to StatsCan accordingly but what else can we count that will help us inform the best pre- and post-award services and help us communicate our research stories internally and externally?  Join representatives from those universities that are putting unique resources to this question to find out if what we count really matters.

Counselling the Pre and Post-Award Marriage: Separate Bedrooms or a Double Bed
Sally Gray, Manager, Office of Research Services, Wilfrid Laurier University
René Soto, Research Finance Administrator, Wilfrid Laurier University
Judith Chadwick, Executive Director, Government Research Programs, University of Toronto
Dan Tsujiuchi, Director, Research Accounting, University of Toronto

This “tell all” exposé takes research administrators behind closed doors to explore the interface between pre- and post-award services. Should you ever go to bed angry? Have you been divorced and are considering remarriage? What about the kids – those faculties whom we serve? Whose dirty laundry are we going to air????

6:45-10:00pm

Dinner at Black Creek Pioneer Village

Here’s your chance to journey back 140 years ago and experience a different era. The great variety of buildings that make up the Village – from the Fisherville Church and Edgeley Mennonite Meeting House, to Roblin's Mill and the Doctor's House – represent the diversity of activity and lifestyles that characterized a mid 19th century crossroads community.

York University Observatory

The Observatory highly promotes the field of Astronomy to those who are interested. On Public Viewing Nights, visitors will be able to observe various selected celestial objects in the presence of friendly staff in addition to engaging in various on-hand presentations. The observatory is open regardless of weather conditions, even though viewing through the telescope is limited to clear skies! If it's cloudy, drop in for a slide show, a planetarium show, and a tour featuring both of our telescopes.

Friday, November 23

Networks of Centres of Excellence
8:30-9:30am

Mr. Gavrel was appointed Director of the Networks of Centres of Excellence Program in January 2000. He brings to this flagship program a solid knowledge of the technology and management issues surrounding R&D, gained over 25 years of experience in both private and public research organizations.

Mobilizing research excellence for the benefit of Canadians, the NCE bring together researchers and partners from the academic, private, public and non-profit sectors in areas of strategic importance for Canada. NCEs are unique partnerships that provide new opportunities for knowledge creation, knowledge mobilization and student experiences as well as challenging research institutions with new ways of operating. In 2007, the NCE Secretariat was confirmed by the Federal Government as one of its major instrument to promote research and commercialization partnerships when it was awarded three new programs: the Centres of Excellence for Commercialization and Research, the Business-Led NCEs and the Industrial R&D Internships. Jean-Claude Gavrel will talk about the accomplishments of NCEs and about the future of the program and what we can look forward to as we work in partnership with governments, industry and other knowledge receptors.

9:45am-2:45pm

Insurance Strategies/Risk Management

Steve Pottle, Insurance and Risk Analyst, York University

The session will review insurance and risk strategies in a research environment.
Some of the topics reviewed will be: types of insurance coverage, certificates of insurance, contract language, other risk mitigation strategies.

Communicating with Research Communications
Elizabeth Monier-Williams, Research Communications Officer, Office of Vice-President Research and Innovation, York University
Jenna LeBlanc, Manager, Stakeholder Communications, Ministry of Research & Innovation

Whether your research communications personnel are in a central office of communications or sitting next to you we all need to get our stories out to different audiences. A successful grant is a great story for research administrators but it is not headline news. How do we close the gap between getting the money and getting the result?  Join experts as they discuss strategies for research communications.

Managing Research Accounting
Heather Pratt, Research Accounting Manager, Financial Services Department, University of Windsor
Laurie Chochinov, Manager Research Accounting, Carleton University
Angela Zeno, Manager Research Accounting, York University

This workshop will focus on managing a busy Research Accounting office. Who are the clients? What are the services provided by Research Accounting? Where is the information that is needed by Research Accounting? When does the process of sponsorship financial reporting begin? Why are these activities important? Discussion will cover the variety of issues to be encountered in typical and not typical post award scenarios.
This session will be interactive with participants sharing their experiences in the post awards administration world.

CFI Post-Awards Administration

By popular demand, CFI has been invited to discuss with us the complexities associated with CFI post awards administration. Topics include CFI financial reporting issues and pricing for construction/renovation projects. We will also hear the results of various CFI monitoring visits and gain further insight into CFI’s requirements. This session will be highly interactive and you are encouraged to bring your questions to the table.

Procurement Strategies in Research Environment

The session will speak to critical issues in procurement and research acquisitions including:

• Tri-Council requirements: eligible expenditures, acquisition process, and approvals;
• CFI and major acquisitions including equipment and consultants: post award confirmations, international acquisitions, and documentation;
• Implications of external and internal legislation: AIT, public sector guidelines, AMPS, and institutional policies;
• Communications, Expectations, and Good Governance.

York Researchers Showcase

New for CAURA – a showcase of research at the host university. While we push paper for faculty, how many of us get to see the outcomes of their research?  Come and see exciting and entertaining work in space science, digital media and animal psychology.

Post-Award Round Table

What post-awards issues have taken up most of your time over the past year or two? What issues are the most problematic and which ones would you solve if you had the time and money?
Topics could include: The changing role of Research Accounting – moving away from a clerical processing role to a financial advisory capacity; managing an increasingly complex set of requirements from agencies and increased accountability.

Life (and Funding) Beyond Tri-Council
Wim Wolfs, Chair of our Research Committee, Health Charities Coalition of Canada
Charles Ungerleider, Director, Research and Knowledge Mobilization, Canadian Council on Learning
Vasanthi Srinivasan, Director, Health System Planning & Research Branch, Ministry of Health

The tri-council and CFI are our bread and butter but what about the other ingredients in a diversified research funding portfolio? This panel will feature representatives from the International Development Research Centre, Canadian Council on Learning and the Health Charities Council of Canada (speaking on behalf of health charities such as Canadian Cancer Society, Heart & Stroke Foundation, Multiple Sclerosis Society, The Arthritis Society etc) speaking on their programs of research funding for university research.

Tri-Council Pre-Award

Tri-council session on the MOU and other new policy developments.

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