We commit to serving as a springboard for research, art and invention that contribute to social justice and the public good, today and into the future.
Universities are founded on creativity, whether in labs, libraries, studios and performance spaces, classrooms, communities or beyond. What distinguishes York is our progressive, applied ethos: a responsibility to contribute to a sustainable and just world through our scholarly, creative, innovative and entrepreneurial activities.
We carry this out by supporting a diverse, balanced scholarship ecosystem that spans disciplines, bridges research and practice, and partners effectively with communities, organizations, governments and industries. York scholars and artists generate work that helps us reckon with the “wicked problems” threatening social and natural worlds, leading innovations that promise to improve life and well-being at all system levels. We achieve this level of impact by matching our attention to research excellence with an investment in knowledge mobilization.
As articulated in York’s Strategic Research Plan 2023-2028, our research vision is to aspire to better understand the human condition and the world around us, and to employ the knowledge we gain in the service of society and the health of the planet. York is committed to excellence in research and scholarship in all its forms.
Decisions and actions focused on research intensification should align with our commitment to fortifying wide-ranging, qualitative and high-impact inquiry, creativity and innovation. Moreover, this plan confirms investments where possible in infrastructure and services that support priorities defined in the 2020-2025 UAP.
Objectives
Sustain a diverse scholarship ecosystem
Where the outcomes sought are improved rates of faculty and doctoral student recruitment, retention and productivity, and strengthened interdisciplinary, interprofessional and cross-sector collaborations, over the life of this plan the University commits to accelerating the growth and supporting the development of research, scholarship and creative activity by:
Strengthening multidisciplinary, large-scale research programs through collaboration, strategic support and resource optimization
Sustaining support for research in the arts and humanities and SDG-relevant research alongside large scale research projects
Nurturing collaboration within the University and between faculty members at York to make York more than the sum of its parts
Promoting collaborative research services between centralized and Faculty teams by streamlining processes, improving systems and enhancing supports that better align administrative structures and resources with research and scholarship needs
Continuing to invest in new technologies, improved administrative processes and simplification of pathways to support the research enterprise
Continuing to enhance research administrative procedures and services, drawing on recent audit exercises to improve systems and processes
Facilitating successful grant submissions of researchers across the University, including graduate students, to increase the University’s research income
Serve as an incubator for new questions, ideas, methods, solutions and scholars
Where the outcomes sought include burgeoning scholarly activity (e.g., grants, publications, creative productions, patents), expanded recognition for research excellence and for graduating highly skilled and productive researchers, over the life of this plan the University commits to:
Fostering research leadership on the critical examination of AI and emerging technologies in education and society, including AI safety, security, ethical and social justice domains
Continuing to build research grant supports and programming, offering grantspersonship to researchers, including graduate students and postdoctoral fellows
Targeting investments to support Organized Research Units as internationally leading research hubs
Advancing our renewed commercialization strategy to streamline support of innovation and intellectual property services to facilitate cost-effective commercialization opportunities for the York community and its partners
Driving research- and innovation-focused project initiatives for alternative revenue and asset monetization
Building on the successes of Innovation York and YSpace to expand pan-University entrepreneurship and innovation
Generate and translate research, art and invention into meaningful, beneficial impact
Where the outcomes sought are increased influence of scholarly activity on policies, programs and practices and increased reputation for research impact, over the life of this plan the University commits to:
Strengthening global and local research partnerships to advance cutting-edge research and innovation
Supporting multidirectional connections between researchers and research partners and encouraging the development of evidence aimed at shaping public policy, debate, social and economic enterprise and professional practice through knowledge mobilization, provision of training and other means
Supporting faculty, undergraduate students, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows to develop, conduct and apply leading-edge research and technology in sustainability initiatives that also advance the York University Sustainability Strategy
Current relevant initiatives/strategies/units:
Explore the Six Principles
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