May 26: Safeguarding Research Town Hall with President Goel and Vice-President Dean

To: Graduate students at the University of Waterloo

From: Vivek Goel and Charmaine Dean

Date: Friday, May 26, 2023

Subject: Safeguarding Research Town Hall with President Goel and Vice-President Dean

Dear colleagues,

We invite you to a townhall discussion on the important matter of safeguarding research.

Universities play a unique and important role in this conversation. Our work involves the advancement and sharing of knowledge globally for broad impact.

There have been tremendous geopolitical shifts in the last few years. How do we move forward to pursue safe and productive international research relationships in the current geopolitical context?

A defining characteristic of our operations is a commitment to responsible and secure research. Researchers understand the importance of ethical research as governed by the Tri-Council Policies as well as research integrity, all of which ensures that research adheres to the highest standards of honesty, fairness, trust, accountability, and openness. To this we now have the additional responsibilities of the new federal and provincial efforts for ensuring that research is safeguarded, and intellectual property is protected.

Join us to learn more about the actions that Waterloo has undertaken to support researchers in navigating the various risk assessment requirements that are required by agencies in evaluating research proposals, to receive an update on how these assessments are to be expanded to other programs, and to discuss what further supports will be useful to researchers at our institution. This townhall also provides an opportunity for commentary on impacts on the research environment from these new federal and provincial directions.

Thank you for joining us for this important conversation – we look forward to seeing you there.

REGISTER AND SUBMIT QUESTIONS

Date: June 12, 2023

Location: EC 5, Enterprise Theatre (first floor) or on Teams

3:00 to 3:30 p.m. – Refreshments 

3:30 p.m. to 3:45 p.m. – Opening remarks from Vivek Goel, President and Vice-Chancellor and Charmaine Dean, Vice-President, Research and International 

3:45 to 5:00 p.m. – Q and A with the audience