A review of employment systems is a fundamental element of research equity and inclusion, and essential to further developing the University of Waterloo’s Canada Research Chairs program.
Aimed at understanding systemic barriers and gaps in hiring, recruiting, and retention in order to address them through new initiatives and actions, the Canada Research Chairs Employment Systems Review is also a requirement of the Tri-Agency Institutional Programs Secretariat as part of the CRC Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan.
“It’s essential for ensuring and growing the CRC program at Waterloo that EDII is embedded in its components for the years ahead,” says Jenny Flagler-George, Senior Manager, Research Equity.
To ensure that the review was led by a team with specialized expertise and to avoid any embedded unconscious bias, Turner Consulting was hired to administer the review over a nine-month period between August 2019 and May 2020.
The full review of Waterloo’s employment policies and hiring practices for CRCs involved wide scale engagement including surveying Waterloo faculty members, focus groups, and interviews with current CRCs, chairs, and school directors.
The result was 72 actionable recommendations all of which were new items and specific actions which will be addressed to meet targets. The Canada Research Chairs Employment Systems Review was funded by the Government of Canada's Research Support Fund-Incremental Project Grants.
July, 2020