Our goals are ambitious, as we seek to leverage our core strengths, partner globally and solve some of the most complex issues of our time. How will we do it? In our Strategic Direction for the next five years, we will be guided in our strategic decision-making by a commitment to four key pillars.
We will propel research and innovation excellence by attracting and retaining the best researchers and graduate students while fostering diversity, all with the ultimate aim of addressing global challenges and national priorities with interdisciplinary teams.
We will connect across disciplines and enhance the integration of research and education.
We will partner with the world’s best and will seek opportunities that build and expand relationships with industry and government locally, regionally and internationally.
We will drive impact through translational research and innovation, leveraging research to drive social, cultural and economic development.
We will create impact together.
Priority 1 - Propel
Propelling Research and Innovation Excellence
The Research and Innovation Enterprise at Dalhousie will propel research and innovation excellence across all disciplines, fully aligned with the university’s EDI goals. We will build critical mass in signature research clusters and key research focus areas, and establish a reputation for delivering research excellence that makes a difference to the local, regional and global landscape. We will attract and retain the best researchers and graduate students and will support them within a vibrant research ecosystem.
Goal 1: Attract and retain the best researchers
Strategies:
Grow external research income by diversifying our funding sources through collaborative partnerships
Align resource and recruitment planning and commit to strategic academic appointments at all levels, aligned with signature research clusters, the university’s EDI goals and research focus areas in order to build critical mass and support performance
Develop recruitment strategies and funding diversification plans that prioritize early career researchers and researchers with excellent track records and expertise in signature research clusters
Enhance and support research success and early career researchers through mentorship programs, academic awards, promotion and recognition processes
Ensure that the university environment supports the conduct of research to the highest standard at all career levels by providing access to quality research infrastructure and high standards of research support
Maximize the communication and promotion of research resources, successes and outputs to raise profile and expand networks
Targets:
Increase external research income by 5% annually
Increase number of new faculty participating in mentorship programs
Track key research outputs (papers, presentations, outreach activities, startups etc.) across signature research cluster areas
Develop and utilize a fully comprehensive, online research asset map for Dalhousie
Goal 2: Attract and launch the best graduate students
Strategies:
Develop and resource a strategy for recruiting PhD students that aligns with our research clusters and the university's EDI goals
Expand graduate programming with the aim to attract and launch the best graduate students, this includes implementing career pathways, providing funding opportunities and offering extra-curricular programming in working outside the academic sector (entrepreneurship, policy-making, PMP, etc.)
Improve funding to support grad students through increased grant capture, advancement, etc.
Connect research students with industry and research partners nationally and internationally, through research projects, joint ventures and placements
Targets:
Double number of doctoral students by 2023
Bring proportions of PhDs-to-faculty and grads-to-undergrads to U15 average
Increase number of high-quality grad students who apply to and choose Dal
Achieve excellent ratings in graduate students surveys
Improve time-to-completion rates
Priority 2 - Connect
Advancing an Integrated Research Culture
We will connect researchers and champions of research across the academic community. We will create space for solution-based cross-disciplinary research teams to connect in a meaningful way to meet career goals and to propel research and innovation excellence.
Goal 3: Promote and support solution-based, cross-disciplinary research teams
Strategies:
Prioritize strategies to create an environment that encourages cross-disciplinary thinking and collaboration
Identify and facilitate opportunities for cross-disciplinary teams to link our strengths to significant real and relevant challenges
Provide access to the best possible research infrastructure in our signature research cluster areas on-campus and through collaborative partnerships
Extend the reach, scale and profile of research institutes and centres
Create internal funding opportunities for interdisciplinary work
Targets:
Attract one more CFREF in another research area to Dalhousie
Achieve two or more NCEs housed at Dalhousie
Increase membership / reliance on research institutes and centres as an interdisciplinary research and innovation space
Increase number and type of internal funding opportunities that promote interdisciplinary work
Goal 4: Foster a culture of mentorship and peer review
Strategies:
Identify and consolidate or refine key structure and process to enable researchers to develop into research leaders in research focus areas. Support researcher developments and create opportunities through mentorship programming.
Establish peer-review processes for all major granting competitions, and for any researchers who require review.
Include librarians as researchers when developing mentoring and peer review programs
Targets:
Put in place peer-review program for Tri-Agency applications and other major applications
Develop mentorship programs for researchers at all stages of their careers; mentorship programs support the university’s EDI goals
Increase funding rates overall from Tri-Agency and others
Priority 3 - Partner
Collaborations, Partnerships and Engagement
We will encourage collaborative research and innovation activity with the world, including international research partners, governments, NGOs and industry. Collaboration, partnership and external engagement are essential to extend our research and innovation reach, quality and impact. We want our researchers to be seen as leaders in their disciplines and as the “go-to” hub for our signature research clusters and research focus areas.
Goal 5: Enhance research collaborations with international partners
Strategies:
Undertake a comprehensive audit of existing international research partnerships to identify gaps and opportunities in alignment with signature research clusters and research focus areas
Identify and support connections, travel, exchange and fellowship opportunities to build international research links in signature research clusters
Increase research capacity, outputs and performance in research focus areas through partnerships, joint developments and regional, national and international collaborations
Identify and create opportunities with international research networks that align to our areas of strategic importance within signature research clusters.
Establish a presence with top 200 international partners to enhance global research engagement, and access to high quality researchers and graduate students
Targets:
Dal moves up in the key rankings (THE, QS, etc.)
Increase the number of international faculty visiting Dal
Increase the number of international students coming to Dal
Ensure quarterly reports on international publications from Deans
Establish and utilize internal international partnership grants
Goal 6: Engage more industry partners
Strategies:
Align the I&E Strategy (Dal Innovates) across all innovation and entrepreneurship activities, with IdeaHub, Sandboxes, CDL, Aquatron and CORE facilities for maximum impact. Ensure it aligns with the university's EDI goals.
Optimize management and support structures for IRC/industry partnership applications
Increase opportunities to promote Dal for offset programs such as ITB and value proposition.
Increased cross-faculty interaction with OCIE.
Targets:
Increase industry funding by 25%
Increase to at least 10 IRCs
Measure value proposition commitments and contracts related to completed deals
Measure number of partnerships and contracts
Goal 7: Foster and grow government relationships
Strategies:
Promote Dalhousie as the "go to" place for government consultation
Strengthen relationships with indigenous governments in partnered initiatives
Trainees and PIs collaborate in government research labs, and vice versa
Targets:
Increase number of Dalhousie faculty on major national, international and provincial research agencies
Increase number of contacts with different levels of government (Federal, Indigenous, Provincial, Municipal) for research / policy making / innovation purposes
Increase number of faculty and admin on government committees
Increase number of Dal personnel working in government labs
Priority 4 - Impact
Driving Impact through Translational Research and Innovation
We will have global impact. We will strengthen our commitment to research and innovation excellence and seek to maximize the impact of our research outputs on society and the economy through the delivery of transnational research and innovation so that Dalhousie is seen as a social and economic driver locally, regionally, nationally and internationally.
Goal 8: Increase and leverage research to drive social, cultural and environmental development
Strategies:
Evaluate the social, cultural and environmental impact of research and innovation activity and identify opportunities to enhance impact
Promote a culture of social, cultural and environmental innovation throughout Dalhousie, defining relevant support initiatives and ensuring alignment across components of innovation programming across Dal
Improve communication and coordination of existing events, research projects, research centres and institutes and funded research
Establish a community outreach plan with appropriate partners across relevant signature research clusters and research focus areas
Targets:
Meaningful NGO, community and cultural partnerships
Launch social innovation startups
Increase social innovation programming within Dal Innovates
Increase number of outreach and public events
Increase number of community participants at Dalhousie events
Increase number of media mentions of Dal research
Goal 9: Increase and leverage research to drive economic development
Strategies:
Evaluate the economic impact of research and innovation activity and identify opportunities and mechanisms to enhance impact
Increase and grow the number of startups and companies that come from Dalhousie's Innovation and Entrepreneurship programming pipeline
Targets:
Increase the number of startups emerging from Dal Research by 20% per year
Dal’s I&E programming contributes to the Nova Scotia economy
Increase the number of students who participate in Dal Innovates programming
Amount of venture capital and angel investing in companies / startups that come through the Dal I&E pipeline
Goal 10: Inform policy creation through research
Strategies:
Consolidate and enhance Dalhousie's national and international reputation as an institution that promotes effective public policy initiatives based on the principles of good governance, ethical leadership and responsive regulation
Encourage and support all faculty members who might have an interest to identify potential parties in other faculties to pursue national and internationally significant public policy initiatives
Targets:
Dalhousie is recognized as the go-to place for public policy in Nova Scotia
Enhance and support policy-related research institutes and research chairs
Engage all Faculties with potentially overlapping interests in policy research
