PART IV TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS

Training the next generation of researchers (through opportunities for students) is integral to CERIS mandate. Projects funded through the RFP process have involved undergraduate, graduate or post-graduate students as team members or research assistants. In its original proposal, CERIS committed itself to provide at least seventy percent of its funding to student research assistants and ten percent to community research assistants. These targets have been met or exceeded for all three years of adjudicated (RFP) research projects and will continue to be respected in future awards. The specific roles of students in RFP projects, and the training opportunities presented to them, are discussed in the project reports (posted on the CERIS Website).

With the continuing expansion of the scope and variety of CERIS’ research program and dissemination activities, other training opportunities have developed at CERIS. Throughout the past six years, students have also been involved in CERIS as volunteers, interns and part-time staff working on dissemination activities. This involvement promotes skill development in diverse areas such as project management, media relations, fundraising, conference logistics, seminar organizing and much more. Several students involved with CERIS as interns and contract workers have already gone on to full-time employment in areas involving immigration research.

Some examples of student involvement include:

· a number of doctoral fellows, postgraduate and graduate students wrote literature reviews to help prepare the CERIS submission to the first stage of the Immigration Legislative Review;

· placement students from the Department of Urban Studies at York University worked on the CERIS Resource Centre, MetaDatabase project and Website development along with two masters students and a doctoral student from the three partner universities;

· the CERIS-PAC Training Project was coordinated by an OISE / University of Toronto doctoral student, and the pilot stage research of the NCCYS was carried out by a post-doctoral student from the University of Toronto;

· each year, one graduate students has been assigned to CERIS-York. These students have participated in various projects.

Facilitating access to Metropolis license immigration data has also provided opportunities for researchers to learn and to share skills. The University of Toronto data librarian has provided training to the data librarian at Ryerson and York, and Citizenship and Immigration Canada has provided training on the Metadatabase to Dr. Shuguang Wang of Ryerson University, Chair of the CERIS Data Committee, who has provided several well-attended workshops to pass these skills on to other CERIS researchers.

Considerable outreach to graduate students has been undertaken at both the University of Toronto and York University through seminars and brown bag discussions. About 85 per cent of the users of the Resource Centre are graduate students -- approximately 100 students each year.

During the last year of the first six-year cycle we engaged two graduate students to assist us with evaluating CERIS’ work and preparing for the future: Denise Tom-Kun prepared the report ANew Directions: Graduate Student Involvement at CERIS@ and Elke Winter the report AAcademic Research and Public Policy Impact: The Programme and Policy Relevance of CERIS Products@. During this last year as well two CERIS-affiliated graduate students, Elke Winter and Amal Madibbo, entered into an exchange program hosted by Immigration et Métropoles in Montreal.

Affiliation with CERIS is open to students and community partners as well as academic researchers specialising in immigration issues. See Appendix III for the categories of affiliation and the list of affiliates.

Master of Arts in Immigration and Settlement Studies at Ryerson University

Another initiative that has flowed directly out of the work of CERIS and the research arising in its various Domains, which will not only enhance immigration and settlement research but particularly graduate student development, is a Master of Arts Degree in Immigration and Settlement Studies at Ryerson University. Led by Dr. Kenise Murphy Kilbride, CERIS Associate Director, and subsequently by Dr. Myer Siemiatycki, CERIS Community Research Domain Leader, this program is currently in its final stages of the approval process at the Ontario Council of Graduate Studies. This M.A. is set to begin in the 2004-2005 academic year and will accept 25 to 30 full- and part-time graduate students annually.

This program will focus on the consequences and opportunities arising from transnational human mobility as it relates to Canada. Given the importance of immigration to Canada, it is surprising that there is no single or multi-disciplinary graduate program in the country that centres on the socio-demographic, historical, cultural, political, economic, and public policy (or legislative) issues that arise from this aspect of demographic change.

This degree in immigration and settlement is, in the Ontario Council of Graduate Studies terms, a single-field program. The field involves: research and public policy analysis about the challenges and opportunities arising from immigration in Canada, as well as those related to successful settlement, particularly as these occur in metropolitan areas, and comparative studies of the ways in which the consequences of transnational human mobility are addressed in public and private sectors around the world. The program will be offered to students who may be interested in research and perhaps contemplating doctoral activity in the field as well as those likely to engage directly in professional work with immigrants, refugees, and ethnic communities settling in Canada.

Among the innovative features of the proposed MA program in Immigration and Settlement Studies are: 1) as stated above, it will be the only graduate program in the country that focuses solely on the consequences and opportunities arising from transnational human mobility as it relates to Canada; 2) students will undertake a practicum in policy or service-oriented field placements; and 3) graduate students will have an opportunity to interact with other researchers in the Metropolis Project through CERIS.

The multi-disciplinary nature of the field is reflected in the wide range of disciplinary ‘homes’ of the participants in the program. The twenty-five faculty members represent twelve departments in four faculties – the Faculty of Communication and Design, the Faculty of Arts, the Faculty of Business, and the Faculty of Community Services. Of these faculty members, over half have held CERIS research awards or have been otherwise formally attached to the Centre. It is fair to say that the immigration-based research agenda at Ryerson University was very much a product of the establishment of CERIS. Prior to the existence of CERIS most of the Ryerson-based researchers associated with this degree had limited experience in immigration research questions. Immigration and settlement has in fact become one of the central research themes of Ryerson University, as it has moved from polytechnic to university status at the same time as the Metropolis Project was encouraging university-based research. The pan-Canadian orientation of the degree matches well with the research focus of Phase II of Metropolis and will open up significant opportunities for pan-Canadian immigration research and graduate student training.

PART V DISSEMINATION

The methods of dissemination at CERIS have grown steadily in scope and sophistication over the past six years, and provided wide accessibility to the Centre’s research products. Considerable effort as well has been devoted to publicizing the research initiatives and research results of academic, government and community colleagues both inside and outside of the Metropolis network, and to developing active external liaison. This diversity of modes of communication reflects the Centre’s commitment to reach beyond the traditional scholarly community to encompass the interests and involvement of other relevant groups.

CERIS has had several guiding principles for dissemination:

1) Research findings will be circulated as broadly as possible, to the multiple audiences who may benefit from and contribute to them. Dissemination methods have been designed to include immigrant communities, ethno-specific agencies, multi-service organizations, policy-makers and policy networks, practitioners, other interested groups and concerned citizens, in addition to researchers and students both within and outside of Canadian universities

2) Dissemination strategies were designed in consultation with researchers, community partners and other interested parties to ensure that they are appropriate for effectively communicating research findings to the varied audiences mentioned above.

3) CERIS has ensured reciprocity between dissemination of research findings and community input. Reaction from the community to the initial dissemination of findings, particularly through the annual conferences and PAC have been used to help shape subsequent rounds of research activities and the way they were circulated. This approach necessitates that research and its communication be interactive processes: research is not something that is conducted and then communicated downward by “experts,” but rather involves an engagement in which all research activities are informed by, and shaped through the researchers’ interaction with practitioners and communities on an on-going basis. Similarly, dissemination itself must be interactive, eliciting wide-ranging reaction and response to research findings.

4) Given that the research agenda of CERIS is of an applied nature, the presentation of research findings emphasizes their practical utility and policy relevance.

5) The dissemination of findings in all forms acknowledges the contribution of all those involved in the research: academics, community partners and practitioners.

These guiding principles are reflected in Strangers Becoming Us, both the radio and school versions, each of which involved researchers, community participants and policy experts.

The Centre attracted almost 3 million dollars in external funding to support its dissemination activities. Over the past six years, CERIS’ dissemination activities have included:

A. Web site

An important aspect of CERIS dissemination activities has been the continued development of the CERIS Website and Virtual Library, with funding support from both Canadian Heritage and Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Ontario Administration of Settlement and Integration Services (OASIS). Among the special features of the website are the CERIS MetaDatabase or database of immigration-related databases, and the large number of both academic and community-based research papers available for downloading from the Virtual Library. The provision of basic information and access points for various CERIS committees and working groups and the updating on special events has also developed as an important and cost-effective use of the website.

The CERIS Website is linked to the sites of the other Metropolis centres, the Ottawa and international Metropolis sites, and the special website hosted by the University of Toronto Data Library for Metropolis license data products. The CERIS Website also includes hot links with a large number of academic, government and community partners involved in immigration research across Canada and internationally, including federal funding partners in the Metropolis project. It also contains a section on research on access to trades and professions, co-hosted with the Ontario Ministry of Citizenship.

In 2000 the Online Content Enhancement Project (OCEP), funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Ontario Administration for Settlement and Integration Services (OASIS), was completed. In collaboration with the Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS),York University and CIC, OASIS, and under the leadership of CERIS Administrative Coordinator Ted Richmond, CERIS digitalized and posted a large selection of historical immigration research documents. Selection of documents from the library collections of the three partners was based on their historical and contemporary significance, as well as their previously limited circulation.

B. Resource Centre

The CERIS Resource Centre was created with a collection of valuable immigration research documents, some of which are unique. The collection includes “grey literature,” such as unindexed publications and a large number of unpublished community needs assessments related to settlement and equity issues, documents produced by CERIS researchers and Metropolis Project affiliates, and donations from publishers and partners.

With funding support from Canadian Heritage, over the past years CERIS has considerably developed the resources available through the Resource Centre. Among the developments have been the expansion of CERIS’ program of acquiring and cataloguing limited and out-of-circulation community needs assessments, and the development of the CERIS MetaDatabase or searchable database of immigration-related databases for the Greater Toronto Area (GTA).

About eighty-five percent of the visitors to the Resource Centre are graduate students, with the remainder composed of undergraduates, media professionals, foreign scholars and academic researchers.

C. Data Access and Dissemination

One of the important components of the Metropolis Project during its first six-year cycle has been the efforts of Statistics Canada and other federal partners to make available to Metropolis researchers a significant amount of custom immigration data (Metropolis license data).

In Toronto, the process of promoting this data and supervising access has been managed by the Data Committee and its Chair, with staff assistance. Members of the Data Committee have also been active in the affairs of the National Data Committee, in developing information and training sessions in Toronto to encourage use of these invaluable data resources, and in planning the development of an online atlas using Metropolis license data.

D. Publications

1. CERIS Newsletter and Monthly Bulletin

CERIS produced a quarterly newsletter from 1997 to 2001 after which time it switched to a more cost-effective electronic format. With a circulation of approximately 1,000, the monthly electronic bulletin keeps us in contact with a wide range of persons interested in immigration research including many international colleagues.

2. Working Papers Series

The CERIS Working Paper Series offers researchers a more immediate means of communicating their research findings with an interested audience. Fifteen Working Papers were published during the first cycle. The Working Papers were distributed to a selected mailing list, posted for downloading on the Virtual Library, and made available for ordering of paper copies on a cost-recovery basis. CERIS at Ryerson takes responsibility for the series. See Appendix III A for a complete list of working papers.

3. World in A City

Co-edited by Dr. Paul Anisef and Dr. Michael Lanphier, World in a City will be published by the University of Toronto Press in 2003. A truly collaborative effort, World in a City involved 15 scholars drawn from all of CERIS’s Domains and from each of its three founding universities, a scholar from Memorial University in Newfoundland, and another from the University of Akron in Ohio, one research fellow, two federal government partners, and two community-based researchers. The authors represent such diverse fields as sociology, education, health, geography, politics and public administration, history, public policy, and community-based service. World in a City began with a Major Research Initiative (MRI) grant from CERIS of $20,000, and then received a grant of $58,000 from Canadian Heritage. Funding enabled the authors for the chapters making up World in a City to hire 5 or 6 graduate students to assist them in reviewing pertinent literature, and in conducting new analyses on public use and other data sets.

World in a City explores challenges relating to the accommodation of immigrants in Toronto with respect to health, education, housing, employment and community, and to the capacity of Toronto to sustain a civic society. The book offers a template for comparative studies of cities both within Canada and across countries.

4. Managing Two Worlds

Co-edited by Dr. Paul Anisef and Dr. Kenise Murphy Kilbride, Managing Two Worlds is based on an extensive and collaborative research effort and will be published by Canadian Scholars’ Press in 2003. It features findings from particular ethno-racial groups in Ontario, highlighting family life, social relations, citizenship, education and employment. It also includes comparisons of immigrant and refugee youth from different countries of origin. In the introductory and concluding chapters, Anisef and Kilbride provide an overview of current research on immigrant youth settlement, as well as an integrated summary of research findings and perspectives for future investigation.

This original work provides a much-needed reference on the settlement experience of immigrant youth, and will be of interest to those concerned with immigrant and refugee rights, education,
multiculturalism, citizenship, and youth and social inclusion.

5. Ethno-Racial Inequality in the City of Toronto: An Analysis of the 1996 Census

In March 2000, the City of Toronto published a report based on the results of a CERIS-supported research project on ethno-racial inequality in the city conducted by Dr. Michael Ornstein, Director of the Institute for Social Research, York University. The research report “Ethno-Racial Inequality in the City of Toronto: An Analysis of the 1996 Census” had a distribution of more than 1,000 copies within the first few months of its release, and generated considerable media attention both domestically and internationally. A coalition of more than 40 NGO’s involved in ethnoracial service provision led by the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI) organized a press conference and public meeting to discuss the policy implications of the report.

6. Traditional Scholarly Journals

CERIS members also publish in traditional scholarly journals. See Appendix III A for a partial list of publications.

E. Oral Dissemination

1. Seminar Series

The Monthly Research Seminar Series which brings together university‑based researchers, community and government partners to listen to CERIS‑funded researchers, visiting scholars, and guest speakers, and to discuss policy and programmatic implications of CERIS’ ongoing research. See Appendix IIIB for a complete list of CERIS seminars.

2. Conferences and Presentations

CERIS affiliate and Data Committee member, Dr. Eric Fong was the organizer of a conference on Comparative Perspectives on the Chinese Ethnic Economy at the University of Toronto in September, 2000. Participants included a number of CERIS-affiliated researchers as well as colleagues from the Metropolis network across Canada. The conference provided researchers with a much‑needed opportunity to start developing work in this area in Canada. Prior to the conference Dr. Fong was invited to be the editor of a special issue of Asian and Pacific Migration Journal dedicated to the Chinese ethnic economy. Dr. Fong is a member of the CERIS Data Committee.

In October 2000, Tim Rees (City of Toronto) and Ted Richmond (CERIS) organized a panel discussion on AModels of Settlement Services@ for the annual Professional Development Conference of the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants (OCASI). The workshop was well-attended and presentations from the session were later posted to the internet site for Ontario settlement workers, generating a lot of interest.

Also in October, CERIS hosted a two-day Workshop on Globalization and Social Cohesion, organized by Dr. Valerie Preston of York University and Dr. Audrey Kobayashi of Queen=s University. The workshop brought together scholars concerned with the question of social cohesion from across Canada. CERIS staff assisted with the organization and logistics of the workshop.

Please see Appendix II B for a full listing of conference participation by CERIS affiliates during the past six years.

F. Pedagogical Dissemination

1. EMPIRICAL

EMPIRICAL (Educational Media Partnership on Immigration and Refugee Issues for Computer Assisted Learning), a package of eleven undergraduate computer-assisted courses about immigration and settlement, has been developed by Dr. Raymond Breton and a team of academics he recruited for CERIS under a contract with the Ontario Administration of Settlement and Integration Services (OASIS), the regional settlement arm of CIC. Each course is devoted to a specific topic and is designed to be stand-alone. Taken together, the package could constitute an undergraduate major in immigration studies. The courses are flexible, media-rich packages utilizing the most advanced forms of computer-assisted learning including chat rooms, instructor assignments and Internet linkages to relevant web-based materials. The courses will be released in 2003. Dr. Morton Beiser, CERIS Director, was the Principal Investigator for the creation of the courses.

2. Strangers Becoming Us

Strangers Becoming Us began as a 12-part radio series on immigration and settlement, conceived, written and narrated by Dr. Morton Beiser, CERIS Director. Throughout the year 1999, the series was broadcast on several occasions by CJRT public radio in Ontario as well as on public radio in Alberta. Following the success of the radio series, Dr. Beiser was approached with the idea of developing an educational program for Canadian schools. In this new evolution, Strangers Becoming Us became a resource kit consisting of a CD and associated teaching materials, was developed by CERIS in partnership with “Classroom Connections,” a Toronto-based organization specializing in the development and dissemination of educational materials for Canadian schools. Again, the project was conceived of, written and directed by Dr. Morton Beiser. Following the distribution of Strangers Becoming Us to all public elementary schools in Canada in the fall of 2000, CERIS was asked to produce another version of the educational package, this time for high schools. This was completed and the high school version was distributed by CIC and Classroom Connections to all public high schools across Canada in the spring of 2001. Following the events of September 11, 2001, CIC distributed Strangers Becoming Us to all schools across the country once again, as part of a national effort to deal with the implications of that tragedy. Dr. Beiser received a seed grant for the project as a whole from the Maytree Foundation and contract funding from Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Ontario Administration of Settlement and Immigration Services (OASIS)

G. International Colloquia

CERIS has played host to several high-level visitors from foreign governments. Key visits include:

· In 1997, policy advisors Roy Blinker, Robert Flos, and Zuhel Gul from the Dutch Ministry of Home Affairs who were interested in Canadian policies on multiculturalism, immigration and integration, particularly the social aspects of integration;

· Also in 1997, a high ranking governmental delegation from France, including M. Gerard Moreau, Member of the National Audit Court and M. Andre-Clement Decouflé, Population and Migrations, Ministry of Employment and Solidarity who came to learn more about Canada’s policies on multiculturalism and its implications for social integration;

· In June 2000, a large delegation from Denmark representing the Standing Committee on Employment of the Parliament of Denmark. The delegation included ten Members of Parliament; the Danish Ambassador to Canada, Mr. Svend Roed Nielsen; Mr. Verner Sand Kirk, who is the Chief of Planning for the Danish Ministry of Labour; and Ms. Lise Christoffersen, the Danish Consul and Trade Commissioner, as well as committee secretaries and interpreters. The Danish parliamentarians were visiting Canada in order to become better acquainted with this country=s immigration and settlement policies and practices. During their visit to CERIS, the parliamentarians heard from Centre researchers and affiliates about research findings relating to immigrant selection, labour market issues, challenges in the educational system, NGO=s and the resettlement of immigrants and refugees, and the impact of Canadian multiculturalism policy on settlement;

· In September, 2000 CERIS Economic Domain Leader Dr. John Shields at the request of the Canadian Embassy in France hosted a group of French journalists interested in the integration of immigrants in Canada. He made a presentation to them entitled: “The Canadian Labour Market and the Immigrant Experience: Economic Well-Being, Settlement and Adjustment”;

· In February, 2001, CERIS was pleased to again welcome a group of visitors from Denmark. The Honourable Karen Jespersen, Minister of the Interior of Denmark, Mr Niels Preisler, Deputy Minister and a seven-member diplomatic delegation involved in immigration and settlement issues and policy, attended a luncheon meeting to explore integration policies in Denmark and Canada. Returning to CERIS for a second time were Mr. Svend Roed Nielsen, Danish Ambassador to Canada, and Ms. Lise Christoffersen, Consul, Royal Danish Consulate General. Other delegates included Mr. Henrik Kyvsgaard, Head of Section and Mr. Peter S. Willadsen, Head of Department for Integration Policy. The visitors spoke about Danish immigration policy, and social and economic integration, expressed their concerns, and posed a number of questions to the CERIS Directors and affiliates;

· In April 2001, a group of researchers from New York, representing a five-university consortium whose area of research interest is immigration and settlement, met with CERIS Directors Dr. Morton Beiser, Dr. Paul Anisef and Dr. Kenise Murphy Kilbride and CERIS researchers. The purpose of the visit was to exchange views on topics of mutual research interest, and to look ahead to collaborative projects in the future;

· In October 2001, CERIS members Dr. Michael Lanphier, Dr. Robert Murdie and Mwarigha M.S. met with two British officials, Rachel Reynolds, Head of Refugee Integration at the UK Metropolis Home Office and Dr. Carolyne Tah, Senior Research Officer working on integration research in connection with best practices. The purpose of the visit was to explore how Canada is integrating refugees and other migrants, what research is taking place, what practical issues have been encountered, how they have been overcome and various initiatives at work at the federal and provincial level.

· In October 2002, Dr. Morton Beiser was invited by the United Kingdom Consul to meet with the Hon. Beverley Hughes, Minister of State for Citizenship, Immigration and Community Cohesion to discuss Canada’s approach to settlement and citizenship.

CERIS researchers have participated in a number of international conferences, guest lectures and developed international linkages for collaborative research. These are listed in Appendix IIIB.

PART VI RESEARCH MANAGEMENT

A. Management Structure and Activities

Consistent with its original mandate, CERIS has developed a management structure that integrates the unique contributions of community and government partners, as well as academic researchers. Governance has also been marked by flexibility: a capacity to adapt to changing needs in the research program and priorities. Among the organizational changes during the first six years of activity were the expansion of the research Domains, the development of the Major Research Initiatives (MRI) Working Group, and the inclusion of representatives of the Partnership Advisory Council as voting members of the Management Board.

1. Management Board

CERIS is a collaborative project governed by a Management Board that encompasses Ryerson University, University of Toronto, York University, the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, the Community Social Planning Council of Toronto, and the United Way of Greater Toronto. Support to the Management Board in governing CERIS is provided by a Partnership Advisory Council (PAC) consisting of representatives of immigrant service agencies, community agencies, social planning councils, education sector representatives, municipal and health planning bodies, and local representatives of the federal funding partners.

During the past six years, the CERIS Management Board met at approximately eight-week intervals from September through June to oversee the CERIS research program and provide direction on issues of policy and priorities. The three academic representatives from each of the three partner universities (Ryerson University, University of Toronto, York University) served staggered terms with rotation of individual representatives. The three non-academic seats for the Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, the Social Planning Council of Metropolitan Toronto, and the United Way of Greater Toronto were maintained throughout the period.

During the first period various changes in the composition of the Management Board were introduced to increase its representation and improve its effectiveness. At the request of the Partnership Advisory Council (PAC), representatives of the PAC were given one voting and one ex-officio position on the Board. At the request of the federal funding partners, a voting seat was established for their representation on a rotating basis. A representative of the City of Toronto was added to the Board first in an ex-officio and then in a voting capacity. As well, discussions were initiated towards the inclusion of a delegate from the Province of Ontario.

Until the final year of the first six-year cycle, the Management Board organized annual research retreats to provide focus on CERIS research priorities and then organized the process of the annual (adjudicated) research competition.

Essential support to the Management Board also came from the CERIS Domain Leaders, who during the first cycle took up their responsibilities on a voluntary basis. Over the past years the number of CERIS research Domains has expanded from the original three to six: Education, Economics, Health, Housing and Neighbourhoods, Community, and Justice and Law. CERIS Domain Leaders have been active in shaping research priorities and promoting CERIS through dissemination activities, as well as implementing various funded research projects.

A complete list of members of the CERIS Management Board during the first cycle is provided in Appendix IV.

2. Partnership Advisory Council

The CERIS Partnership Advisory Council (PAC) was established during the first year of activities. The mandate of the PAC is to enhance community participation in setting CERIS research priorities and developing relevant plans for dissemination, through active consultation with groups involved in the provision and/or planning of services for immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA). With representatives from local and regional municipalities, inter‑agency networks, and multi‑service agencies, the PAC has assisted in linking community groups (from health, housing, education, planning and labour sectors) with academics with similar research interests.

PAC meetings took place approximately four times per year, between September and June. Individuals from the PAC have been active in the annual research retreats, in the research adjudication process, and in the deliberations of the CERIS Management Board. As well they have frequently presented at CERIS seminars and at the National and International Metropolis conferences.

In 1999, the PAC initiated a training support program in the utilization of immigration research for community agencies (funded by Citizenship and Immigration Canada, Ontario Administration of Settlement and Integration Services) and a Health and Social Services Equity and Access research project (funded by the Ontario region of Health Canada.)

See Appendix IV for a complete list of CERIS Management Board, Partnership Advisory Council members, Domain Leaders, and CERIS Affiliates (with a description of affiliation).

3. Executive Committee

Between meetings of the Management Board, CERIS policy and operational issues were coordinated through the Executive Committee composed of the three Directors, the Board Chair, and senior staff. Towards the end of the first cycle the composition of the Executive Committee was expanded to include an NGO representative from the Management Board and the future Chair of the Board. The participation of the Management Board Chair provides an essential level of communication and continuity between the Executive Committee and the Management Board. CERIS Director, Dr. Morton Beiser, reports to the Management Board on the implementation of decisions by the Directors and staff, on behalf of the Executive, through his director’s reports.

See Appendix III for a complete list of Executive Committee members and other staff members.

B. Research Management

CERIS has devoted significant energy to consultation on its research priorities. Research retreats bring community and government partners together on an annual basis with Board members, Domain Leaders and funded and affiliated researchers.

On the basis of these consultations, the CERIS Management Board established the Major Research Initiatives (MRI) Working Group to support development in areas identified as priorities. Over the course of the six year cycle, CERIS expanded its Domains from the original three areas to six. A description of the six current Domain areas are included in Appendix I.

CERIS’ research program includes projects funded by the centre and carried out by independent investigative teams, as well as “in-house” research supported by internal and external sources of funding. CERIS uses three major vehicles to carry out its research mandate: 1. Annual Requests for Proposals (RFP) 2. Centre-wide Major Research Initiatives (MRI), and 3. Special projects. MRIs and Special Projects are described in Parts I and III.

1. Requests For Proposals

Each fall, CERIS invites federal funding partners from Ottawa, regional representatives of the federal funders, community agencies, and research scholars to a day-long retreat convened in order to help CERIS staff and Board members outline a research agenda, including the priorities it defines for the annual Request for Proposals (RFP). After Board adoption, the RFP is announced to the community. RFP notices appear in the CERIS newsletter, on the CERIS and Metropolis web-sites, and among the regular announcements circulated by university research offices. In each of its RFP’s, CERIS has encouraged submissions by community-university research alliances. After announcing the RFP, but well in advance of the submission date, CERIS’ Academic Coordinator has held workshops on writing and submitting proposals.

Review panels, each of which represents a particular area of expertise identified as an RFP priority area for a given year, are responsible for adjudicating all proposals. Although federal funding partners play a central role in helping to set the CERIS research agenda, conflict of interest guidelines preclude their membership on the five-person adjudication committees. However, the presence of two community partners on each panel helps ensure adherence to the guidelines for relevance. Each panel also includes two university researchers. A third university researcher who is a member of the CERIS Management Board acts as committee Chair. This adjudication process must now be counted among CERIS’ successes in overcoming traditional university-community barriers. Despite initial trepidation, the university-based members of the adjudication panels found their community counterparts to be as committed to ensuring excellence as they were; in turn, community participants were gratified to learn that researchers valued their guidance in judging relevance. This experiment in university-community collaboration is the subject of a position paper jointly authored by CERIS affiliates Ms. Wendy Kwong and Dr. Kenise Murphy Kilbride.

Following their adjudications, each of the RFP panels submits its list of recommended projects to a Composite Committee, made up of two members from each of the adjudication panels and presided over by the Chair of the CERIS Board. After reviewing each of the proposals and considering the total budget available for the RFP in question, the composite committee arrives at a final list of projects for recommendation to the CERIS Board. Board approval is the final step in the adjudication process.

2. Annual Research Retreat

With the process of allocation of research funds completed for the first six-year cycle of Metropolis, the annual CERIS Research Retreat in the summer of 2000 focussed on prospects and perspectives for renewal. As in past years the delegates invited to the retreat included Domain Leaders, representatives of the Metropolis Project Team and federal funding partners, and delegates from the Partnership Advisory Council along with members of the Executive and the Management Board.

Ryerson University provided local office space for CERIS activities, and has assumed all the responsibilities for the CERIS Working Paper Series.

York University and Ryerson have donated space to host major public events organized by CERIS, and both these universities have also donated media expertise for public events.

Each of the CERIS founding universities provided three members each to the CERIS Management Board. The time of the three Directors, donated by the three universities, was essential to the planning and coordination of CERIS’ research program and dissemination activities. Academics from all three founding universities also donated their time and energies to CERIS projects and work groups, with the responsibilities being particularly important for the two Domain Leaders from each of the three partner universities.

Academics from all three founding universities also donate their time and energies to CERIS projects and work groups including Domain responsibilities, adjudication, working committees and conference delegations. Responsibilities continue to grow for the Domain Leaders.

[1] At the time of the creation of CERIS, both Metropolitan Toronto and the City of Toronto were represented; with the amalgamation of the various parts of Metropolitan Toronto in January of 1998, representation shifted to the new City.

[2] This is a new title for the organization since its unification of several planning agencies, which originally predated but eventually coincided with the amalgamation of the six parts of the new City of Toronto.

PART IV TRAINING AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS

PART VI RESEARCH MANAGEMENT

A. Management Structure and Activities

B. Research Management

1. Requests For Proposals

C. Support from University Partners