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.

These recommendations were endorsed by a subsequent meeting of the Management Board, which set up one working group to examine means to implement the policy review and another working group (the Structures Committee) to discuss in more detail the issues of governance, representation and administrative resources arising from the recommendations. The Structures Committee was later mandated to continue its work into the next fiscal year.

3. Infrastructure and Administrative Activities

Demands on the central (Toronto) office for staffing and logistical support have grown steadily over the past six years in pace with the increased variety and number of research activities associated with CERIS and the resulting need for improved methods of dissemination. Staffing needs have also been determined by the ongoing process of transferring administrative functions such as accounting and human resources management from central functions to the CERIS office at the University of Toronto.

In recent years efforts to meet the growing expectations with respect to staffing and logistical support have focussed on improved use of information technologies (website, electronic monthly bulletin) and increased use of interns and volunteers.

During the first cycle, CERIS occupied office suites at Ryerson and York Universities, while the central administrative functions were carried out at a small suite of offices provided by the University of Toronto, Faculty of Social Work. The expansion of the Social Work Faculty meant that CERIS would have to find new quarters at the University of Toronto; this would have been necessary in any event because of CERIS’ greatly expanded research and dissemination activities. The external research grants and contracts to support dissemination activities provided the basis for a successful application to the University of Toronto, as a result of which CERIS was granted the use of virtually the entire top floor of the Faculty of Social Work building, an area of approximately 6,500 square feet. The founding universities provided financial support for renovation, furnishing and moving costs as follows: Ryerson University ($25,000); York University ($25,000); the University of Toronto, Faculty of Social Work ($40,000); the University of Toronto Faculty of Medicine ($50,000); the University of Toronto Faculty of Arts and Sciences ($50,000); and the University of Toronto Office of the Vice-President ($10,000). The final contribution, from Dr. Morton Beiser’s personal research overhead account ($150,000), brought the amount committed to a total of $350,000, which has been spent to provide a superb facility housing administrative offices and meeting rooms, a large resource centre, a lounge area to facilitate interaction among researchers, community, students and staff, as well as research space flexibly designed to provide space, computers and other hardware for the use of as many as 10 – 12 research personnel. This setting will facilitate CERIS’ activities during the next cycle, a period during which the Centre will build upon past accomplishment, continue to conduct research of the highest caliber dedicated to the improvement of policy and practice, help to train a future generation of scholars and inform public debate about one of our most important national challenges.

C. Support from University Partners

The three founding university partners, Ryerson Polytechnic Institute, University of Toronto and York University, have provided essential support to CERIS in a variety of ways over the course of the past six years.

The University of Toronto has provided extensive material support to CERIS in the form of office space including utilities, Internet connectivity, and access to centralized automated financial systems. CERIS= main offices continue to be located in the Faculty of Social Work building at the University of Toronto, with its large and small meeting rooms and splendid downtown location easily accessible by subway. Plans are in progress to move CERIS to newly-renovated facilities on the 7th floor of the same building.

University of Toronto Research Services facilitate the payments of research grants and other inter-university transfers of funds. The University of Toronto data librarian has helped to make Metropolis license data accessible to CERIS-affiliated researchers by cataloguing the data, establishing a website and preparing the data for use. The Faculties of Social Work and Department of Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine continue to provide helpful administrative assistance.

York University donated office space for the York CERIS office, and provided staffing support in the form of Graduate Assistants. The Department of Urban Studies at York University, on an annual basis, provided interns who worked at the Toronto office on dissemination activities.

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.