Diversity leads to better science and $100K Canada Research Chairs award

Equity, diversity and inclusion initiatives that are changing the face of science at McMaster University have earned national recognition from the Government of Canada’s Canada Research Chairs Program (CRC).

McMaster was one of three universities to receive the CRC’s 2024 Robbins-Ollivier Award for Excellence in Equity. The award, which provides $100,000 in funding for bold, status-quo challenging, institutional-level initiatives that address persistent systemic barriers in academia, will support the Faculty of Science’s pioneering three-pillared approach to advancing equity, diversity, inclusion and accessibility through:

• Year-round outreach programming and mentorship for Black, Indigenous and/or Latinx high school students
• Science-focused anti-racism, anti-oppression, social justice and EDIA curricular content at the undergraduate level, including the first undergraduate certificate in Anti-racism, Inclusion and Equity in Science (ARIE)
• Long-term collection and analysis of disaggregated demographic data to determine temporal changes in representation and trajectories of equity-deserving groups in the university community

“The CRC Robbins-Ollivier Award honours the eight professors from across Canada who led a Human Rights campaign for equitable representation in the Canada Research Chairs program,” says Chemistry professor Kalaichelvi Saravanamuttu who serves as Associate Dean of Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigeneity in the Faculty of Science.  “This national award therefore comes with tremendous responsibility to advance our own efforts with continued support and commitment of McMaster University. I am delighted and so proud to work with all the awardees – a richly diverse network of colleagues with the expertise, excellence, compassion and courage to advance a collective vision of an equitable, diverse and inclusive campus”.

The national award recognized the contributions of a cross-disciplinary team of McMaster faculty and staff from Faculties of Science and Health Sciences, DeGroote School of Business and the MacPherson Institute. The team includes: Juliet Daniel, Robert Cockcroft, Jasdeep Dhir, Saroo Sharda, Shaiya Robinson, Susan Dudley, Maggie Cockburn, Aaron Parry, Khadijeh Rakie, Aasiya Satia and Saravanamuttu. Sharlee Cranston-Reimer and Ana Ibarra Letona have joined the team this year.

Launched in 2023, the Robbins-Ollivier Award for Excellence in Equity recognizes the contributions made by Marjorie Griffin Cohen, Louise Forsyth, Glenis Joyce, Audrey Kobayashi, Shree Mulay, Susan Prentice, Michèle Ollivier and Wendy Robbins to increase the level of equity within the Canada Research Chairs Program (CRCP) and Canada’s research ecosystem more broadly, by way of their 2003 Canadian Human Rights complaints and their concerted efforts in the mediation processes, which led to both the 2006 Settlement Agreement and its addendum in 2019.

The award was also given to Simon Fraser University for their Trans Equity Data Initiative and the University of Victoria for their Indigenous Storyteller in Residence project.

The Government of Canada’s Canada Research Chairs Program is a tri-agency initiative of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research. The program invests approximately $311 million per year to attract and retain a diverse cadre of world-class researchers to reinforce academic research and training excellence in Canadian postsecondary institutions.

The Faculty of Science has the largest number of undergraduates of McMaster’s six academic Faculties and was the first at the University to launch an Office of the Associate Dean, Equity, Diversity, Inclusion and Indigeneity.