5 decades of discovery

As its $1.6 million in external funding in 1975-76 illustrates, Concordia’s early research efforts were modest.

“We were more or less an undergraduate institution at first,” says Heather Adams-Robinette, senior director, VP, Research, Innovation and Impact in Concordia’s Office of the Vice-President, Research, Innovation and Impact. But from those humble beginnings, the university began to steadily expand its research focus.

By the early 1980s, the Department of Psychology welcomed the Centre for Research in Human Development and Center for Studies in Behavioral Neurobiology (CSBN). “At the time, the CSBN was the only centre funded by Fonds de Recherche du Québec – Santé that was not part of a medical school, so it was held up as a huge example of research success,” Adams-Robinette recounts.

In the years since — especially from the 2000s onward — Concordia has expanded its research footprint with a number of centres and institutes. These spaces bring together leading experts from within and beyond the university to foster collaboration and advance knowledge (more in The research road map). Adams-Robinette emphasizes that another crucial step was elevating the head of research from a vice-provost level to a vice-president level in 2006.

“It was the recognition that if we were to advance as a research institution, we needed a vice-president focused on research,” she says. That year, Louise Dandurand became the university’s first VP of Research and Graduate Studies — a position now known as VP of Research, Innovation and Impact.

Moving the needle

This January, Concordia welcomed Tim Evans to the role. Evans previously served as director and associate dean of the School of Population and Global Health at McGill University and executive director of Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force, among other senior leadership positions nationally and internationally.

Evans recognizes the university’s research potential. “We’re building on strength, such as the great work going on in the areas of sustainability and health ,” he says. “I see my role as trying to facilitate and encourage that growth in ways where the university continues to define a clear niche with respect to impact.”

While discovery remains central to research, Evans emphasizes the importance of follow-through and real-world relevance. “I think there is a strong culture of delivery and impact at Concordia, which will continue to distinguish us from other universities.”

As an example, he points to the implementation research being conducted at the university’s Next-Generation Cities Institute, where members are working with municipalities to drive sustainability initiatives across urban infrastructures and the environment.

“The institute draws on discovery research related to issues like building ventilation and heating, and works with key implementers to get these things translated into building codes and initiatives so that, in fact, we actually move the needle on green cities,” he says.

With its focus on implementation, the institute is helping to bridge what’s referred to as the “know-do gap,” that is, “making sure what we know works gets translated into action in diverse contex ts,” Evans explains.

“A lot of people think that research stops at the demonstration that something works, like mRNA vaccines, and underestimate the important knowledge agenda associated with ensuring those new technologies/vaccines are taken up by those who need them. This means investing in understanding how decisions are made, how supply chains are managed, how procurement systems work — all areas where knowledge helps get things to scale,” he adds.

“Relative to other university settings, it appears there’s more willingness and expertise in Concordia’s research system to drive research across discovery through to real-world applications and outcomes.”

Advancing health through research

Evans, who earned his medical degree from McMaster University and has worked extensively in areas of global health research and policy, also sees Concordia’s burgeoning School of Health filling an important void.

“There are plenty of schools that develop clinicians to take care of sick people and that develop public-health professionals to advise on sanitation or infectious-disease risk,” he notes. “But we don’t have in the health space a school that trains people to be effective problem-solvers with discrete skills that enable them to navigate and negotiate change, be it to bring new technologies to market, to enable communities to lead on healthy aging or to improve the management of the health workforce.”

He adds, “By filling this gap through research, education and service, Concordia’s School of Health brings a focus that is complementary to more traditional schools of medicine, nursing and public health in Quebec, Canada and globally.”

‘A wellspring of knowledge’

While the societal value of STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) research — from health to cybersecurity and beyond — is self-evident, Evans emphasizes the worth of knowledge acquired across other fields.

“If you think about research as needed to solve big conundrums facing humanity, there is no single discipline that’s going to deliver a silver bullet,” he says. “There’s an advantage to having a diversity of disciplines contribute, and sometimes that diversity comes from unusual places.”

He’s particularly impressed, for instance, by the work being done by Concordia’s Department of Creative Arts Therapies. “Who would have thought that drama, art and music have any role with respect to physical and mental health? In fact, they’re showing how these can be used to help in the management of post-traumatic stress disorder and in diminishing rates of cognitive decline among the elderly,” he says.

Mining Concordia’s expertise from all four faculties is fundamental to Concordia’s objective to achieve greater impact, Evans adds.

“Recognizing that diversity is a wellspring of knowledge, moving forward there are boundless opportunities that transcend disciplines, sectors and borders to create knowledge that contributes to our economic, environmental and social well-being.”