¶¡ÏãÔ°AV

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¶¡ÏãÔ°AV’s Institutional Strategic Awards (ISA) designs strategies and leads initiatives to increase research capacity, income and visibility by supporting ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV faculty members to secure the most prestigious research grants, awards and prizes. The ISA team works closely with a diverse array of stakeholders, including faculty- based research facilitators, other ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV units and university leadership to deliver a coordinated service throughout the research lifecycle

ISA’s work aligns with the priorities of What’s Next: The ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV Strategy, the 2023-2028 Strategic Research Plan and the 2022-2025 Strategic Sustainability and Climate Action Plan. ISA champions equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) and research excellence as a trusted partner and central resource for the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV research community.

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Research Development and Management

ISA provides both pre-award proposal development and post-award project management support for initiatives that are large-scale, high risk, led by or awarded to ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV and administratively complex with multiple teams or stakeholders. Major institutional programs managed by ISA include the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) Innovation Fund, Canada First Research Excellence Fund, NFRF Transformation, NSERC CREATE and SSHRC Partnership Grants.

The Development Team provides strategic consultations to principal investigators for project conceptualization, stakeholder engagement and identification of synergies. They offer guidance on crafting proposal narratives to meet evaluation criteria and integrating EDI considerations to foster an equitable research enterprise. The team also prepares institutional letters of support and confirmation of cash and in-kind contributions from ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV.

Additionally, they coordinate the Limited Submission Process and its committee when funders restrict the number of allowable submissions by the university. The team manages the Canada Research Chairs, Canada Excellence Research Chairs and Canada 150 Research Chairs programs.

The Management Team is responsible for the strategic oversight and operational success of the CFI, BCKDF and PacifiCan portfolios. The ISA houses a team of research project managers who support researchers to develop, implement and sustain complex research and research-related projects. The team ensures projects stay in scope, on schedule and
on budget by developing project plans, forecasting and monitoring expenditures, coordinating reporting, navigating institutional and funder processes, identifying and mitigating risk and supporting complex HR, procurement and facilities needs. Some of their initiatives include the , the and the .

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Fostering a Culture of Recognition

The Recognition Team fosters a culture of recognition for research excellence by promoting upcoming award competitions, engaging departments and faculties to identify exceptional candidates, and leading institutional nominations for prestigious awards and fellowships. Additionally, they offer expert guidance to nominators, enhancing ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV’s nomination activity. The team also coordinates the President’s Advisory Committee on Awards, Honours, and Prizes, administers the ¶¡ÏãÔ°AV Excellence in Research Awards, arranges visits from award agency personnel and participates in inclusive excellence initiatives.

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Engage with Us

Do you have a project or initiative ISA can help with? Email: isa@sfu.ca

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Institutional Strategic Awards Contacts

Diane Hanano

Director & Interim CFI Liaison

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Abdul Zahir (On Leave)

Research Project Manager

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Alda O'Grady

Research Project Manager, CRC Lead

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Alivia Dey

Research Project Manager

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Amber Sarna-Conway (On Leave)

Research Project Manager

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Barbara Sherman

Research Project Manager

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Charlene Allard (On Leave)

Associate Director (Post) - CFI Lead

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Dimple Patel

Research Project Manager

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Javier Tavitas

Associate Director, Research Development

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Joanne Johnson

Research Project Manager

Joanne Kienholz

Senior Advisor

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Kilim Park

Research Project Manager

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Kimberly Sivak

Interim Associate Director, Research Management

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Lorna Jackson

Research Project Manager

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Maria Glavas

Research Project Manager, CFI & Pre-Award

Mark Campbell

Research Project Manager

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Melanie Monk

Associate Director, Researcher Excellence & Recognition

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Michele La Vie

Research Project Manager

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Robert Bittner

Grants & Awards Specialist

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Sara Swenson

Senior Advisor

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Sylvia FitzGerald

Research Project Manager

Vinisha Chaudhary

Research Grants and Projects Coordinator

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