Canada Research Chair in Digital Humanities

In the age of “fake news” and “alternative facts,” scholars, politicians, policy-makers, educators, students and citizens need access to authoritative information and its historical contexts. But the “connective tissue” that Web users need in order to synthesize the immense amounts of authoritative data is missing. This connective tissue is linked data—a method of publishing structured data so it can be interlinked and become more useful.

The economic, health, social and even defense benefits of access to peer-reviewed, authoritative data are well established. But there is a shortage of humanities data available online in linked-data format. Currently, linked data only make up one percent of the Web. That means whether they know it or not, users do not have access to the full knowledge-generating power that the Web is designed to support.

Dr. Constance Crompton, Canada Research Chair in Digital Humanities, aims to change this situation by giving Web users access to the ”superpowers of the humanities”: a better ability to understand the past in order to improve the future.

Crompton, her research team and colleagues are converting vast amounts of peer-reviewed, authoritative, open-access digital humanities content into linked data—and creating models of the past to inform expectations about the future. The authoritative information they generate will be served alongside its historical context to help both human readers and computers infer appropriate solutions from the data. Ultimately, this research will break down data silos to help turn Web users into humanities superheroes.

Canada Research Chair in Environment, Society and Policy

The world is experiencing unprecedented socio-environmental problems. Climate and social change, political reform and large-scale development have led to rapidly changing global conditions. This has made it critically important to identify, define and effectively govern the complex interdependencies that exist between humans and the natural environment. 

Dr. Jackie Dawson, Canada Research Chair in Environment, Society and Policy, is examining resilience in communities where environmental change has resulted in the restructuring and transformation of local economies. Dr. Dawson is focusing on communities that are seeing their economies ruined by changing environmental conditions and on communities that are witnessing new economic opportunities due to the changing environment. 

Communities in Canada and around the world that rely on vulnerable environmental resources have long been prone to boom or bust economic cycles. These cycles are even more prevalent in today’s era of rapid economic development and globalization. That has made it more important than ever for communities to weigh the pros and cons of development and pay close attention to resilience, adaptation and related economic policy.

Dr. Dawson’s research will increase knowledge and reduce the environmental and public safety risks associated with changing environmental and socio-economic conditions in communities.

Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Intellectual Traditions and Self-Determination - Takuaimatishun

The research of Dr. Ross-Tremblay and his team focuses on First Peoples' perspectives on the multi-dimensional effects of genocide and colonialism today and on the continuity and expansion of oral and intellectual traditions as an alternative to lived colonial realities and as a source of social transformation. The Research Chair consists of four units:

1. Documentation & Archives;
2. Research & Analysis;
3. Teaching & knowledge sharing; and
4. Service to the community.

The Chair’s actions aim to strengthen narrative and normative sovereignties as well as to support effective practices of self-determination. The Chair pursues both the empowerment of First Peoples in research, excellence in research on the effective operationalization of the First Peoples' right to self-determination and the protection of Ancestral lands.

Dr. Ross-Tremblay and his team have as specific objectives to

• Protect threatened and marginalized oral archives, share with families the rich existing but unavailable stories of their Elders, and generate innovative self-archiving tools to support family and community narrative sovereignty;
• Accompany individuals, families, and communities in recording their memories, producing and socializing their stories, especially with youth, through the use of social memory technology;
• Conduct advanced studies on contemporary manifestations of psychological colonialism and abuses of power through the amplification of marginalized memories and voices, including the study of phenomena related to cultural forgetting (amnesiology) and ignorance (agnology) as barriers to intergenerational knowledge and land protection;
• To support processes of analysis and applied research related to the expansion of legal orders, ancestral sovereignties and conceptions of autonomy;
• To provide cutting-edge pro bono expertise in training, memory project management, strengthening and affirmation of ancestral legal orders, conflict prevention and management, diplomacy and complex problem solving.

The work of the Chair will prioritize research and training projects defined and implemented by, for and with First Peoples.

University Research Chair in Metis Family and Community Traditions 

This University Research Chair in Metis Family and Community Traditions builds directly on work undertaken during Brenda Macdougall’s 10-year term as Chair in Metis Research. This research program investigates how Metis kinscapes—relational constellations spread throughout an expansive geographic area—acted as epicenters of Plains Metis cultural florescence and sense of nationhood. By analyzing how Plains Metis buffalo hunters, called Otipaimsiwauk (people who were their own bosses) in Cree, articulated their sense of self through an array of social and political actions, this work will provide new insights into the evolution and qualities of their nationhood. 

Macdougall is, furthermore, engaging in new projects based on art practices rooted in traditions of material culture. This new research creation project is an extension of the kinscape research by marrying traditional values with contemporary engagement with our relatives across generations and gender-diverse peoples. This project explores how our people used clothing and adornment to introduce our spirit to our family, community, nation (human and non-human), and ultimately, to our ancestors, grandmothers and grandfathers, spirit helpers, the first Grandmother, and Creator. It seeks to answer one central question—how can we incorporate our authentic, spiritual selves into our work as a means to engage in decolonized Indigenization by contemplating how traditional teachings, ceremonial lodges, and societies function today and can model Indigenization and decolonization within the academy. Significantly, both projects are reflective of Plains Indigenous understandings of our own history and seek to provide a means for us to communicate in ways that reflect our values, knowledge, and beliefs. This research program contributes to uOttawa’s goal of advancing just societies, and by marrying Indigenous research methodologies with digital humanities technologies and research creation, it creates a new theoretical lens for investigating our traditional knowledge.

Franco-Ontarian communities and immigration: vitality, transformation and diversification

In light of political and community priorities accorded to Francophone immigration as a means of ensuring the vitality of Franco-Ontarian communities, it is essential to understand how established members of these communities perceive and experience the arrival of new and diverse populations. My research program will contribute to the advancement of empirical and conceptual knowledge on Franco-Ontarian communities by documenting socio-spatial dynamics and interactions between cultural groups in the unique context of these Francophone communities. The results will be used to develop recommendations for public policy and community practices that meet the needs of local Francophone communities.

OLBI Research Chair in Language Learning and Acquisition

The OLBI Research Chair in Language Learning and Acquisition is held by Dr. Christopher Fennell (2017-2022), associate professor in the School of Psychology and the Department of Linguistics. Dr. Fennell is a specialist in early word learning, infant bilingualism, and infant speech perception. Since his arrival at uOttawa in 2006, he has received significant research funding from SSHRC and NSERC, and is a founding member of the uOttawa Living Lab at the Canada Science and Technology Museum, in addition to serving as director of the Language Development Laboratory.

OLBI Mobility Research Chair in Bilingualism

Professor Zaidi's research highlights the power of diversity in advancing social justice, equity and inclusion, particularly within immigrant and transcultural contexts. Her works addresses the urgent need for more inclusivity literacy and language learning in Canada's multilingual, multi-ethnic classrooms, which have been significantly affected by the global refugee crises. 

Her efforts have led to province-wide recommendations to better support refugee and immigrant families navigating the education system. Through her latest literary works, including Transcultural Pedagogies for Multilingual Classrooms: Responding to Changing Realities in Theory & Practice & Literacy Lives in Transcultural Times, Professor Zaidi continues to influence educational practices and policies.

Research Chair in Technology-Mediated Language Learning and Artificial Intelligence

In an era where technology is reshaping education, Jérémie Séror is leading the way as the newly appointed Research Chair in Technology-Mediated Language Learning and Artificial Intelligence. His research delves into the transformative capabilities of generative AI for language education, notably its ability to provide personalized, adaptive learning experiences and its affordances for educators seeking to analyze and clarify for learners the unique linguistic patterns central to the texts they work with.

By integrating quantitative and qualitative data, the chair’s activities aim to document the real-world applications of these emerging technologies. Jérémie Séror is particularly interested in AI’s capacity to offer language-specific insights that can forge connections between students’ home languages and the new languages they are acquiring. This cross-linguistic approach enhances understanding while fostering plurilingual skills by prompting learners to draw on their full linguistic repertoire. A key objective will be to identify the competencies educators require to effectively integrate AI-driven tools into their teaching, while also mitigating potential risks.

In partnership with colleagues, research centres, and external partners, this research chair will not only further the strategic goals of OLBI but also contribute to broader policy development, enrich language education practises, and ensure the ethical and inclusive deployment of AI in language classrooms.

Research Chair in Language Policy

Nikolay Slavkov is a full professor at the Official Languages and Bilingualism Institute (OLBI). From 2017 to 2024, he also served as director of OLBI’s CCERBAL Research Centre. Professor Slavkov’s research on language policy revolves around family language policy and its intersections with language ideologies and the educational system. As famously noted by Bernard Spolsky, Family Language Policy (FLP) is a critical domain within the field of language policy, which has traditionally focused on nation-state or institutional policies. As such, there is agreement among researchers that more research is needed to enhance our understanding of language-related family dynamics, stances, and practices.

Professor Slavkov’s research emphasizes linguistic harmony and inclusion and explores official languages as well as heritage or minority languages in Canada. Through case studies, questionnaires, and interviews with families, he has examined the following: 1) how young children learn, forget (lose), and relearn (re-activate) languages; 2) what educational pathways and home language use strategies can be pursued by families in order to optimize children’s bilingual and multilingual outcomes; and 3) how individual language constellations are formed in children’s repertoires, depending on their unique migration, family, and educational trajectories. Prof. Slavkov’s research has also recently focused on language decolonization, taking a critical stance towards epistemologies of the Global North and shifting the gaze towards linguistic inclusion, acceptance, and social justice.