![Research Chairs](/faculty-arts/sites/g/files/bhrskd366/files/styles/max_width_l_1470px/public/2022-02/20211012-BF-CAMPUS-SCENIC-STUDENTS-FALL-232.jpg?itok=Bs0oI8fW)
Research Chairs
Canada Research Chairs
![Lori Beaman](/faculty-arts/sites/g/files/bhrskd366/files/styles/max_width_l_1470px/public/2022-01/loribeaman_print_7892_1_1.jpg?itok=i5QdsGs_)
Lori Beaman
Canada Research Chair in Religious Diversity and Social Change
In today’s complex world, how can the religious and the nonreligious live well together? This is the primary question that Dr. Lori G. Beaman, Canada Research Chair in Religious Diversity and Social Change, is exploring.
Societies are grappling with a combination of increased religious diversity, a renewed presence of religion in the public sphere, and growing numbers of people who describe themselves as having no religion. Dr. Beaman’s research examines how the increase in those identifying as nonreligious is changing the religious landscape. The potential impact of this shift is profound, yet the contours of it have yet to be fully explored.
Dr. Beaman’s work examines issues that are deeply important to policy makers—in fields from education to health to law—who are seeking ways of responding to this new “normal” and the conflict it engenders. Given Canada’s history of global leadership on human rights, multiculturalism and diversity, it is well positioned to develop strategies to support a complex future that includes both diverse religious and nonreligious populations.
Understanding the range of interactions between these groups by mapping sites of conflict and negotiation is one task of this programme of research. Another is to discover how differences are negotiated or conflict is intensified. Ultimately, this research will identify non-conflictual approaches to diversities across the religion/nonreligion spectrum.
University Research Chairs
![Luke Copland](/faculty-arts/sites/g/files/bhrskd366/files/styles/max_width_l_1470px/public/2022-01/luke-copland-web.jpg?itok=4ZGNx_qp)
Luke Copland
University Research Chair in Glaciology
The central aim of my research program is to quantify and explain the connections between the dynamics, mass balance and recent changes of glaciers, ice caps, ice shelves and sea ice in northern Canada. Changes in surface melt can result in accelerated motion of glaciers and ice caps, potentially leading to accelerated loss of ice to the oceans. I am leading my research group to produce the first complete velocity map for all major glaciers and ice caps in the Canadian Arctic. In-depth studies at focus sites are assessing spatial and temporal variability in these motion patterns, and their connection to current and long-term mass balance and other climate (e.g., melt) and non-climate (e.g., surging) related forcings. Continued work on the ice shelves of Ellesmere Island is providing an assessment of their short-term and long-term changes in mass balance and evolution, while work on recent and projected sea ice changes is enabling an assessment of climate impacts on northern shipping (e.g., likelihood of Northwest Passage being available as a regular route). Together, this work is providing the information required by modelers and climate assessment reports to understand how the environment is changing in northern Canada, and to produce a baseline against which cryospheric changes can be evaluated in future phases of my research program.
Francophonie Research Chair
![Sylvie Grosjean](/faculty-arts/sites/g/files/bhrskd366/files/styles/max_width_l_1470px/public/2022-01/music-sylvie-grosjean_photo.jpg?itok=VdDQob72)
Sylvie Grosjean
International Francophonie Research Chair on Digital Health Technologies.
A researcher in the Department of Communication, Professor Grosjean is recognized for her expertise in the field of organizational and health communication. Her chair will aim to foster a better understanding of issues related to the use and design of digital health technologies, taking into account the specific challenges encountered in the francophone world. Building on the innovative co-design methodology she pioneered, Sylvie Grosjean will determine, among other things, social acceptability criteria that must integrated into the design of these technologies.
Endowed and Sponsored Research Chairs
![Mark Stolarik](/faculty-arts/sites/g/files/bhrskd366/files/styles/max_width_l_1470px/public/2022-01/mark_stolarik.jpg?itok=XEYusQyz)
Mark Stolarik
The Chair of Slovak History
The Chair in Slovak History and Culture at the University of Ottawa was founded in 1990 with gifts from Slovak communities in the Western Hemisphere and by a matching grant from the Secretary of State-Multiculturalism. Since then the first (and current) Chairholder, Dr. M. Mark Stolarik, has developed and taught courses in Slovak history, the history of Central Europe, and the history of immigration to North America. He has also developed the largest collection of Slovak library and archival materials in Canada and he has also established seven scholarship funds for students wishing to study Slovak history at the University of Ottawa. Meanwhile, the Chairholder also organized three international scholarly conferences on Slovak history at the University of Ottawa, and he edited and published their Proceedings. The Chairholder edits and publishes an annual Communique/Newsletter, in which he informs colleagues and the general public of the activities and achievements of the Chair.
ILOB Research Chairs
![Beverly Baker](/faculty-arts/sites/g/files/bhrskd366/files/styles/max_width_l_1470px/public/2024-05/Baker_headshot.jpg?itok=SWpIWOpx)
Beverly Baker
OLBI Research Chair in Language Assessment Literacy
The OLBI Chair in Language Assessment Literacy supports local, national and international collaborations on empirical research in language assessment literacy (LAL), as well as language assessment competency development. The chairholder, Beverly Baker, is currently engaged in LAL projects with three groups of stakeholders: university admissions decision makers, researchers and language teachers.
Language assessments are used for many purposes, including high-stakes decisions such as university admissions, professional certification and immigration. Stakeholders such as test takers, educators, policymakers and the general public may need a certain degree of LAL, depending on their role.
Some areas of activity
Language test scores for university admissions (local/national): Workshops have been delivered to uOttawa’s Undergraduate Admissions team, as well as graduate student admissions staff at six uOttawa faculties and units. Workshops are planned with admissions officers across the country, as well as a study of common conceptions and misconceptions about large-scale language testing. This work is being supported by members of OLBI’s Language Assessment Research Group (LARG).
Exploring profiles of researcher-teacher collaboration in language assessment literacy studies (international): Beverly Baker and colleagues Louis-David Bibeau (University of Montreal/OLBI) and Lynda Taylor (University of Bedfordshire) are collaborating on a study of current LAL research involving academic researchers and classroom teachers. Reviewing published research and using voice-based surveys of researchers, the team is examining the extent of community engagement in this research.
Workshops on English language teaching and assessment in Haiti (international): The chair, with local English teaching colleagues involved in the chairholder’s longstanding professional learning community project, will offer a hybrid training course for English language teaching and assessment for teachers in northern Haiti in May 2024.