This text is part of the special section Relève en recherche
The Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM) is continuing its efforts to ensure greater equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in its research units. In particular, it has adopted a plan to make its holders of Canada Research Chairs (CRC) more representative.
Christian Agbobli has been acting as Vice-Rector for Research, Creation and Distribution at UQAM since July 2020. For him, EDI is part of the institution’s DNA. “UQAM was founded in 1969 to democratize access to higher education and research,” he recalls. The current desire to open up research activities to under-represented groups is in the same vein. “
He considers diversity as a major asset in research, which allows the confrontation of ideas, which is beneficial in the production of new knowledge. The presence of researchers of different genres, origins and profiles also reduces the risk of seeing subjects or populations forgotten in the research themes.
What is true for research is also true for research training. Since the early 1980s, UQAM’s Community Service (SAC) has been promoting links between academics and active partners in the field such as community groups, women’s groups and unions. It relies on an important student component. Thanks to him, students were able, for example, to document the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic on the daily lives of residents of Montreal-North.
“UQAM wants to be close to the community and its researchers and students alike carry out many research projects in the field,” explains Christian Agbobli. They therefore go themselves to meet the diversity of beliefs, values, principles and backgrounds that exist in our communities. “
National momentum
The under-representation of certain populations in the granting of CRCs was the subject of strong criticism quite quickly after the creation of the Canada Research Chairs Program (PCRC) in 2000. An official complaint addressed to the organization in 2003 had even led to a first agreement, of which interpretation problems however reduced the scope. In May 2017, the PCRC finally adopted a comprehensive EDI plan.
This plan encouraged universities to develop their own action plan and proposed targets to be reached in 2019 for four groups among CRC holders, namely women, visible minorities, people with disabilities and members of the indigenous nations. All these objectives have been raised for 2029.
This is not at all about compromising on the level of excellence of the candidates, but rather recognizing that, for a long time, we had a fairly narrow view of what constituted excellence as well as the means of achieving it. measure
In November 2020, UQAM presented its own action plan. The institution was already meeting and sometimes even exceeding the targets set by the PCRC for 2019. It also added a fifth group, LGBTQ2 +. This addition comes in the wake of the signing, in August 2019, of the Dimensions Charter, a way of recognizing that this community can also face discriminatory obstacles.
The plan includes several measures and courses of action. Among the most important, UQAM is committed to better define the stages of the hiring process for teaching staff as well as the pursuit of their careers. It also promises to grant its available CRCs as a priority to people from under-represented groups.
Treat the problem at the root
UQAM intends to work on two institutional elements which partly explain the under-representation of certain groups in research chairs: the lack of diversity in the faculty – the main recruitment pool for CRC holders – and the selection criteria for CRC holders.
“This is not at all about making compromises on the level of excellence of the candidates, but rather recognizing that, for a long time, we had a rather narrow vision of what constituted excellence as well as of the means to measure it, ”says Christian Agbobli. According to him, this automatically excluded several good candidates who had an atypical profile or expertise.
Across Canadian universities, both nominations and chairholdings by representatives of the four target groups have increased dramatically since the adoption of the plan by the PCRC in 2017. The 2019 targets have been overwhelmingly higher. achieved, which seems to indicate a fairly high level of adherence.
“At UQAM, not only do our communities subscribe to these necessary changes, but they have seized upon them, for example by creating EDI committees in faculties, departments and student associations,” notes Christian Agbobli. Change is not imposed from above, everyone believes in it. “