{"id":79522,"date":"2022-07-19T14:01:00","date_gmt":"2022-07-19T18:01:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/?p=79522"},"modified":"2022-07-19T14:05:33","modified_gmt":"2022-07-19T18:05:33","slug":"tim-kenyon-reappointed-as-brocks-vice-president-research","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2022\/07\/tim-kenyon-reappointed-as-brocks-vice-president-research\/","title":{"rendered":"Tim Kenyon reappointed as Brock\u2019s Vice-President, Research"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past five years, Tim Kenyon\u2019s goal has remained consistent: to provide the supports necessary to help Brock University\u2019s researchers thrive.<\/p>\n<p>Brock\u2019s Vice-President, Research intends to continue building on that foundation as he embarks on his second five-year term in the role, effective Jan. 1, 2023.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBrock researchers have been doing amazing work for many years. More recently, the University has made real strides in its own attitude toward the prioritization of research,\u201d Kenyon says. \u201cI think what we\u2019ve seen, and what I\u2019ve been very proud to be a part of, is a team effort across campus to place research where it belongs: at the heart of the University\u2019s self-understanding, and its practices and policies.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Much of Kenyon\u2019s focus since beginning at Brock in January 2018 has been on putting support systems in place to help researchers reach new heights with their work.<\/p>\n<p>In years past, Brock\u2019s strong research performance stretched the University\u2019s infrastructure, policies, practices and supports. Updates and investments were required before an expansion was possible, he says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOn one hand, that was a great credit to the researchers themselves and to the support staff and research enterprise that went above and beyond to make that happen,\u201d he says. \u201cBut it meant there was no way to scale up \u2014 things were already stretched as far as they could go, and then some.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Work has since been underway to increase the University\u2019s research capacity, with the groundwork laid to continue that expansion into the future, Kenyon says.<\/p>\n<p>The results have seen Brock University continue to build momentum in the research landscape recently, with highlights that include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Setting a new institutional high for total research revenue in 2020-21.<\/li>\n<li>Brock <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2022\/01\/high-marks-for-brock-on-research-funding-national-report-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">ranking first<\/a> amongst universities in its cohort for corporate research income growth, with grants and contracts from corporate sources increasing 134.5 per cent from 2019 to 2020.<\/li>\n<li>Receiving three additional <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2022\/01\/brock-university-gains-four-new-canada-research-chairs-one-renewal\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Canada Research Chair<\/a> allocations since 2018, including a Tier One CIHR Chair, bringing the total number to 14.<\/li>\n<li>Increasing research intensity, including a 28 per cent increase in research outputs over 2020-21, as measured by SciVal data.<\/li>\n<li>Creating the <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/engineering\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Yousef Haj-Ahmad Department of Engineering<\/a>, opening new areas of impactful research at Brock.<\/li>\n<li>Inaugurating the <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2020\/02\/brock-linc-opening-signals-new-era-of-community-engagement-for-brock-university\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brock LINC<\/a> in the new Rankin Family Pavilion to support campus and community engagement with innovation, entrepreneurship and applied research and creativity.<\/li>\n<li>Launching the <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/vpmi\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Brock-Niagara Validating, Prototyping and Manufacturing Institute (VPMI)<\/a>in 2020, a $15-million project that includes a $5-million FedDev grant, providing advanced scientific equipment, partnership incentives and a major new research space to enhance the connections between Brock researchers and industry partners.<\/li>\n<li>Introducing significant institutional funds to <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/research-at-brock\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/73\/PortalsBlog.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">support research activities and expenses<\/a> ranging from major equipment needs to publication costs.<\/li>\n<li>Introducing the <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2021\/01\/brock-launches-its-first-indigenous-research-grant\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Indigenous Research Grant<\/a> as well as the <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2019\/08\/funding-available-for-canada-summer-games-research-and-scholarship\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">VPR Canada Games Grant<\/a> to support valuable areas of research and key elements of Brock\u2019s Institutional Strategic Plan.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The creation of the Indigenous Research Grant, which recently funded a <a href=\"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/2022\/06\/indigenous-research-grant-projects-to-explore-critical-issues\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">second round of projects<\/a>, is a prime example of how the Brock community is working to support the advancement of research at the University.<\/p>\n<p>The grant was created with the help of Indigenous colleagues from across the institution, who volunteered their time and insight to ensure the funding program was properly structured, Kenyon says.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWithout their involvement and commitment, it wouldn\u2019t have been possible,\u201d he says. \u201cThis grant has provided us with a real sense that we\u2019re starting to build something substantial \u2014 and this is the first step.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Engagement from across the University has also led to the overwhelming success of the Canada Games Grant, which saw Brock further enhance its research connection with the community.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Games have a storied history, but nothing like what\u2019s happening here at Brock has ever happened before with respect to the Games. The research and academic focus are unprecedented,\u201d Kenyon says. \u201cThat really illustrates the creativity and ambition of Brock researchers. As much as anything, I think my goal has been to help provide those opportunities to enable that creativity, that ambition and that engagement.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Looking forward at next steps for Brock research, Kenyon anticipates \u201cbringing in additional grant funding, building more partnerships to engage with our community in even richer ways and ensuring we\u2019ve got the capacity in place to enable that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe want to continue building research in the right way,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>He adds that in addition to providing new and existing researchers with the resources and opportunities they need to succeed, focus will also be placed on enriching the research experience for graduate students and postdoctoral fellows \u2014 key contributors to research at Brock.<\/p>\n<p>Brock\u2019s Interim President and Vice-Chancellor Lynn Wells thanked Kenyon for his continued contributions to enhancing research at the University.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThrough his leadership and vision, Tim Kenyon has done an excellent job of helping to shape Brock\u2019s strategic research direction over the past five years,\u201d she says. \u201cBrock has established itself as a comprehensive university whose researchers are creating positive change both in the local community and around the world, and there is limitless potential to continue growing that research impact as we look to the future.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the past five years, Tim Kenyon\u2019s goal has remained consistent: to provide the supports necessary to help Brock University\u2019s researchers thrive.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":38,"featured_media":79524,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[7484,7,3319,4052,1,5],"tags":[4742,8809,3325,5624],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79522"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/38"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79522"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79522\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79523,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79522\/revisions\/79523"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79524"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79522"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79522"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/brocku.ca\/brock-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79522"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}