U of T is the Place
VP Message
U of T is the place where researchers, innovators, and entrepreneurs are extending the boundaries of knowledge, helping to answer the planet’s most pressing questions, and turning their ideas into inventive solutions, products, services, and companies that boost the Canadian economy, enhance the delivery of public services and improve lives around the world.
The extraordinary breadth and depth of academic distinction across our three campuses and partner hospitals is visible in the local, national, and global impact of the research and scholarship that goes on here. Once again, U of T ranks among the top five universities in the world that excel across a broad range of disciplines, and we’re Canada’s most innovative university. Our impressive performance is a reflection of the excellence of our faculty, students, and postdoctoral fellows and their collaborations with leading researchers, innovators and institutions worldwide. It is also a testament to the strength of our partnered research and our continued enhancement of resources that support the U of T community, such as the recent renewal of infrastructure at SciNet, Canada’s largest supercomputer centre. Our Canada Research Chairs (CRCs) allocation, the highest in the country (275) by a substantial number, and set to grow to 315 by 2020-21 with the additional CRCs announced in Federal Budget 2018, is one of many examples of U of T’s impressive performance.
Excellence is only achieved when everyone is welcome in the classroom, the lab and the field. Equity, diversity and inclusion strengthen the quality, relevance and impact of research and training. We continue to work with the broader university community to implement equitable and inclusive measures to attract and retain diverse and excellent researchers, innovators and entrepreneurs among faculty members, trainees, and staff, and to integrate equity, diversity and inclusion principles within the university’s research and innovation activities. We continue to support engagement and inclusive collaboration with peer institutions and a diverse array of community, industry, and government partners. And we continue to create and refine our tools, policies, best practices, and procedures to facilitate research and innovation that embodies the highest standards of ethics, integrity, and accountability.
U of T has a critical mass of world-leading, multidisciplinary expertise in important emerging research and education fields, and we are supporting a variety of cross-divisional, excellence-driven initiatives that will bring together that expertise in a way that will have local, national and global impact. In partnership with the University of Toronto Libraries and the university’s Chief Information Officer, we are establishing a Centre for Research & Innovation Support (CRIS), which will provide a single, visible hub where faculty can learn about and easily access the rich and complementary ecosystem of services, training, research tools, and expertise offered across the university, so that our scholars and learners have everything they need to advance understanding and solve real-world problems.
Sincerely,
Vivek Goel
Vice-President, Research and Innovation
2018 VPRI Annual Report
Managing Editor: Ken Meiklejohn.
Data and Analyses Editor: Maya Collum.
Contributors: Everyone in the Division of the VPRI, most particularly Shaun Young, Deborah Buehler, Helen Lasthiotakis, Stephannie Roy, and José Sigouin.
Design: Clear Space
Leadership in Research & Innovation
U of T is among the most influential universities in the world with exceptional research across a breadth of disciplines, and is an innovation and entrepreneurship powerhouse.
Engagement & Impact
Addressing societal issues by engaging with communities, organizations, and companies and maximizing the impact of U of T research by mobilizing it into society and facilitating its use.
Equity, Diversity & Inclusion
A commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion is central to U of T’s public mission as well as its devotion to the pursuit of excellence.
Student Experience
Research intensity and breadth, entrepreneurship, and research-informed pedagogy enhances our educational mission and positions us as the top destination.
Serving the U of T Community
Enabling an environment that supports our researchers, scholars, and learners to do what they do best—advance understanding and apply new knowledge.
By the Numbers
The indicators speak for themselves: U of T is the place for researchers to lead, learn, engage, influence, deliver, have impact, and win. The VPRI is the place that empowers researchers to shine in a safe, fiscally responsible, diverse, equitable, and inclusive environment.