From Joy Johnson | Dugan O’Neil appointed SFU's next Vice-President, Research and International

Dear faculty and staff of SFU,

I am pleased to announce that the Board of Governors has approved the appointment of professor Dugan O’Neil as Vice-President, Research and International (VPRI) beginning July 1, 2021. After a robust search process and community consultation in accordance with GP29, the VPRI search committee recommended Dugan for appointment to the position.

The VPRI is a full-time leadership role with overall responsibility for academic leadership in, and administration of, research and other scholarly activities at SFU. It is also responsible for developing and supporting SFU’s international engagement strategies and activities related to research.

Since his appointment as the VPRI pro tem last year, Dugan has facilitated research excellence by leading strategic research initiatives and collaborated with SFU faculty members and students to ensure they have the support and resources required to conduct cutting-edge research in all its forms.

Dugan served as SFU’s Associate Vice-President, Research (AVPR) from 2017-2020, working to advance the university’s research mission. As AVPR, he led strategic initiatives including Big Data and oversaw the roll-out of the Core Facilities Program. As a faculty member in the Department of Physics, he spearheaded SFU’s advanced research computing (ARC) efforts since 2010, including the installation of Cedar, one of Canada’s most powerful academic supercomputers.

I want to take a moment to thank all of those who participated in the community consultation, and share my appreciation to my fellow members of the search committee for being a part of this important process.

Please join me in congratulating Dugan O’Neil on his new role. I look forward to continuing working together as he strengthens SFU’s reputation as a world-leading research university.

Sincerely,

Joy Johnson
President and Vice-Chancellor
Simon Fraser University