Canada Tier 2 Research Chair

The Opportunity

The School of Interactive Arts & Technology (SIAT) at Simon Fraser University (SFU) invites applications for a Tier 2 Canada Research Chair (CRC) in Technological Change for Inclusion. This tenure-track position is intended for applicants with an exceptional research record at the Assistant or Associate Professor level. The anticipated start date of this position is Fall 2023 or as negotiated. As a technology research-focused school that occupies the traditional territories of the Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw), Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm), Tsleil-Waututh (səlil̓ w̓ətaʔɬ), Katzie, and Kwikwetlem (kʷikʷəƛ̓əm) peoples, SIAT aspires to create a space for reconciliation through dialogue and decolonizing practices. With these aspirations in mind, we invite applicants whose research aims to create opportunities that foster inclusion, justice, equality, equity, and wellbeing through critical uses of emerging technologies.

While technological advances aim to improve our quality of life, they often perpetuate and reproduce long-standing structural and systemic social injustices and inequalities. SIAT acknowledges the urgency for critical research in issues such as systemic racism, social inequity, and decoloniality that advocate for inclusion and justice in technology, and we acknowledge our challenges in meeting these needs.  The successful applicant will join us in advancing technological change for inclusion, especially in an area for change that we see as a priority in SIAT. This includes critical algorithm studies and algorithmic bias, intersectional and decolonial approaches to technology, and climate justice or labour at the intersection of technological innovation. We are also open to other related programs of research that address the goals of technological change for inclusion.

The Canada Research Chairs Program stands at the centre of a national strategy to foster research excellence in Canada and improve our depth of knowledge and quality of life, strengthen Canada's international competitiveness, and help train the next generation of highly skilled people through student supervision.  The applicant’s research area should primarily align with the mandate of the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) or Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), as outlined in the Guidelines for Selecting the Appropriate Federal Granting Agency.

About the School of Interactive Arts & Technology

SIAT is a diverse group of anthropologists, artists, cognitive scientists, computer scientists, dancers, designers, historians, and neuroscientists who value innovative and collaborative approaches to teaching, research, creation, and knowledge production. We are a collective of research, teaching, art, and literary award winners, internationally exhibited artists, keynote speakers, and recognized fellows in art, science, technology, and teaching societies and associations.

We work together in experimenting with knowledge creation through our collaborative acts of production, research, and practice. We commit to fostering a diverse, equitable, and inclusive community where all feel welcome, safe, accepted, and appreciated in learning, teaching, research, and work.

SIAT is also home to internationally recognized labs and institutes that situate our research within diverse collaborative contexts and methodologies. Our SIAT research collective includes research in transdisciplinary SFU institutes such as the Chronic Pain Institute, Vancouver Institute of Visual Analytics, and the Digital Democracies Institute. Our research and pedagogical impacts extend beyond our school, reaching across the university to connect worldwide partners, as exemplified in hosting the Dutch and Italia international design field schools and engaging in joint professorships through the Eindhoven University of Technology. Our faculty and undergraduate research and partnerships include collaborations with Indigenous organizations, communities, and cultural institutions and pedagogical innovations such as our Semester in Alternate Realities, which challenges students to design meaningful immersive experiences for the betterment of humanity and our planet.

SIAT is based on SFU’s Surrey Campus and part of the Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology (FCAT). SlAT offers degrees at Bachelor's, Master's, and Doctoral levels. The School is home to about 800 undergraduates and 110 Ph.D. and Masters's graduate students, 31 faculty members, and 12 professional staff members. SFU’s five campuses are located in the Metro Vancouver area, which is frequently ranked as one of the most livable areas in the world.

SFU is consistently ranked as Canada's best comprehensive university by Macleans Educational rankings, including for 2022.  In the 2020 Times Higher Education Impact Rankings, SFU was ranked in the top 20 innovative universities worldwide for social, economic, and environmental impact.  Also, recently the Times Higher Education Worldwide University Rankings ranked SFU #46 on the sustainable development goals ranking, reaching #5 in the category of peace, justice, and strong institutions, #6 in sustainable cities and communities, and #7 in climate action.

The Successful Applicant

Tier 2 Canada Research Chair positions are intended for emerging scholars who have completed their highest degree less than ten years ago; applicants who are more than ten years from their highest degree that have experienced career breaks, such as maternity or parental leave, extended sick leave, clinical training, and family care, may have their eligibility assessed through the program’s Tier 2 justification process. If you have questions related to your eligibility for the position, please contact the committee chair (Dr. Thecla Schiphorst siat_dir@sfu.ca ; cc: dseciat@sfu.ca)

Tier 2 CRCs are tenable for five years and may be renewed once. In addition to national and international recognition, the position offers salary top-ups, teaching releases, and additional research funding.  The successful candidate must hold a PhD by the employment start date; however, PhD candidates with solid indication of imminent completion may be hired at the rank of Instructor and will be promoted to the rank of Assistant Professor upon completion of the PhD.

The Successful Candidate

The successful candidate will be asked to:

• Mobilize, lead and sustain an impactful research program or creative-practice that contributes nationally and internationally, obtain successful and significant research and/or production funding to support collaborative research and post-doctoral fellows and graduate students
  
• Teach courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels. Support and foster innovative approaches to learning and curriculum development, including the integration of equity, diversity, and inclusion within the curriculum
• Join colleagues in service to the school, faculty, and university governance, and community building

SFU recognizes that alternative career paths and/or career interruptions (e.g., maternity leave, leave due to illness) can impact research achievements and commits to ensuring that leaves are taken into careful consideration. Candidates are encouraged to highlight how alternative paths and/or interruptions have impacted them in their application. SFU also recognizes the value of mentoring and research training, outreach, professional service, and nontraditional areas of research/practice and/or research outputs; demonstrated experience in promoting and increasing diversity and inclusion in the previous institutional environment and in the curriculum is also an asset.