Research Services Office

Provides operational leadership to ACS’s ethics and compliance mandate, provides veterinary clinical care and support to researchers, facility veterinarians, facility managers and staff; assists investigators in developing Animal Utilization Protocols (AUP); provides operational leadership of the Animal User Training program, and acts as veterinary expertise in the post-approval activities.

Leads development of systems to evaluate and report on all aspects of the University’s research performance by collecting, synthesizing, curating, and conducting analysis of research performance data from internal and external sources. Provides intelligence on research performance within the University. Oversees analytics process of the research enterprise.

Provides clinical veterinary care and services in working with researchers and facilities; assists investigators in developing Animal Utilization Protocols (AUP); works to maintain high animal welfare standards and refinement in anesthesia, analgesia, surgery and other medical procedures; develops facility wide SOPs and guidance documents in the Post-Approval Review (PAR) program.

Provides a broad range of information technology support including: assisting with implementing, monitoring, updating and maintaining IT systems, software and solutions, including the website; diagnosing and solving end-user and IT problems related; and responding to requests for assistance, taking appropriate steps to resolve and alleviate problems to ensure continued services.

Leads the expansion of the use of RSO technologies, including RAIMS in sustainment. Leads business process analysis, the integration of change management throughout the management of projects and the provision of exceptional help desk support services to end users of RSO systems.

Responsible for the overall administration of a training, education and quality assurance monitoring program for research involving human participants. Shares ethics expertise, privacy knowledge and best practices with research areas. Leads the design and delivery of educational and training sessions, in addition to developing policies and procedures that comply with ethical standards of the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct of Research Involving Humans, 2nd Edition (TCPS2).

Leads the Animal Care Committee (ACC) facility site visits, coordinates the provincial inspections by Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Agribusiness (OMAFA) and manages the Canadian Council on Animal Care (CCAC) assessment visits and ongoing reporting; acts as liaison between the animal facilities/research centres and the Animal Care Committee.

Provides advice and leadership to integrate EDI and indigenization into the research enterprise. Leads the implementation of strategic projects to advance EDI and indigenization in research, such as those identified in the Indigenous Initiatives Strategy. Supports researchers from all disciplines to ask critical questions and incrementally advance EDI and indigenization over time. Builds networks of collaborators across campus to continue building a culture where EDI and Indigenization considerations are foundational in the development of research teams and research design.

Coordinates all aspects of the Research Ethics Board (REB) review process for research involving human participants. Conducts proficient, critical reviews of protocols to ensure the highest ethical standards are met, as captured in the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct of Research Involving Humans, 2nd Edition (TCPS2). Provides guidance to researchers, as well as administrative support to the REB-General and REB-Natural, Physical and Engineering Sciences.

Provides administrative leadership for strategic research and infrastructure programs including Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Ministry of Colleges, Universities, Research Excellence and Security (MCURES), Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE), Canada Research Chairs (CRC), Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) and major prestigious research honours and awards, such as Royal Society of Canada (RSC), Trudeau Foundation, Killam, and others.

Responsible for administrative review of research proposals, as well as negotiation of research agreements for agencies and sponsors such as NSERC (Alliance, CREATE), CIHR Team Grants, and interdisciplinary calls (New Frontiers in Research Fund – Exploration Grants, special calls), and non-standard collaborative or service research agreements, sub-agreements, and amendments.

First point of contact for submission of and initial processing of research grant and award applications, including OR5 Forms, and research contractual agreements.  Patti will inform researchers to whom their submission is assigned within the Research Services Office for further review and processing. 

Administrative leadership for the Research Support Services (Grants and Contracts) unit. Responsible for managing all aspects of pre-award and non-financial post-award grants and agreements, including developing and recommending policies/guidelines for an efficient administrative operation. Responsible for oversight of pre-award compliance with federal, provincial and private agency guidelines and regulations.

Provides operational leadership and managerial oversight within the Research Services Office and strategic support to the Associate Vice-President (Research Services).  Responsible for planning, priority setting, operational performance and relationships with key internal and external stakeholders.

Provides operational leadership of the Post-Approval Review (PAR) program in accordance with CCAC guidelines; oversees compliance of facility site visits and regulatory inspections; provides veterinary clinical care and welfare assessments in support to researchers, facility veterinarians, and facility staff; assists researchers in developing Animal Utilization Protocols (AUP); instructs in the Animal User Training program.

Provides administrative and logistical support for strategic research and infrastructure programs including Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities, Canada Research Chairs (CRC), Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC), Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) and University of Guelph Major Proposal Development Grants (MPDG).   Also provides pre-award application support (i.e., administrative review of proposals) and non-financial post-award services to researchers for various Sponsors.

Administrative leadership for the development and delivery of the University of Guelph’s research ethics review process for research projects involving human participants and compliance with Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct of Research Involving Humans, 2nd Edition (TCPS 2) and related legal requirements involving privacy and personal information. Administrative leadership for the Research Ethics Board (REB) and research ethics training.