City : Ottawa

Category : Contract

Industry : Education

Employer : University of Ottawa

The University of Ottawa—A crossroads of cultures and ideas

The University of Ottawa is home to a dynamic community of over 50,000 students, faculty and staff, who live, work and study in both French and English. Our campus is a crossroad of cultures and ideas, where bold minds come together to inspire game-changing ideas. We believe in the power of representation, and that increasing the diversity of our faculty and staff supports this objective. Our goal is to provide students with the best possible learning experience, in an environment that reflects the diversity of its people, their ideas, and their identities. 

We are one of Canada’s top 10 research universities—our professors and researchers explore new approaches to today’s challenges. One of a handful of Canadian universities ranked among the top 200 in the world, we attract exceptional thinkers and welcome diverse perspectives from across the globe. Our employees come together around the shared purpose of constant improvement, personal development, service excellence, teamwork and a passion for learning with a desire to make uOttawa and the world a better place. Everyone's contributions are valued, we all play a part in making uOttawa a world-class institution. Most importantly, we make it possible for you to achieve your full potential. Because at uOttawa, you belong!

*This position may be eligible for a telework arrangement. Learn more about our telework guidelines click here

About the faculty/service: Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation:

The Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation sets the strategic direction and oversees the administration of the University of Ottawa’s research enterprise, including funding, equipment and facilities, international collaborations, partnerships and business development.

Position purpose:

Reporting to the Vice-President, Research and Innovation, provides vision, senior leadership, and strategic direction to the Brain-Heart Interconnectome Initiative (BHI) whose goal is to improve brain-heart health for Canadians based on excellence in connected science, state-of-the-art prevention and care, and economic dividends. The Senior Director will ensure that the initiative achieves its objectives and positions Canada as a world leader in this new area.

Working in consultation and collaboration with the BHI co-Scientific Directors who provide scientific leadership, the Senior Director is responsible for ensuring strong governance, overseeing the delivery of national research and knowledge mobilization programs, the development of world-class brain and heart research expertise and capabilities and the training of the next generation in an inclusive, multi-partnered environment in which stakeholder views and needs are respected.

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

• Leads strategic planning and management activities such as preparation of strategic, financial communications, and implementation plans and development and nurturing of key partnership and business relations in order to ensure that BHI achieves its objectives and maximizes its impact.
• Directs operational planning and management, including establishing the Secretariat and overseeing operational plans and budgets, ensuring smooth BHI operations, and effective staff performance to ensure alignment of activities with BHI strategic directions and investment decisions.
• Leads financial management of the BHI budget, ensuring optimal allocation to achieve BHI objectives. Ensures all financial reporting requirements are met and that grant funds are used in compliance with funder requirements.
• Directs the organization and delivery of BHI research, knowledge mobilization and training programs. Ensures that the review and selection of projects is transparent and that conflicts of interest are managed.
• Supports effective governance models to ensure accountability to funders and partners by advising on models and ensuring that structures and processes are sound and transparent, and that decisions reflect broad perspectives and inclusive approaches.

What you will bring:

• Advanced degree, preferably PhD or Master, in life sciences; health professions, management or related field
• Significant experience (at least 15 years) leading multidisciplinary teams in an academic or research environment OR an equivalent combination of education and work experience
• The ability to successfully manage human, financial, and physical infrastructure resources and to establish strong governance mechanisms;
• The ability to work effectively across the ecosystem including academia, hospital research institutes, health delivery institutions, patients, professional organizations, NGOs, government and industry;
• An understanding of academic and applied aspects of research, including issues related to funding and grants, the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, and the translation of research ideas into policy, practice and products;
• Experience seeking and securing external sources of revenue, and including strategies for fundraising;
• The ability to be persuasive in dealing with diverse constituents, both internally and externally, and to create a sense of common purpose that transcends individual interests;
• Personal qualities such as openness, the willingness to listen to alternate points of view and genuinely encourage dialogue around difficult issues, the courage to be innovative, strong advocacy skills, and excellent communication skills;
• Experience in implementing equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policies and practices in real world settings, and understands the principles of engagement with Indigenous peoples;
• Strong relationship-building skills - including an ability to balance collegiality with difficult decision-making – and a demonstrated ability to work successfully with a wide variety of individuals representing a variety of viewpoints;
• A strong international presence—articulate, passionate, energetic, and highly visible—with the ability to interact easily and effectively with a variety of audiences (media, government, business, academia), and motivate and inspire others to support and participate in the BHI initiatives.
• Passive bilingualism (English and French)

Key Competencies at uOttawa:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa: 

Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realise an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

#LI-Hybrid

The University of Ottawa—A crossroads of cultures and ideas

The University of Ottawa is home to a dynamic community of over 50,000 students, faculty and staff, who live, work and study in both French and English. Our campus is a crossroad of cultures and ideas, where bold minds come together to inspire game-changing ideas. We believe in the power of representation, and that increasing the diversity of our faculty and staff supports this objective. Our goal is to provide students with the best possible learning experience, in an environment that reflects the diversity of its people, their ideas, and their identities. 

We are one of Canada’s top 10 research universities—our professors and researchers explore new approaches to today’s challenges. One of a handful of Canadian universities ranked among the top 200 in the world, we attract exceptional thinkers and welcome diverse perspectives from across the globe. Our employees come together around the shared purpose of constant improvement, personal development, service excellence, teamwork and a passion for learning with a desire to make uOttawa and the world a better place. Everyone's contributions are valued, we all play a part in making uOttawa a world-class institution. Most importantly, we make it possible for you to achieve your full potential. Because at uOttawa, you belong!

*This position may be eligible for a telework arrangement. Learn more about our telework guidelines click here

About the faculty/service: Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation:

The Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation sets the strategic direction and oversees the administration of the University of Ottawa’s research enterprise, including funding, equipment and facilities, international collaborations, partnerships and business development.

Position purpose:

Reporting to the Vice-President, Research and Innovation, provides vision, senior leadership, and strategic direction to the Brain-Heart Interconnectome Initiative (BHI) whose goal is to improve brain-heart health for Canadians based on excellence in connected science, state-of-the-art prevention and care, and economic dividends. The Senior Director will ensure that the initiative achieves its objectives and positions Canada as a world leader in this new area.

Working in consultation and collaboration with the BHI co-Scientific Directors who provide scientific leadership, the Senior Director is responsible for ensuring strong governance, overseeing the delivery of national research and knowledge mobilization programs, the development of world-class brain and heart research expertise and capabilities and the training of the next generation in an inclusive, multi-partnered environment in which stakeholder views and needs are respected.

In this role, your responsibilities will include:

• Leads strategic planning and management activities such as preparation of strategic, financial communications, and implementation plans and development and nurturing of key partnership and business relations in order to ensure that BHI achieves its objectives and maximizes its impact.
• Directs operational planning and management, including establishing the Secretariat and overseeing operational plans and budgets, ensuring smooth BHI operations, and effective staff performance to ensure alignment of activities with BHI strategic directions and investment decisions.
• Leads financial management of the BHI budget, ensuring optimal allocation to achieve BHI objectives. Ensures all financial reporting requirements are met and that grant funds are used in compliance with funder requirements.
• Directs the organization and delivery of BHI research, knowledge mobilization and training programs. Ensures that the review and selection of projects is transparent and that conflicts of interest are managed.
• Supports effective governance models to ensure accountability to funders and partners by advising on models and ensuring that structures and processes are sound and transparent, and that decisions reflect broad perspectives and inclusive approaches.

What you will bring:

• Advanced degree, preferably PhD or Master, in life sciences; health professions, management or related field
• Significant experience (at least 15 years) leading multidisciplinary teams in an academic or research environment OR an equivalent combination of education and work experience
• The ability to successfully manage human, financial, and physical infrastructure resources and to establish strong governance mechanisms;
• The ability to work effectively across the ecosystem including academia, hospital research institutes, health delivery institutions, patients, professional organizations, NGOs, government and industry;
• An understanding of academic and applied aspects of research, including issues related to funding and grants, the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, and the translation of research ideas into policy, practice and products;
• Experience seeking and securing external sources of revenue, and including strategies for fundraising;
• The ability to be persuasive in dealing with diverse constituents, both internally and externally, and to create a sense of common purpose that transcends individual interests;
• Personal qualities such as openness, the willingness to listen to alternate points of view and genuinely encourage dialogue around difficult issues, the courage to be innovative, strong advocacy skills, and excellent communication skills;
• Experience in implementing equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) policies and practices in real world settings, and understands the principles of engagement with Indigenous peoples;
• Strong relationship-building skills - including an ability to balance collegiality with difficult decision-making – and a demonstrated ability to work successfully with a wide variety of individuals representing a variety of viewpoints;
• A strong international presence—articulate, passionate, energetic, and highly visible—with the ability to interact easily and effectively with a variety of audiences (media, government, business, academia), and motivate and inspire others to support and participate in the BHI initiatives.
• Passive bilingualism (English and French)

Key Competencies at uOttawa:
Here are the required competencies for all or our employees at uOttawa: 

Planning: Organize in time a series of actions or events in order to realise an objective or a project. Plan and organize own work and priorities in regular daily activities.
Initiative: Demonstrate creativity and initiative to suggest improvements and encourage positive results. Is proactive and self-starting. Show availability and willingness to go above and beyond whenever it is possible.
Client Service Orientation: Help or serve others to meet their needs. This implies anticipating and identifying the needs of internal and external clients and finding solutions on how to meet them.
Teamwork and Cooperation: Cooperate and work well with other members of the team to reach common goal(s). Accept and give constructive feedback. Able to adjust own behaviour to reach the goals of the team.

#LI-Hybrid