Executive Summary

As a shared service, the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation (OVPRI) works to support SRC opportunity and excellence for the Ryerson research community. In the 2019-20 fiscal year, the OVPRI reported overall research funding revenues of $105.5 million, representing a 33% increase over the 2018-19 fiscal year. In March 2020, the Government of Canada launched rapid research funding competitions to address the COVID-19 outbreak, for which Ryerson received support in the first cohort of funded projects. This report provides a further overview, summarizing support across funding categories that include Tri-Council, federal, provincial, municipal, industry, foundations and non-governmental organizations.

During 2019-20, the university saw the launch of the 2020-2025 Strategic Research Plan which introduced Ryerson’s six new research themes that represent our strategic strengths and reflect the diverse scholarly, research and creative activities taking place across the institution.

Our faculty have continued to demonstrate academic leadership through excellence with the naming of a new Canada Research Chair, two new Industrial Research Chairs, five Early Researcher Awards, two Canada Research Chair renewals, and a number research funding firsts from both newly established funding programs like the Fund for Innovation and Transformation (FIT) and established programs like the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Foundation Grant.

In addition, programs such as Mitacs and the RBC Immigrant, Diversity & Inclusion Project have enabled faculty to establish or continue scholarship pipelines that create opportunities for undergraduate, graduate and post-graduate students to expand their own research training and gain fundamental experience. Likewise, Ryerson’s Zone Learning network of 10 campus-based incubators continued to nurture student-driven entrepreneurship, fostering innovation and inventions from health care to design fabrication, clean energy, digital technologies and science. This includes the DMZ, the number one ranked university-linked incubator in the world.

Ryerson researchers were lauded by the broader national and international community for their work through honours and accolades, and saw their published journal articles and conference papers cited by other researchers in 1,472 academic publications, an increase of 50.5% over the previous fiscal year. These achievements demonstrate the leadership of our researchers in their fields of inquiry and testify to the critical knowledge dissemination of their work amongst their peers.

Collaboration is essential to research, and support from our funding partners makes it possible for Ryerson to conduct its research mandate across all sectors. Ryerson's researchers continue to impact society through knowledge mobilization and the translation of innovative discoveries and new technologies. The OVPRI is pleased to highlight some of the scholarly, research and creative activities in the 2019-20 fiscal year that were carried out through this support.