The Federation has been invited to nominate outstanding candidates from our community for the 2019 Governor General’s Innovation Awards, and we welcome recommendations from you, our members. Since 2016, we have had the privilege of being a nominating partner for these awards, and we were thrilled to see one of our nominees selected as a winner in 2017. I encourage you to read more about Marie-Odile Junker’s fascinating innovation story.
When considering whom we might nominate as an innovator, it’s important to note that there are some differences between innovation and research excellence. For these awards, innovation is understood as addressing a pressing problem with a solution that’s based on new thinking, and putting that solution into action. To recommend an individual candidate or a team, please send a short description (1,200 words maximum) to pseverinson@ideas.ca by September 14, 2018. In your description, please let us know how they meet the following award criteria:
• Extent to which the individual, team or organization has shown initiative and leadership to be agents of change in addressing a current issue about which they are passionate.
• Creative use of new knowledge and/or technology to develop ideas aimed at addressing contemporary social, economic or cultural challenges and solving real-world problems.
• Evidence of the successful implementation of these ideas, resulting in a positive impact beyond the nominee’s own community or organization.
• The degree to which the nominee and the activities undertaken have demonstrated inspiration, creativity, collaboration, risk-taking and problem-solving.
Federation staff will review the suggestions and select a shortlist of candidates. A committee made up of Federation Board members will select a maximum of four final nominees who will be invited to complete official submissions. Diversity will be an important consideration when we make our selections, and we encourage you to recommend candidates from underrepresented groups, including women, visible minorities, Indigenous peoples, and people with disabilities.
We strongly believe that the humanities and social sciences community is an important source of innovation, and we greatly appreciate your help in identifying colleagues whom we can recognize through these awards.
Sincerely,
Gabriel Miller
Executive Director
