The latest cohort of Concordia University Research Chairs (CURC) are advancing knowledge creation and mobilization at the forefront of their disciplines.
Selected from across all four faculties, and funded by the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Graduate Studies, the eight new chair holders will make significant contributions to areas of strategic importance at Concordia.
“The Concordia University Research Chair program plays a critical role in deepening our knowledge base, and in strengthening our teaching, the training of highly qualified personnel, and our research capacity,” says Christophe Guy, vice-president of Research and Graduate Studies.
“The CURCs contribute to the university's positioning in key areas of scholarly pursuit, and to the enhancement of the research training environment.”
Here are the eight new CURCs, and their areas of investigation and inquiry.
Theatre
Concordia University Research Chair in Performative Urbanism (New Scholar)
Shauna Janssen looks at ways in which art can contribute to critical urban issues. She makes inquiries into the kinds of spaces used by artists for their creative practice, and explores the relationship between performance, the spatial politics of urban change and the built environment.
Political Science
Concordia University Research Chair in the New Politics of Immigration (New Scholar)
In her work, Mireille Paquet looks at how government design and bureaucracy affect immigrant selection and civic integration. Her current research projects look at the new politics of immigration, and how contemporary Quebec and Canadian ministries are responding to emerging immigration issues.
Electrical and Computer Engineering
Concordia University Research Chair in Medical Image Analysis (New Scholar)
As a member of the PERFORM Centre, Hassan Rivaz looks at ways to improve medical image processing algorithms that help clinicians with detection and treatment. He also develops new healthcare-related image analysis techniques that integrate ultrasound and machine learning, among other technologies.
Marketing
Concordia University Research Chair in Psychology of Resource Scarcity (New Scholar)
Caroline Roux’s primary area of research explores resource scarcity and its effects on consumer cognition, judgment and behaviour. More broadly, her work focuses on better understanding how pro-social values and moral considerations influence consumer decision making.
Biology
Concordia University Research Chair in Population Biodiversity and Conservation (Tier 2)
Dylan Fraser investigates how species adapt to environmental change, notably through the interaction of ecology, evolution and genetics. His team is currently mapping the extent of population diversity in vertebrate species across the Americas in order to contribute to improved conservation strategies.
Marketing
Concordia University Research Chair in Consumer Psychology and Visual Marketing (Tier 1)
Bianca Grohmann looks at ways in which the sensory aspects of marketing — music, product scent and visual cues — elicit responses from shoppers. She regularly conducts laboratory and field studies that focus on consumer perceptions and behaviours.
Mechanical, Industrial and Aerospace Engineering
Concordia University Research Chair in Industry 4.0 (Tier 2)
Rolf Wüthrich’s research program focuses on developing novel manufacturing methods that meet the demands of Industry 4.0. He is particularly interested in processes that are able to produce very low batch sizes economically, including post-processing technologies for additive manufactured parts and novel procession glass micromachining technologies.
Psychology
Concordia University Research Chair in Developmental Cybernetics (Tier 1)
Diane Poulin-Dubois’s research program concerns early cognitive and language development, and how a child’s verbal skills predict future academic achievements. She also looks at early social cognition, assessing at what age and how children attribute expertise and mental states to others. Through her research, she aims to develop screening instruments for autism spectrum disorders.
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