What's New

Raymond Siemens,  Canada Research Chair in Humanities Computing
Distinguished Professor, University of Victoria

Q: As a researcher, what perspective do you expect to bring to the Board of CRKN?

On December 4, 2012, CRKN gave a well-received presentation to the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s (CFI) international panel of experts as the penultimate part of the POMS process. This process has been designed to assess the value and impact of CFI’s investments in research infrastructure. Initially CFI did not differentiate between more localized infrastructure development projects and national platform projects.  Over the years, this has created reporting challenges for CRKN and we are very pleased with the collaborative approach taken by CFI in developing a

Founded in 1971, MacEwan University has evolved to become a comprehensive degree-granting university. It now offers more than 60 programs including undergraduate degrees, applied degrees, diplomas, certificates, continuing education and corporate training. MacEwan University has four schools and faculties throughout Edmonton which serve nearly 14,000 full-time undergraduate students: the Faculty of Arts and Science, the Faculty of Health and Community Studies, the Centre for the Arts and Communications, and the School of Business.

Over the past two years CRKN has been working with CFI to refine the evaluation framework to be more applicable to a national platform. CRKN is now piloting the POMS framework and is preparing to present to the CFI international panel of experts on December 4, 2012. Owing to the nature of the pilot project, CFI has reviewed the CRKN report and has been encouraged with the scope and detail of evaluation that has been prepared. 

The CFI panel is comprised of five people, three of whom come from outside Canada:

The Cost-Sharing Advisory Group (CSAG) met on November 8, 2012.   The main areas of discussion included an update of the work plan, a review and interpretation of member feedback from the AGM Cost-Sharing session, and a discussion on issue identification.  The CSAG also had a focused discussion around planning of the December 6-7 in-person meeting in Vancouver.  That meeting will provide the opportunity for an in-depth exploration of the key cost-sharing issues and analysis of options.   CSAG decided that there will be another round of outreach to members to se

Interim Chair and Provost Emeritus, University of Calgary

Q: Under normal conditions, CRKN would select a Chair for 3 years. Tell us why you are taking the position for a one year term.

A: This is a transitional year in which we will attempt to balance some fresh new ideas from Clare Appavoo, our new Executive Director, and organizational memory in support of continuity. The Board evidently believed that having both a new Chair and a new ED at the same time would be too challenging. 

SCOAP3 – the Sponsoring Consortium for Open Access Publishing in Particle Physics – is preparing for a Launch Meeting to take place at CERN headquarters in Geneva on October 1, 2012.  The meeting will mark the successful completion of the SCOAP3 tendering process, resulting in 12 journals with 7 publishers for inclusion in the SCOAP3 initiative. 

CRKN has completed the Communications Outreach Encore 2012 to gather member input that will inform the strategic planning process. Members are invited to review the valuable information collected in three reports:

The Cost-Sharing Advisory Group (CSAG) met by teleconference on September 11, 2012.  The group reviewed several documents that resulted from the information gathering phase of its work: an analysis of cost-sharing at CRKN (history, decisions, rationale), a license inventory, a survey of cost-sharing practices in other consortia, and themes coming out of the initial outreach to members by the Advisory Group.  The group finalized plans for the session “Cost-Sharing: Past, Present and Future” to be held at CRKN’s upcoming AGM.   The session will include pr

The Negotiations Resource Team (NRT) met via teleconference on September 12, 2012.  The main topics of discussion included planning for Big Deal related projects, session planning for the AGM, meeting planning for 2013, and the 2012 license renewal progress report. Read more.