In keeping with the Faculty of Arts Building Belonging Action Plan, we are committed to supporting voices for equity, diversity, and inclusivity within the University. We seek scholars whose presence and research will contribute to transformational knowledge-building approaches at uOttawa.
The Faculty’s research strengths cluster around a set of themes that cut across disciplinary boundaries. Decolonization, racism and inequity, health and wellness, technological change, and environmental sustainability are but a few of the challenges that demand creative thinking from Arts disciplines. Our researchers are at the forefront of both fundamental and applied knowledge creation, developing complex understandings of past and present issues of domestic and international significance.
Arts without Borders Fellows will pursue their own projects that integrate ideas and scholarship across disciplines. In this vein, they will assume leadership roles with respect to diversity and critical perspectives on equity and inclusion that are intrinsic to knowledge creation and transfer. Working with faculty members who will assume a mentorship role, Fellows will contribute to coordinating and encouraging collaborative research activities within the Faculty. In addition , Fellows will support teams that use an array of methodologies to examine interdisciplinary research questions. Fellows may be involved in activities that range from project conceptualization and grant writing to knowledge dissemination.
The following areas of inquiry will drive this research activity (specific elements are illustrative rather than prescriptive):
Digital Cultures: visualization and narrative in digital media; ethics and practices of digital citizenship; open and big data research; data regimes and the politics of digital difference.
Les Francophonies en mutation: literary approaches in French to understanding social and cultural change; critical and creative musical, literary and artistic practices; global forces driving internal change within francophone communities; histories of social, economic, cultural and political practices.
Rights and Human Mobility: migration, diaspora and refuge-seeking; land claims and sovereignty practices; conflict, displacement and climate change; gender, sexuality and forced migration; settlement challenges and durable solutions; borders and surveillance practices in flux.
Creating Sustainable Futures: resilient design in cities; housing, density, crowding and health; climate change and adaptation; transportation systems and social equity; environmental justice.
Ideal candidates will demonstrate their ideas and capacity for sustaining conversations across conventional disciplinary boundaries. We especially value—across all themes—scholarship that poses new questions and methodologies, engages with communities, and connects to audiences inside and outside the academy.
Fellowships terms
Amount: $70,000/year in salary.
Eligibility: Recently completed PhD.
Duration: Two years (1 September-31 August).
Fellows will work closely with leading researchers in the Faculty who have overlapping expertise. Guidance and mentorship will focus on developing professional networks, building research teams for collaborative projects, and securing multi-year grants. Fellows are expected to live in the national capital region.
Fellows in Arts without Borders will receive practical support comprising:
- On-campus office space;
- Administrative support;
- Library privileges and support from library research staff;
- Opportunities to present and workshop their research with the uOttawa community;
- Assistance from the Faculty Senior Research Advisor in preparing funding applications; and
- University Health Insurance Plan (UHIP), if applicable.
To apply, please compile the following documents into a single PDF file and send it to the Vice-Dean of Research in the Faculty of Arts, Dr. Brian Ray: Vice-Doyen.Recherche.Arts.Vice-Dean.Research@uottawa.ca
Cover letter that describes your current research;
- A one-page description of how your research as a New Scholar in Arts without Borders will engage one of the themes outlined above and your approach to collaborative research;
- Curriculum vita; and
- Names and contact information for three references.
This program follows the provisions for a special program as described in Section 14 of the Ontario Human Rights Commission to address underrepresentation of BIPOC scholars within the Faculty. We request that applicants self-identify as Black, Indigenous, or other Persons of Colour (or, as belonging to multiple communities) in their cover letter. This information will be available only to the members of a search committee convened specifically for the New Scholars in Arts without Borders initiative.
Applications will be accepted until May 31st; we will solicit reference letters only after review of applications.