Call for nominations – Joint Chair in Research Security

The Joint Chair in Research Security (JCRS) program is the product of a partnership between the University of Ottawa and Université Côte d’Azur. It became official with the signing of a memorandum of understanding that took effect on April 13, 2026, as part of the renewal of scholarly collaboration between France and Canada. Drawing on the knowledge and expertise of researchers at both universities, the program seeks to address challenges associated with research security. The JCRS aims to build a network of experts and to strengthen the position of Canada–France scholarly collaboration in research security.
Research security is a particularly sensitive issue for both countries. It encompasses protecting data, infrastructure, results and individuals involved, as well as preventing foreign interference or misuse.

Rather than sealing ourselves off or adopting an attitude of general distrust, we must incorporate research security into a broader vision of responsible internationalization, one that takes into account the growing interdependence between academia, economics and diplomacy. Without being naïve or accepting the irreversible costs of failure to co-operate, universities need to rethink their boundaries and modes of collaboration, thereby giving themselves tools to reinforce their strategy for internationalizing research.

Against that backdrop, Université Côte d’Azur and the University of Ottawa wish to tackle the issue by establishing a joint chair to support two chairholders and their teams. The aim of the joint chair is to contribute to scholarly output by helping to develop and share interdisciplinary methodologies in research security. More specifically, the chair’s work will be founded on three pillars:

• Understand and clarify: Promote a better mutual understanding of regulatory frameworks governing research. Compare current policies, regulations and procedures on risk management for research (including security, ethics, sovereignty, etc.) in France and Canada to help researchers and institutions navigate these complex environments and build informed, responsible and sustainable international partnerships.
• Harmonize and equip: Promote harmonized approaches to risk in international scholarly co-operation. Identify synergies between French, Canadian and European research security initiatives, and propose shared tools and references to prevent the risks of interference, misuse or strategic dependency while supporting high-quality collaboration.
• Act and promote: Put risk management and research security on the science diplomacy agenda. Contribute to bilateral and multilateral discussions on the conditions for the responsible internationalization of science, including through partnerships with countries that have compatible values and practices, and by proposing governance based on transparency, trust and reciprocity.

In addition, the chair will help to provide support on French, Canadian and European public policy, for example, in connection with Canada recently joining the Horizon Europe program.

Lastly, the JCRS is expected to develop practical training for professionals dealing with research security issues, as well as self-diagnostic tools for researchers, particularly those in the early stages of their careers.

The call is open to researchers wishing to critically examine issues or methods in areas of activity related to research security, whether the researchers are active in the social sciences or science and technology.

This call for nominations aims to select two holders of the Joint Chair in Research Security (one at each university) for a two-year term. The chairholders will share an annual grant of $30,000 in research funding for the duration of their term to facilitate the organization of in-person events and meetings.

The two chairholders must be affiliated with a faculty/component (Graduate School or special-status component) or one of the research institutes or centres/units within their respective institutions. The University of Ottawa chairholder’s unit will be asked to support logistics and contribute to funding for at least one annual conference organized by the joint chairholders, in collaboration with their team and international partners working on issues related to research security.

Nominees are encouraged to build teams of partners, both national and international, bringing together complementary expertise to support the chair’s research activities. In addition to undertaking a research program and helping to organize research activities related to the objectives of the chair, the chairholders will actively participate in developing and disseminating research related to research security, and in enhancing its profile.

Researchers and research security experts from around the world could be invited to Ottawa or the French Riviera as part of activities conducted by the joint chairholders. Activities of the chair could also result in training for students and professionals interested or involved in the field of research security.

The chair will be primarily shaped by the two chairholders’ work and be consistent with the University of Ottawa’s Strategic Areas of Research as well as the Université Côte d’Azur’s research strategy and the Université Côte d’Azur Initiative of Excellence.

The chair must explicitly aim to study one or more facets of research security. The chairholders must devote all of the proposed program resources to conducting research, organizing research activities and disseminating knowledge gained and results of research on the topic.

The Joint Chair in Research Security is funded in part by the Université Côte d’Azur Initiative of Excellence and the vice-president, research and innovation, University of Ottawa. The term of the chairholders is two years.

The JCRS chairholders will share research funding totalling $15,000 per year from the vice-president, research and innovation, University of Ottawa and a contribution of up to €10,000 per year from the Université Côte d’Azur Initiative of Excellence. Each university is responsible for managing this funding, which will total around $30,000 per year.

The chairholders will commit to writing a brief annual report (three to five pages) and a final report (including narrative and financial details) describing their activities, results and dissemination of the chair’s work. These reports will be submitted to the vice-president, research and innovation, University of Ottawa, and the vice-president, Initiative of Excellence, Université Côte d’Azur.

A mid-term review of the chair will be conducted one year into the chairholders’ term.

One chairholder will be a regular professor at the University of Ottawa and the other, a tenured researcher or teaching and research staff member at the Université Côte d’Azur. The chairholders must have at least five years’ relevant experience.

Individuals who currently hold, or have held, a research chair funded by the University of Ottawa (such as a University Research Chair or a Distinguished Research Chair) are not eligible for the JCRS. Moreover, individuals who currently hold any other research chair at the University of Ottawa (such as an endowed chair or Canada Research Chair) are not eligible for the Joint Chair in Research Security during the term of their chair. These chairholders can, however, be part of the research team led by the holders of the Joint Chair in Research Security.

The regulations and policies of Université Côte d’Azur must be complied with in full.

For the University of Ottawa: Nominations must be submitted to the vice-president, research and innovation, by the dean of the faculty with which the University of Ottawa nominee is affiliated.

For Université Côte d’Azur: Nominations must be submitted directly to the Initiative of Excellence International Program by the principal investigator.
 

To avoid any conflicts of interest, please ensure that independent reviewers:

• are not affiliated in any way with the University of Ottawa (including hospitals and research institutes), nor with Université Côte d’Azur
• have no personal relationship with the nominee (e.g., close friend, relative, former PhD or postdoctoral supervisor, mentor, student previously under the nominee’s supervision)
• have not collaborated, published or shared funding with the nominee in the past six years, and do not intend to do so in the immediate future
• will not be involved in the proposed research program
• are not in a position to gain or lose, financially or materially, as a result of the outcome of the nomination