On July 1, 2026, Professor Sylvie Grosjean took over as director of the Collège des chaires de recherche sur le monde francophone. Grosjean is a full professor in the Department of Communication at the Faculty of Arts. She also holds the International Francophonie Research Chair on Digital Health Technologies. It examines the use and design of digital health technologies in Francophone communities, focusing specifically on the complex relationships developing between artificial intelligence (AI) systems and users.

As director of the collège, Grosjean intends to continue her predecessor’s development work, building on his mission to promote and disseminate knowledge in French within the University, as well as throughout the Francophonie in Canada and around the world. Her goal is to make the collège a meeting place and discussion hub for chairholders and young Francophone researchers alike, and to serve the community with the knowledge produced at the collège.

The director’s role is to unite researchers within the network of Francophone chairholders along with others who work on the Francophonie here and elsewhere. The director also strives to make the collège a dynamic force within the University, and together with the chairholders, to actively foster excellence in French-language research and the dissemination of scholarship in French. Besides this work, the collège leadership is involved in several University projects and committees. It defends the need for research in French and promotes the development of this research wherever and whenever possible.

In July 2026, the University of Ottawa appointed Sylvie Grosjean, professor in the Department of Communication at the Faculty of Arts and a chairholder herself, as director of the collège. In this new role, she’s responsible for overseeing the development of impactful collaborations between the collège chairholders, the community and other researchers, research centres and institutes working on and with the French-speaking world.

The CCRMF and the research chairs are funded by the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation and are also supported by the Office of the Vice-President, International and Francophonie.

The CCRMF works in collaboration with the Centre for Research on Canadian Francophonies (CRCCF) (Website in French only), the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Citizenship and Minorities (CIRCEM) and the Centre on Governance (COG). The Observatory on education in minority language contexts is an initiative directed by Professor Nathalie Bélanger of the Faculty of Education. The goal of the Observatory is to mobilize knowledge and share emerging research with teachers to improve educational practices in schools.

The CCRMF collaborates with many organizations that share the same interests in and concerns for the Francophonie, scholarship in French, and the development of Francophone cultures and societies. These include the Canadian Institute for Research on Linguistic Minorities, Acfas and the Chaire pour le développement de la recherche sur la culture d’expression française en Amérique du Nord (CEFAN) (Website in French only).

The CCRMF extends its international commitment to science in French by establishing collaborations and carrying out projects with the Agence universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF), the Réseau International des Chaires Senghor de la Francophonie (RICSF, in French) and the Institut international pour la Francophonie (2iF, in French).