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Western Academy for Advanced ResearchInternational and Graduate Affairs Building
Western University
London, Ontario
N6A 3K7
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Steering Committee
The Academic Steering Committee provides advice to the Academic Director on thematic and other substantive operational matters. Most importantly, the Academic Steering Committee is engaged in the adjudication of applications for The Western Academy’s themes, including selection of Western Fellows, Visiting Western Fellows and Western Academy Postdoctoral Scholars, and makes recommendations on the same to the Vice-President (Research) and Provost & Vice-President (Academic).
Current Steering Committee Members
Bipasha Baruah
Dr. Bipasha Baruah is a Professor in the Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Western University, and she holds the Canada Research Chair in Global Women’s Issues. She specializes in interdisciplinary research on gender, economy, environment and development.
Her current research aims to understand how to ensure that a global low-carbon economy will be more gender equitable and socially just than its fossil-fuel based predecessor. Dr. Baruah’s scholarship is based on extensive qualitative and quantitative empirical research, which contributes not just to academic theory, but also to methodology, capacity building and policy formulation.
She has published one book and over 100 peer-reviewed articles, book chapters, encyclopaedia entries, working papers, policy briefs and professional reports. Dr. Baruah serves frequently as a consultant, expert reviewer and advisor to international development and environmental protection organizations.
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Jacquelyn Burkell
Jacquelyn Burkell is one of Western’s current Associate Vice-Presidents (Research), on a five-year term, effective July 1, 2021. She holds a PhD in Psychology (Cognitive Science) from Western and is an associate professor in the Faculty of Information & Media Studies.
Jacquelyn served as the faculty’s Assistant Dean of Research for seven years and chaired the Associate Deans (Research) group from 2016-2018. Throughout her career, Jacquelyn has served on a wide variety of academic committees, including the 2016 URB Task Force Steering Committee – Support for Research in Social Sciences, Arts, and Humanities at Western.
A highly collaborative scholar, Jacquelyn is a co-investigator on two SSHRC partnership grants – one examining artificial intelligence in the context of justice, the other focused on youth equality and privacy online. More broadly, her research focuses on the social impact of technology and examines how technological mediation changes social interaction and information behaviour.
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Andrew Hrymak
Andrew Hrymak, PEng, FCIC, FCAE, PhD, has served as Provost and Vice-President (Academic), Dean of Engineering and Professor of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering at the Western University. He is currently Special Advisor to the President on Industry Partnerships, the Green Economy and Sustainability and is Deputy Director of the Fraunhofer Project Centre for Composites Research at Western University.
Previously, he served in the Department of Chemical Engineering at McMaster University from 1985 to 2009, where he was Department Chair (2000-2009), Director of the McMaster Manufacturing Research Institute (2001-05) and Director of the Walter G. Booth School of Engineering Practice (2004-09). His research interests include modeling, design and optimization of materials processing systems.
He has served as Associate Editor of Computers and Chemical Engineering, Editor-in-Chief of International Polymer Processing, President of the International Society of Coating Science and Technology (ISCST) and Chair of the Board of Directors of the Chemical Institute of Canada.
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David Litchfield
David Litchfield is a Professor in the Departments of Biochemistry and Oncology at Western University and is currently serving as the Director, Research Infrastructure within the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry. David’s previous roles at Western have included Vice-Dean, Research & Innovation within the Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry (2017-22) and Chair for the Department of Biochemistry (2007-17). In addition to undergraduate and doctoral degrees from McMaster University and Western, respectively, David has undertaken postdoctoral training at the University of Washington (Seattle), established an independent research program at the Manitoba Institute of Cell Biology (affiliated with the University of Manitoba) and held short-term visiting scientist appointments at Hannover Medical School (Germany) and the University of North Carolina (Chapel Hill).
Research in the Litchfield laboratory (currently supported by ongoing funding from NSERC and the CIHR) is primarily focused on deciphering the regulatory signaling networks that govern the survival of living cells with emphasis on identifying disease-relevant alterations that can inform the design of applications of Precision Medicine. As an educator, David has made contributions to undergraduate and graduate education and within the Medical Education (MD) Programs both at the University of Manitoba and at Western.
Beyond Western, David continues to be an active member of the review community for international scientific journals as well as national and international funding agencies including the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the National Institutes of Health (USA), Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council, National Science Foundation (USA), Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute, Terry Fox Research Institute and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
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Isaac Luginaah
Dr. Isaac Luginaah is a member of the College of the Royal Society of Canada, a Professor of Health/Medical Geography at Western University, the Director of the Environmental Hazards and Health lab and was a Canada Research Chair in Health Geography (2007-2017).
Dr. Luginaah's research has been funded by CIHR, SSHRC, NSERC, Global Affairs Canada, World Bank and the European Union. He has published over 200 peer-reviewed papers.
His contributions to the fields of environment and health have been recognized with several prizes and awards including from the Royal Society of Canada (College Member), African Academy of Sciences (Fellow), the Canadian Association of Geographers (Early Career Award), American Association of Geographers Africa Specialty Group (Kwadwo Konadu-Agyemang Distinguish Scholar Award), Western University (Faculty Scholar for Research and Teaching Excellence), and the University of Windsor (Research Excellence Award).
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Heather Martin
Heather Martin, BSc, MPEd, is the Senior Contracts Officer with Western Research at Western University. Heather reviews and negotiates sponsored research agreements for the University, working mostly with Government, Foundations and Not-for-Profit organizations.
Heather provides advice and assistance to, and acts as a liaison between, researchers and sponsors to ensure agreements are in line with the parameters of Western's processes, procedures and the faculty collective agreement.
In 2019, Heather completed her Masters of Professional Education, with a speciality in Equity, Diversity and Social Justice, and is currently working toward her Masters of Theological Studies at Huron University College on a part-time basis. She is deeply committed to research that has the potential of making a positive impact, while at the same time supporting and growing an equitable university. Heather works with the intention of being an ally to Indigenous Colleagues and Communities.
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Clare Robinson
Dr. Clare Robinson is a Canada Research Chair in Water Quality and Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Western University. She specializes in research on the water-borne contaminants in the environnent. Dr. Robinson’s current research aims to understand the sources, transport and fate of contaminants in natural and engineered environments and exploring solutions that can reduce the impact of these contaminants in the face of increasing human and climate stressors.
Dr. Robinson’s current research projects include evaluating impact of groundwater contaminants on surface water quality, improved urban stormwater management for water quality control, and examining septic system impacts on surface water quality.
Dr. Robinson received an Early Research Award from the Ontario Government (2012) and was a member of the International Joint Commission Great Lakes Science Advisory Board from 2014 to 2019. She also was awarded a Western Faculty Scholar (2020-2022) and the Western Green Award (2018). Dr. Robinson has published over 70 peer-reviewed articles and is highly collaborative with academic researchers, and government and industry partners.
