Position Profile:
The Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders program is a one-time federal initiative that supports the recruitment of internationally based early-career researchers to Canadian institutions. This Emerging Leader position primarily aligns with Canada’s strategic priority in Environment, climate resilience, and the Arctic. The Emerging Leader award is valued at $100,000 annually for up to six years, with the possibility of extension for a further six years.
Applications are invited from exceptional candidates for the Canada Impact+ Emerging Leader position in Resilience of Infrastructure and Communities in a Changing Climate at Western University, with an anticipated start date no later than July 1, 2027. The Emerging Leaders award is awarded for a six-year term, renewable once, contingent on confirmation of the early-career researcher's academic progress and the transformational, translational impact of their research. The program is administered by the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat (TIPS). The successful applicant will also receive a probationary (tenure-track) appointment within the Faculty of Engineering and/or the Faculty of Social Science at the rank of Assistant or Associate Professor, commensurate with their qualifications, experience, and record of performance in teaching and research.
The successful candidate will advance infrastructure and community resilience to severe weather and climate shocks. This emerging leader will work closely with a cohort of four research chairs and will contribute to a vibrant collaborative network of interdisciplinary researchers working in the broader area of multi-hazard risk and resilience, housed primarily in the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory at Western, the Faculty of Engineering, the Faculty of Social Science, and the Faculty of Science.
Background
Canadians are increasingly affected by the compounding effects of climate change, including more frequent and severe storms, flooding, wildfires, and heat waves. These hazards are causing acute and chronic disruptions to critical infrastructure and the essential services on which communities depend. They are disrupting people’s lives, businesses, and economic opportunities, and doing so in an unequal fashion across socioeconomic and racial/ethnic groups as well as place of residence. The changing patterns of climate and weather extremes mean that Canadian society will face difficult choices about investments in adaptation: to what extent do we fortify infrastructure, and how do we optimize equitable recovery? There is a clear need for engineering solutions and policy approaches that strengthen community resilience and support informed, equitable decision-making.
This research theme is closely aligned with the strategic priority area of the Eddie Goldenberg Research Chair in Climate Risk and Resilience Analytics. In keeping with the requirements of the Canada Impact+ Emerging Leaders program, the successful candidate’s research program must align with the same strategic priority area identified in the Chair’s application: Environment, climate resilience, and the Arctic. An Emerging Leader recruited in this area will offer strong opportunities for collaboration with the Chair, with complementary expertise focused on strengthening the resilience of infrastructure systems and the communities that rely on them, an essential component of the broader Chair’s proposed program to enhance climate resilience at the community scale.
Affirmation Policy Statement
Western, like many postsecondary institutions in Canada, is moving beyond sole reliance upon Indigenous self-identification in its hiring processes. This is to safeguard against the use of incorrect, incomplete, or misleading information in circumstances where a candidate has declared Indigenous citizenship or membership. Candidates who are invited for an interview or who are short-listed, and who have made a declaration of Indigenous citizenship or membership for material advantage at Western, including where required or preferred for the position, will be asked to have their declaration of Indigenous citizenship or membership affirmed through a relational accountability process, led by the Office of Indigenous Initiatives (OII), that is consistent with Indigenous ways of knowing, being, and doing. Please contact the OII directly for details on the affirmation processes: https://indigenous.uwo.ca/. The policy can be viewed at: POLICY 1.58 - Affirming Declarations of Indigenous Citizenship or Membership at Western University.
The Faculties:
The Faculty of Engineering at Western is home to internationally recognized research programs spanning engineering disciplines, with strength in wind engineering and multi-hazard risk. The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, which is administering this search, is consistently ranked among the leading civil engineering programs in Canada and worldwide, with recognized expertise in environmental, geotechnical, structural, transportation, and wind engineering. The Department’s research is supported by unique facilities and centres, including the Boundary Layer Wind Tunnel Laboratory, the Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Research Institute, the Canadian Severe Storms Laboratory, the Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction, and the Geotechnical Research Centre.
The Faculty of Social Science is one of the largest and most diverse social science faculties in Canada. It includes eight core departments: Anthropology, Economics, Geography and Environment, History, the DAN Department of Management and Organizational Studies, Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. Researchers regularly work across disciplines on shared questions, such as how public policies and place shape opportunity and inequality, and how communities prepare for and recover from disruption. Interdisciplinary research centres support this work, including the Centre for Urban Policy and Local Governance, the Centre for Research in Social Inequality, and the Centre for Climate Change, Sustainable Livelihoods and Health. These centres connect scholars to shared expertise, diverse methods, and partnerships with governments and community organizations. Together, they make the Faculty a leading environment for place-based, community-engaged social science research that informs policy and improves lives in Canada and beyond. (https://www.ssc.uwo.ca/research/research_centres_and_groups/index.html).
The University:
Western is one of Canada’s leading research-intensive universities and a founding member of the U15 group of Canadian research universities, ranked in the top one percent of universities worldwide. Founded in 1878, Western is a medical-doctoral institution in London, Ontario, home to approximately 1,500 faculty members and 44,000 students from 128 countries, combining research excellence with a transformational student experience. Western’s scholars have led world-changing advances in fields including wind engineering, neuroscience, economics, cancer, and gender-based violence prevention, supported by strong local and global partnerships, including affiliated research hospitals, and by world-class infrastructure, including institutionally supported core research facilities and interdisciplinary research institutes. Western University is located on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabek, Haudenosaunee, Lūnaapéewak and Chonnonton Nations, on lands connected with the London Township and Sombra Treaties of 1796 and the Dish with One Spoon Covenant Wampum and is committed to implementing the Calls to Action framed by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Further information about Western is available at http://www.uwo.ca, the Faculty of Engineering at http://www.eng.uwo.ca, and the Faculty of Social Science at https://www.ssc.uwo.ca.
The City:
London, Ontario, known as the Forest City, is a welcoming and affordable community of more than 400,000 people in the heart of southwestern Ontario, approximately two hours from both Toronto and Detroit. A regional centre for healthcare, education, insurance, and a growing technology sector, London offers extensive parks and trails along the Thames River, a vibrant arts, music, and culinary scene, and easy access to the Great Lakes. The city is served by an international airport and direct rail connections and combines the amenities of a large city with a family-friendly cost of living.