Published July 12, 2012
by dbazely
To quote Sam Gamgee "Well I'm back", after a wonderful sabbatical year, most recently, from 3 months in my old department at Oxford University. Nearly every day I walked past The Eagle and Child pub where JRR Tolkien, CS Lewis and their fellow Inklings hung out. Oxford is dripping with history and it was fun to be back there after 22 years.
I extend my thanks and appreciation to Professor Stepan Wood, for the stellar job that he did as IRIS' Acting Director this past academic year (2011-2012). Details of his and IRIS’ activities can be found in the annual report.
I return as IRIS Director for 2012-2013, refreshed and recharged by the work of my sabbatical, and I look forward to re-engaging with my IRIS colleagues, the York community and fellow Canadians.
The Sabbatical, in which we are paid 80% of our salary for 12 months, continues to be an important perk in Academia. Many consider it essential for allowing quality research to flourish and develop. The concept comes from the biblical tradition of resting every seventh year,
During the past year I had the opportunity to recalibrate my academic reputation and achievements and also to calibrate the standing and achievements of IRIS. I spent the year as a Research Fellow at Harvard Forest, Harvard University and as a Visiting Researcher in the Biodiversity Institute, an Oxford University Martin Interdisciplinary School.
As a science professor, I usually thinking of "recalibration" as sending out pieces of laboratory equipment that measure some factor with high accuracy, for testing and re-setting or re-calibrating. However, a colleague in the UK used the term in relation to some of her team members needing to recalibrate themselves and their achievements against their peers. In other words, it’s a reality check. I predict that "recalibration" will become a new buzzword, given that the title of a recent article in the UK's Daily Telegraph was "We need to recalibrate what we think of as success”. Still, I kind of like it.
So, how did IRIS stack up against Harvard’s, Oxford’s and other institution’s efforts to drive forward the environmental, economic and social sustainability agenda?
Actually, remarkably well.
IRIS has done a lot with very little cash. We have a director who is a full-time faculty member, with course-release, paid for by the university, and a co-ordinator, whose salary is 100% soft-money, plus some office space (that's a big "in-kind"), and access to parts of the university infrastructure. Our business model is that of a small NGO – often running on fumes.
Nevertheless, we have had great success in leveraging the talent and energy of members of the York community and beyond. We have also been innovative and creative in delivering cutting edge research and action on the sustainability front, which compares favourably with far better-funded efforts here and abroad.
I have been gratified to receive many complements and kudos for IRIS-developed programmes from colleagues from across the UK and USA, this past year. I have also received, over the past 6 years, many inquiries about how colleagues from other institutions might replicate IRIS' achievements.
To these questions I usually reply that “it’s xxxxxx hard work – only those willing to roll up their sleeves and pitch in, should consider getting involved here.”
While it's certainly the case that top-reputation institutions like Oxford and Harvard have much deeper pockets than York, it's also the case that they, too, often do a lot with relatively little; there is a high degree of competition for funds in these institutions. What IRIS has in common with sustainability researchers at these institutions is a smart, energetic, positive “can-do” attitude, and hard workers. In this, we stack up well against the best of them. Let’s be clear that the average Harvard and Oxford professor works many more than 40 hours in a week. Excellent research and outreach results come not just from talent and decent funding, but from hard, uncomplaining work.
I cannot emphasize this message enough to the York community and to Canada in general. Particularly in light of Federal Government cuts to Environment Canada, Parks Canada and Statistics Canada. Society as we know it, in Canada is built on the work of dedicated scientists and social scientists. I continue to believe that the average Canadian has relatively poor understanding of the work of scientists and other academics and that that solid advocacy for research funding is one of the tasks of every academic. It’s not enough to say that what we do has societal relevance – we must prove it – every day.
However, there is also no doubt, that given a common buzzword, namely, "austerity", that excellent sustainability research is not enough to guarantee support and funding. In a shrinking pool of resources, the politics surrounding sustainability and other areas of academic are increasingly in evidence. A large part of my research this past year was aimed at gaining insight into the politics-policy-science issue and the question "Why don't ecologists in particular, and scientists in general, get more respect?" I had great fun with this, and you can read about this and my other sabbatical activities in my official report to York University.
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