About

DRI@UT was created at the University of Toronto by the Vice-President, Research & Innovation and Strategic Initiatives in 2021.

Through two standing groups a Researcher Council and an Advisory Committee – the U of T seeks to enable the creation and sustainment of a coordinated, agile, rich, diverse, effective, efficient, and secure collection of digital research infrastructure and services that meet the complex and varied needs of our research community and that is aligned with and leverages opportunities created by governments, including Canada’s Digital Research Infrastructure (DRI) Strategy, and other partners.

Person with laptop displaying graphical data

For the purpose of these advisory groups, “digital research infrastructure” (DRI) includes:

  • Advanced research computing (ARC) infrastructure and operating costs, support personnel, space.
  • Research data management (RDM) resources that allow our researchers to find and access data.
  • Research software (RS) resources that allow our researchers to access and use data.
  • Privacy and cybersecurity considerations across all DRI domains at U of T.

Researcher Council

Mandate

  • To advise on institutional decisions
  • Explicitly tasked with bringing an academic user lens to the identification of opportunities and challenges in the application of DRI across all fields of research, academic divisions and campuses.
  • Members will be invited for staggered terms of up to three years.

Members

Lisa Strug

Professor & Academic Director, Data Sciences Institute,  Faculty of Arts & Science, Chair, DRI Researcher Council

Leah Cowen

Vice-President, Research Innovation & Strategic Initiatives, Professor, Temerty Faculty of Medicine and Chair, DRI Advisory Committee

Chandra Singh

Assistant Professor, Materials Science & Engineering, Faculty of Applied Science & Engineering

Dmitry Krass

Professor, Operations Management and Statistics and Sydney C. Cooper Chair in Business and Technology, Rotman School of Management

Elspeth Brown

Professor & Associate Vice Principal Research, Historical Studies – History, U of T Mississauga

Gary Bader

Professor & Principal Investigator, Terrence Donnelly Centre for Cellular and Biomolecular Research, Temerty Faculty of Medicine

James (Jim) Slotta

Professor, Curriculum, Teaching & Learning, Ontario Institute for Student in Education (OISE)

Jia Xue

Assistant Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and the Faculty of Information (iSchool)

Juna Kollmeier

Director, Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA)

Kyle Ganson

Assistant Professor, Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work

Laura Rosella

Associate Professor, Dalla Lana School of Public Health

Pascal Tyrrell

Director, Data Science & Associate Professor, Department of Medical Imaging, Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Patrick Keilty

Associate Professor, Faculty of Information and Centre for Sexual Diversity Studies

Pekka Sinervo

Professor, Department of Physics

Sara Guilcher

Associate Professor, Leslie Dan Faculty of Pharmacy

Sarah Rauscher

Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical & Physical Sciences, U of T Mississauga

Sean Hill

Director, Krembil Centre for Neuroinformatics the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH) and Professor, Department of Psychiatry and Department of Physiology

Shari Eli

Associate Professor, Department of Economics

TL Cowan

Assistant Professor, Media Studies (Digital Media Cultures), Department of Arts, Culture and Media , U of T Scarborough and the Faculty of Information (iSchool)

Advisory Committee

Mandate

  • To support institutional planning and decision-making regarding digital research resources and services at the University of Toronto
  • Bring a strategic operations lens geared toward supporting identification and implementation of solutions that support the University’s research objectives. The Committee will also provide institutional oversight for SciNet.
  • Members will be invited based on their DRI-related role within the University by the Vice-President Research & Innovation and Strategic Initiatives – either on an ex officio basis in relation to their role, or for time limited terms based on their expertise.

Members

Leah Cowen, Chair
Professor & Vice-President

Research Innovation & Strategic Initiatives, Temerty Faculty of Medicine

Lisa Strug
Professor & Academic Director

Data Sciences Institute,  Faculty of Arts & Science

Bo Wandschneider
Chief Information Officer

Information Technology Services

Isaac Straley
Chief Information Security Officer

Information Technology Services

Larry Alford
University Chief Librarian

University of Toronto Libraries

Daniel Gruner
Chief Technical Officer

SciNet High Performance Computing Consortium

Dan Silver
Director

Toronto Region Statistics Canada Research Data Centre

Judith Chadwick
Assistant Vice-President

Research Services, Division of the Vice-President, Research & Innovation

Tibor Turi
Executive Director

SOSCIP

Vinita Haroun
Director, CRIS

Centre for Research & Innovation Support

2022 Priorities

The following working groups have been established and are focusing on key initiatives for 2022:

Advanced Research Computing (ARC)

Judith Chadwick, Assistant Vice-President, Research Services and Daniel Gruner, Chief Technical Officer, SciNet High Performance Computing Consortium
  • Transition to the Digital Research Alliance of Canada and support plans for renewal

  • Privacy Compliant Proof of Concept

  • Hosting and service strategy

Research Software (RS)

Bo Wandschneider, Chief Information Officer, University of Toronto
  • Increasing awareness of and access to research software

Research Data Management (RDM)

Larry Alford, Chief Librarian, University of Toronto Libraries
  • Prepare institutional RDM strategy

  • Develop national platforms and provide leadership amongst peer-institutions and external entities

Cybersecurity

Isaac Straley, Chief Information Security Officer, University of Toronto
  • Design, implement and communicate on information security supports in concert with external entities (CanSSOC, Alliance, etc.)

  • Negotiate a research appropriate security framework

Cross-Cutting Initiatives

Vinita Haroun, Director, Centre for Research & Innovation Support (CRIS) and Judith Chadwick, Assistant Vice-President, Research Services
  • Outreach, Consultation and Communication

  • DRI Portal Website

  • Resources, Education and Training

  • Advocacy