91³Ō¹Ļ

Barbara Fallon appointed 91³Ō¹Ļā€™s associate vice-president, research

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(Photo courtesy of Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work)

Barbara Fallon, a professor in the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work and an expert in child welfare policies and practice, has been appointed the 91³Ō¹Ļā€™s associate vice-president, research.

The role will see Fallon tasked with boosting the quality, impact and resourcing of research across 91³Ō¹Ļā€™s three campuses. She will begin the position on May 1, 2022, for a five-year term.

Fallon, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Child Welfare and received 91³Ō¹Ļā€™s Presidentā€™s Impact Award in 2020, says sheā€™s excited for the opportunity and ā€œhumbled to work with the executive leadership teamā€ at the university.

ā€œI always think of research, service and teaching as a three-legged stool and how those components work together at the university fascinates me,ā€ said Fallon. ā€œResearch must be informed by both service and community impact and teaching.

ā€œHelping to support vast and varied programs of research across 91³Ō¹Ļ is something that Iā€™m really excited about.ā€ 

Fallon says sheā€™s been an ā€œincredible beneficiaryā€ of mentorship and support throughout her career and is looking forward to building resources and support for others in her new role. That includes: further developing 91³Ō¹Ļā€™s culture of inclusive excellence in research; supporting and advocating for major awards and grants; and developing and resourcing 91³Ō¹Ļā€™s research infrastructure.

Fallon calls herself a ā€œlongstanding 91³Ō¹Ļ community member,ā€ having taken on various teaching, research and administrative roles since 1995. At the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, she was the associate dean of research from 2015 to 2019 and the PhD director from 2013 to 2015.

ā€œLet me be the first to congratulate Professor Barbara Fallon on this new appointment,ā€ said Leah Cowen, 91³Ō¹Ļā€™s vice-president, research and innovation, and strategic initiatives. ā€œShe has a true passion for enabling research excellence, nurturing collaborative communities, fostering research impact, building partnerships and facilitating communities of practice.

ā€œProfessor Fallon also brings complementary expertise to the leadership in our office, which will be instrumental in supporting the breadth of research excellence across our tri-campus university.ā€ā€Æ

Fallonā€™s research focuses on families and children who are involved in the child welfare system. Her work, which has informed child welfare policy and practice, has received more than $20 million in funding and been published in more than 200ā€Æpeer-reviewed publications. She has collected national and provincial data on children and families in the child welfare system to build an evidence-based understanding of the trajectories they face.

As she has advanced in her career, Fallon says she has become an advocate for a transdisciplinary approach to research.

ā€œI like working with people who are trained differently than I have been and finding synergies in our questions,ā€ she said. ā€œUnderstanding research from different disciplines and how it can inform my own program of research has always been important to me.ā€

For more than 20 years, Fallon has also worked closely with First Nations communities. She recently co-authored a paper on the potential short- and long-term solutions to the health and socio-economic inequities that the pandemic exacerbated in First Nations communities across the country.

She is currently the scientific director of the First Nations/Canadian Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (FN/CIS) andā€Æwas the principal investigator ofā€Æthe Ontario Incidence Study of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (OIS).

Fallon says she is looking forward to the opportunity to ā€œthink creatively about research infrastructure and how it can facilitate diverse programs of research.ā€

She hopes to continue teaching when sheā€™s settled into the new role.

ā€œItā€™s that three-legged stool approach,ā€ she said. ā€œTo be a good researcher, you have to be a good teacher and you have to work with community. I am hoping to continue to teach and learn from students and certainly remain connected to community.ā€

 

 

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