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Lakehead University respectfully acknowledges its campuses are located on the traditional lands of Indigenous Peoples. Lakehead Thunder Bay is located on the traditional lands of the Fort William First Nation, Signatory to the Robinson Superior Treaty of 1850. Lakehead Orillia is located on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabeg. The Anishinaabeg include the Ojibwe, Odawa, and Pottawatomi nations, collectively known as the Three Fires Confederacy. Lakehead University acknowledges the history that many nations hold in the areas around our campuses, and is committed to a relationship with First Nations, Métis, and Inuit Peoples based on the principles of mutual trust, respect, reciprocity, and collaboration in the spirit of reconciliation.

Lakehead University invites applications, nominations, and expressions of interest for the position of Vice-President, Research and Innovation (VPRI) with the appointment to be effective summer 2025. This is an opportunity to join the University’s eighth President and Vice-Chancellor and her team in leading, inspiring, and articulating a vision that charts an exciting future, to build upon Lakehead University’s history of excellence.

Lakehead is a comprehensive University with a reputation for innovative programs and cutting-edge research with campuses in Thunder Bay and Orillia, Ontario, Canada. In recent years, Lakehead University has been included in the top 100 of the Times Higher Education Impact Rankings. Maclean’s has ranked Lakehead University the #1 primarily undergraduate university in the magazine’s 2025 University Rankings, and Lakehead has been ranked at the top by Re$earch Infosource, Canada’s leading agency for ranking research and innovation at PSE institutions in Canada, over the past ten years.

Lakehead has just under 10,000 full-time equivalent students and more than 2,000 faculty and staff. With an emphasis on collaborative learning and independent critical thinking and a multidisciplinary teaching approach, Lakehead offers a variety of degree and diploma programs at the undergraduate and graduate levels through its nine Faculties, including Business Administration, Education, Engineering, Health and Behavioural Sciences, Natural Resources Management, Science and Environmental Studies, Social Sciences and Humanities, Graduate Studies, and Law.

While Lakehead University is a relatively small university, it is consistently one of the leaders in Canada in terms of research productivity and impact. In 2023, Re$earch Infosource ranked Lakehead 3rd among Canada’s primarily undergraduate universities. In 2024, Times Higher Education Global Impact Rankings named Lakehead among the top 10% of global universities for social impact for the fifth year in a row. In 2024, Times Higher Education Global Impact Rankings also named Lakehead the top ranked university in Canada with under 10,000 students.

Since the beginning of Lakehead University in 1965, Research and Innovation has always been at the forefront of its mission. Over the past 10 years the University has seen significant advances in its research agenda and achievements and is consistently ranked by Re$earch Infosource as one of Canada’s leading research intensive universities in the primarily undergraduate category. The University has 14 research centers and institutes including the Government funded Biorefining Research Institute and the Enhancing Prevention of Disabilities at Work Institutes. The Thunder Bay Regional Health Research Institute is a research affiliate of the University. The University also runs the Lakehead University Agricultural Research Center which is funded by the Provincial Government. The Strategic Research Priorities and Initiatives are highlighted in the Research Plan. The University recognizes the importance of Research and Innovation as a contributor of economic development. Currently, Lakehead University is the only Canadian university to be accredited with the Innovation and Economic Prosperity Designation.

Reporting to the President and Vice-Chancellor as a collaborative member of the executive team leading the University, the Vice-President, Research and Innovation is the internal and external advocate for research and innovation, providing leadership and vision in shaping strategic priorities, and advancing areas of opportunity to further accelerate growth for greater global impact. Within the University, the VPRI promotes the research mission, communicates and celebrates achievements, enhances multidisciplinary activities and collaborations, and fosters an equitable, diverse, and inclusive environment that allows research excellence and innovation to flourish. Externally, the VPRI advances knowledge translation by working effectively with businesses, communities, and governments, while showcasing the accomplishments of the University’s research community and advancing partnerships, initiatives, and funding on a local, provincial, national, and international level. The VPRI also has an important role in building industry relationships and furthering the University’s advancement efforts.

Candidates for Vice-President, Research and Innovation will be accomplished scholars, exemplary leaders, and collaborative team builders with proven records of having supported a thriving research enterprise in a complex research environment. With an open, transparent, respectful, team-focused, and collegial approach to leadership, communication, and interpersonal relationships, the new VPRI will champion equity, diversity, and inclusion, and empower the Office of Research to support its people, partnerships, and community. Able to develop and promote multidisciplinary and transdisciplinary research initiatives, the new VPRI will excel in obtaining internal and external support for research, connecting and translating research impacts to the community, and engaging with a variety of internal and external stakeholders and partners. The new VPRI will be an innovative problem solver with a sophisticated understanding of the relationships among research, knowledge translation and mobilization, innovation, and commercialization.

Lakehead University is committed to creating a diverse and inclusive environment and welcomes applications from all qualified individuals including women, racialized persons, Indigenous people, persons with disabilities and other equity-seeking groups. All qualified candidates are encouraged to apply; however, Canadian citizens and permanent residents will be given priority. This is in accordance with Canadian immigration requirements.

The consultants will begin the review of candidates immediately, with committee consideration later in the spring, and will continue until the role is filled. Applications should include a letter of interest, curriculum vitae, and the names (not letters) of three references (who will not be contacted without the consent of the candidate), and should be submitted in confidence to the University’s executive search consultants:

Laverne Smith & Associates Inc.

LakeheadVPRI@lavernesmith.com