Tackling the toughest challenges

Tackling the toughest challenges is about using leadership and innovation to solve issues. At McMaster we're making this possible through:

 

Collaborations for Health

This initiative will position McMaster as the "incubator" for expertise in the development of interdisciplinary health research and education teams. Making the most of the University's collaborative focus, Collaborations for Health views health from multiple perspectives and engages all faculties and departments in projects that seek to answer the "big" questions. The initiative focuses on three specific themes: Health and the Environment; Health Services and Policy and Development Across the Lifespan.

  • Chair in Global Health
    Operating within the Faculty of Social Sciences' new Department of Health, Aging and Society, this priority Chair will coordinate efforts to study the social, political and economic factors that contribute to threats to human health.


  • Chair in Anthropology of Health
    The priority Named Chair in Anthropology of Health will provide leadership and expertise in determining how social, cultural, environmental and physical factors affect the health and wellbeing of individuals and communities in Canada, and other countries.


  • Chair in Neuroscience of Life Course Development
    Calling upon various experts in the life sciences, and linking several initiatives and projects (e.g. McMaster Institute for Music and the Mind, the Institute for Cognitive Science of Language), this priority Chair will concentrate on how environmental enrichment enhances brain development and how this affects language, emotion and behaviour throughout the life span.


  • Chair in Life Course Studies
    The Named Chair in Life Course Studies will lead collaborative research and study into understanding the forces and experiences that shape human development throughout the course of life.

  • Chair in Transdisciplinary Studies of Health-Environment Interactions
    Drawing on strengths like the McMaster Institute of Environment and Health, this Named Chair will provide expertise on emerging issues in the environment and health sectors. Examples of such issues include public health interventions, the role of the urban environment on health, and the role of toxicants on health.


  • Chair in Health Services and Policy
    The Named Chair in Health Services and Policy will take the lead in promoting high quality, socially relevant knowledge in health policy that makes a positive difference in people's lives. He/she will draw upon McMaster's established strength in this area (e.g. the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis).

  • Operating Funds


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DeGroote School of Business Research Chairs

Leadership, ethics and innovation are the guiding themes behind the strategic plan to advance the DeGroote School of Business to even higher levels of achievement. The plan involves three key areas: producing excellent and influential research; offering high quality, innovative educational programs; and building productive and enduring relationships within the school and throughout the community. Ten new Chairs have been identified, with specializations in areas critical to today's business environment.

  • Chair in Entrepreneurial Leadership (Funded - click here for details)

    The Chair in Entrepreneurial Leadership will study the leadership practices, styles and philosophies that are necessary for individual entrepreneurs to succeed.

  • Chair in Financial Literacy and the Individual Investor
    This priority Chair will conduct research that focuses on individual investors and how they can become better informed amidst overwhelming and often complex options for trading and investing.

  • Chair in Health Services Management
    Another priority Chair will examine the issues confronting health services management, including the need for incorporating sound business practices and strategies in the delivery of healthcare to Canadians.

  • Chair in Capital Markets - Market Structure
    Today's global marketplace is characterized by increased access and an abundance of trading options. The Chair in Capital Markets - Market Strategies will study the impact this new era of trading has on equities and their value.

  • Chair in Energy Conservation and Demand Management

    This Chair will concentrate on what consumers need and want with respect to energy and how those needs can be satisfied efficiently and economically while promoting a clean and sustainable environment.

  • Chair in Communications Management
    This Chair will explore Canada’s role in shaping global PR best practices and procedures; the contribution of communications management and crisis management to the ongoing productivity and enhancement of organizations; and the role of crisis management in safeguarding the organization.

  • Chair in Accounting Policy

    Topics to be addressed by this Chair include: the impact of the new globalized economy on Canada’s accounting policies and practices; Canada’s role in shaping global accounting best practices and procedures and the impact of globalized activity on Canadian GAAP.

  • Chair in Supply Chain Management
    The Chair will play a key role in the development of the newly established McMaster Institute for Transport and Logistics and will conduct research in all aspects of supply chain management including sourcing, procurement, inventory, logistics, customer service management, and multi-modal transportation.

  • Chair in Information Systems - Internet Privacy and Identity Theft
    This Chair will research new policies, practices and technologies to combat identity theft, identify new methods for individuals to protect their identities and provide new strategies for the digital era.

  • Chair in Economic Crime Prevention
    This Chair will lead intensive research aimed at understanding the root causes of economic crime and developing a national framework to reduce the risks associated with these criminal activities. .


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Sustainable Energy Systems

The McMaster Institute for Energy Studies was established to promote the interdisciplinary study of energy extraction, transformation, generation, transportation and end-use. Researchers from across all faculties are addressing the challenges facing Ontario's energy supply through the study and development of alternative energy systems that are clean, environmentally responsible, dependable and sustainable.

  • Chair in Nuclear Energy
    The Named Chair in Nuclear Energy will build on McMaster's recognized strengths in nuclear engineering to study ways to increase the potential of nuclear energy while ensuring the highest level of public safety.


  • Chair in Sustainable Energy
    The Named Chair in Sustainable Energy will head up research into alternative, economically viable sources of energy production including wind, solar and hydrogen fuel cells.


  • Operating Funds


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Origins Institute

The Origins Institute at McMaster University was established as an international centre for scientists from all disciplines to research and collaborate on some of the most fundamental questions of mankind: How and why did the universe begin? What is the origin of space and time? How did stars, galaxies and planets form? How did life begin on Earth? Can and does life exist elsewhere in the solar system?

  • Chair in the Origins of Life on Earth
    The Named Chair in the Origins of Life will be a leader in the search to understand how life on earth began. Studies will attempt to determine how the first biomolecules were created, what were the processes that led to the formation of the first cells, and what was the first genetic code.


  • Chair in Astrobiology
    The Named Chair in Astrobiology will lead research in the search for life in the solar system. Studies will focus on studying extreme ecosystems on Earth to determine how life in other places (such as Mars, where there appears to be evidence of water at some time) may have survived.


  • Chair in the Origin and Evolution of Planets
    This Named Chair will oversee transdisciplinary research that incorporates the astrophysics of planets and how they form, geophysics and geology that is at the heart of planetary science, and the study of atmospheres around the earth and other planets.


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Health Science Research Chairs

McMaster's Faculty of Health Sciences and its Michael G. DeGroote School of Medicine enjoy an excellent reputation within Canada and around the world for outstanding academics, innovative research,and revolutionary practices such as problem-based learning and evidence-based Medicine. The addition of ten new Chairs - in specializations that reflect the most critical health and medical issues of our time - will further solidify McMaster's leading edge status as Canada's premier health university.

  • Chair in Human Stem Cell Biology
  • Chair in Gastrointestinal Disorders
  • Chair in Childhood Brain Injuries
  • Chair in Social Inequities in Health
  • Chair in Biomedical Biology
  • Chair in Palliative Care
  • Chair in the Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis
  • Chair in Hereditary Breast Cancer
  • Chair in Pain
  • Chair - Specialization to be determined


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“Collaborations for Health is not a project, but rather a “way of doing business…looking at health from a number of perspectives.”

Susan Denberg, director of Collaborations for Health

Evolutionary anthropologist Henrik Poinar chose McMaster over universities such as Oxford, Berkeley and Zurich because of an academic environment that is “exceptionally open to collaboration.” Poinar says the biggest selling feature about McMaster was the willingness of fellow professors and scientists to share idea and resources such as lab space while at the same time, push each other to make pursue new theories, ask questions and make new discoveries. “People were excited here,” he says. “There were no pretensions. That really impressed me. It’s all about how good your work is and you are appreciated for who you are.”

Astrobiology is a reminder that this is the way science often works. You have people from various areas of expertise working on problems that have puzzled them all. Out of that mix, something very important often emerges.

Ralph Pudritz, director of the Origins Institute

Milena Head

“The Federal Trade Commission has declared that identity theft is the ‘Crime of the Century.’ This is not a phenomena isolated to the United States.  If you collect and use personal information, you are at risk. In the digital age in which we live, no system is completely foolproof. However, there are important steps to take so that you reduce the risk for your business. If you don’t the results can be disastrous in terms of lost revenue, lost reputation and perhaps even legal repercussions.”


Milena Head is an associate professor of information systems at the DeGroote School of Business

Richard Deaves

Individual investors play a crucial role in Canadian equity markets. The majority of Canadians, whether they realize it or not, can be considered individual investors for their efforts in managing their retirement savings, their children’s education funds or their own stock portfolios.


At a time when corporate governance, ethics and their impact on the corporate balance sheet and stock values have come into question in some of North America’s largest and most well known companies, the need for original research focused on serving and protecting the individual investor is both highly relevant and judicious.

Richard Deaves, professor, finance & business economics, studies how investors behave in financial markets.