CREDIT: LOGO PROVIDED BY DAN DOUGLAS
Dan Douglas, dean of Fanshawe's centre for research and innovation (CRI), said ranking among the top 10 colleges for research in Canada means more opportunities for students in the workplace.

Fanshawe College has ranked among the top 10 of Canada’s 50 research colleges for 2018, according to an annual list compiled by Research Infosource Inc.

According to its website, Research Infosource Inc. is a “leading source of ranking information on research universities, corporations, hospitals and colleges that are used and followed by the research and innovation community, opinion and policy leaders in the government, research, corporate, higher education and non-profit sectors”.

Fanshawe has been on the Top 50 research college rankings for Canada since 2014 and moved into the top 10 in 2017, where it remains for a second year.

The ranking is a measure of research income, number of research partnerships, number of completed research projects, number of paid student researchers, and industry research intensity (how much a firm spends on its research projects, divided by its sales).

“This ranking demonstrates the importance placed on research activity at Fanshawe and our commitment to collaborating with our business, industry and community partners to assist them with their research needs,” Dan Douglas, dean of Fanshawe’s centre for research and innovation (CRI), said. “We saw growth this past year in both number of projects completed and number of paid student researchers.”

Douglas said that the CRI engages in applied research, as opposed to developing new knowledge.

“[Industry partners] come to us with a defined problem, and we assist them to actually solve that problem,” Douglas said.

In doing so, Fanshawe’s students have the opportunity to gain the hands-on experience they need to join the workforce.

“We’re seeing a very high correlation between students who have engaged in research and their employability,” said Douglas. “Students are actually hired by the companies they work for on a research project, or hired by another company as a result of the skills they develop.”

The College’s past research projects include developing a soil-sampling robot for agricultural testing with A&L Canada Laboratories Inc.; looking at micro-manufacturing processes in fashion design; developing oral probiotics with Stellar Biome Inc.; developing web applications, and working on the manufacturing and biotechnology side of local food and beverage companies.

Douglas said that the College aims to take on funded research activities to keep Fanshawe’s profile high within the country.

He said that the placement on Research Infosource Inc.’s list demonstrates that the College is actively advancing their research agenda, which makes an impact when applying for external grants.

Students will display their research projects to the campus community on the College’s annual Research Innovation Day, taking place on March 20, 2019 in the James A. Colvin Atrium.

“Some [projects] will be funded research, and others will be what [students] have done in their classrooms,” said Douglas. “We’re here to support all the research activity both in the curriculum and external to the curriculum.”

To learn more about the CRI and keep up with the latest updates on its Research Innovation Day, go to fanshawec.ca/ResearchandInnovationDay.