Guiding Principles

Western Research will lead and partner on activities that support our community’s success and all the steps along the way. We will provide services and foster a culture of inclusivity that embraces, supports, and accelerates research, scholarship, and creative activity in all disciplines and at all career and learning stages. We will continue to provide, evaluate, and expand upon administrative and strategic supports and programs that enhance our scholars’ success.

In collaboration with the Office of Indigenous Initiatives and the office of the Associate Vice-President (Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion), Western Research will take proactive steps to extend equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization efforts in the academy and in related activities. We will ensure ethical research engagement with Indigenous communities; recognize colonial practices in, and adopt anti-colonial approaches to, research; and work with partners to advance equity, diversity, inclusion, and decolonization in all programs, services, and funding initiatives we support.

Academic freedom is at the heart of university life and protected by the Faculty Collective Agreement. Respecting this core commitment, Western Research will be responsible stewards of knowledge, support open access initiatives, and help our community to safeguard research activities by protecting intellectual property and by ensuring compliance with regulations governing research, including national security guidelines for partnerships and the Tri-Agency research data management policy. Where appropriate, we will seek opportunities to advance the university’s research mission through high-risk, high-reward research.

London and Southwestern Ontario are home. By co-creating welcoming spaces, places, and activities that encourage partners to engage with Western’s research, scholarship, and creative activity, we will establish strong, ethical, and reciprocal partnerships on campus and with local and regional communities. As our collaborations, impact, and aspirations extend around the world – and beyond – we will also continue to nurture relationships, engage in mutually beneficial partnership development efforts, and share knowledge provincially, nationally, and internationally.