CMN INITIATING GROUPS MEETING OUTPUTS Drafted in April 2016

Introduction

Initiating Groups are the regional bodies that will serve as a point of contact during the

initial development of the Canadian Mountain Network (CMN) and the Networks of

Centers of Excellence (NCE) proposal.

This document outlines questions that each Initiating Group (IG) needs to answer in

order for the CMN to coordinate activities, leverage Network resources, create strategic

documents, catalogue infrastructure, establish a baseline of mountain research, etc.

As the host institution, the University of Alberta is providing a virtual project workspace

for the Secretariat and the IGs. In order to effectively share data and documentation,

please record your answers in the Notebooks section of Teamwork Projects.

https://canadianmountainnetwork.teamwork.com

For the sake of consistency and effective communication, we have established five levels

of engagement (designations) with the CMN. These are consistent with the structure of

the NCE Program (www.nce-rce.gc.ca):

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Institutional

● Network Member: An academic institution eligible to receive funds from at least

one of Canada’s Granting Agencies who would like to be signatories of the

network agreement if the CMN is successful in becoming an NCE.

● Network Affiliate: An organization that helps the NCE-funded organization carry

out its mandate. Network Affiliates include contributors who provide funding and

in-kind contributions, and all other organizations that assist in other ways (i.e.

research collaborations).

● Research Institute: Not for profit organization that conducts research

independently of universities but can be associated with an existing university,

college or hospital.

Individual

● Friend: Individuals who may or may not be affiliated with an organization, but who

want to contribute to the network personally by offering their time, expertise,

financial support, etc.

● Advisor: Individuals who are not directly involved in the Network, but who make

themselves available to offer advice and guidance. Advisors may be called upon to

form an Advisory Committee should the CMN become an NCE.

Getting to know you

In order to build a Network, we need to understand what kind of research is already

being done and who is involved.

1. Please provide a list of all IG members including their name, title, institution,

research area, phone number, and email. Please indicate if each member would

feel comfortable having a bio and picture added to the CMN website.

2. Please indicate how members (institutions and individuals) fit into the

designations described in the introduction (member, affiliate, etc).

3. Based on your IG members, how many HQPs – Highly Qualified Personnel – (as

defined by the NCE) are currently being trained as part of your mountain research

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efforts? We would like to get a baseline number (with details such as project, level

of education, etc.) so as we move toward application, we can show both a growth

in numbers of HQPs as well as a deepening of their educational experience by

being affiliated with the CMN.

4. Please indicate what mountain-related research is currently being conducted

within your IG region, and the researcher responsible. Secondly, what research is

in the planning stages, and if there are any research requirements that have been

identified, but have yet to be funded (gaps). Are there any research strategy

documents that provide a summary of activities and needs?

5. Using the “What we heard” Theme Summary document, provided as a starting

point, which Themes are most important to your IG?

6. Are there any researchers in your IG that are working on innovative approaches to

problems – i.e. new technologies, new processes, new partnerships for training,

etc.?

7. What infrastructure does your IG have available that could support research

initiatives and be used by other researchers? What additional infrastructure is

needed by researchers in your region?

8. We would like to identify individuals who might act as advisors for the CMN. These

experts will not be directly involved in the Network, but would be able to advise us

on a variety of key issues. If we are successful with our application, these advisors

may be called upon to form an advisory committee. Can you think of individuals in

your region that match this profile who would be interested in becoming a

resource for the CMN?

Your stakeholders

In order to determine who our audience is, we need to understand all the players

involved.

1. Who would you consider your IGs stakeholders – those involved in mountain

research and those benefiting from it.

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2. Specifically, in your IG who needs to hear about the outcomes of your research?

Examples include: decision makers, municipalities, communities, media partners,

etc.

3. Is there anyone else not sitting at the table today that needs to be involved in the

IG or alternatively brought into the loop as an Adviser or Friend of the CMN?

General questions

Please answer the following questions:

1. Please outline what you perceive is the purpose of the CMN, and why having this

Network can become important for your region?

2. How can the CMN help researchers generate and implement multifaceted

solutions to the complex Canadian challenges it is designed to address?

3. An important element of our NCE application will be outlining our plan to train

highly qualified personnel (HQPs). The HQP section of the NCE application is often

done poorly, and we want to ensure that we exceed expectations for this

objective. As a result, we are considering the concept of providing a series of

modules and/or workshops for CMN HQPs that would act as an add-on to their

subject matter training. In order to help those HQPs transition smoothly from

academia to the corporate world as over 80% of graduates must, we would offer

workshops taught by a combination of academic and non-academic experts

consulting on topics such as leadership, online communication, proposal/grant

writing, working with the indigenous, etc. Would you consider this type of training

a valuable service?

4. What ways can your IG promote and help brand-build for the CMN? Examples

include: arranging speaking opportunities, helping to write and promote CMN

articles, helping to bring in new members by networking, etc.

5. It is critical that a network such as ours manage our research data effectively.

Please brainstorm how we could set up our data management schema, are their

existing resources available, do you have recommendations for an expert to help

with its formation, what structure do you see it taking, how best can we set things

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up in order to share findings both with the public and researchers (summary data,

and in some cases, raw data), etc.?

6. Please brainstorm ways that your IG is able to provide in-kind support for the

CMN in order to expand our capacity and demonstrate Canada-wide engagement

and support for this project, which will become important for our eventual NCE

application.

7. What international relationships does your IG have that could be used to

strengthen our international ties and open opportunities to CMN HQPs and

researchers?

8. We will be required to develop or adopt a standards code of conduct for CMN and

evolve this over time based on best practices. Do members of your IG already

have such a guide and how can you contribute?

9. Does the IG have any questions for the Secretariat that might add clarity?

What will we do with this information?

Activities to be led by the Secretariat at U of A during 2016 1

● Create strategic documents for review by the Steering Group (mandate, goals,

objectives, governance, fundraising and communications plans, etc.)

● Summarize notebooks from the IGs to establish a baseline of mountain research

in Canada and distribute to the Network.

● Writing member bios (including pictures) and adding them to our website. This will

allow network members and outside researchers to easily identify natural

collaborators.

● Creating research profiles that outline current research being done on Canadian

mountains with a link to that researcher’s bio page. We will eventually include

these profiles as a part of a larger CMN online information portal about mountain

research.

● Organizing a trade-show style event for researchers and industry to display their

mountain research and innovations. All CMN stakeholders would be invited

including decision makers, funders, communities, HQPs (for networking), etc.

1 To be carried out by the Secretariat in collaboration with the Network contributors.

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● An international podcast featuring researchers answering key questions about

mountains.

● HQP workshops

● International Mountain Day (December 11th) Event

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