Canadian Centre For German and European Studies

The Centre brings together scholars and students from across the curriculum to engage in the interdisciplinary study of Germany in its European content. The Centre has offices at both the University of Montreal and York University. M.A. and Ph.D. students in sociology may pursue a Graduate Diploma in German and European Studies which involves a study/research stay at an affiliated institution in Germany. Assistantships and study/research abroad scholarships are available. Contact: 416-736-5695.

Canadian Century Research Infrastructure Project (CCRI)

York University is one of seven university centres across Canada involved in building the Canadian Century Research Infrastructure (CCRI). Located at 282 York Lanes, the York University Centre will be officially open in the Spring of 2003.

The CCRI is one of the most comprehensive humanities and social science research projects in Canadian history. The project is a five-year pan-Canadian initiative to develop a range of databases from manuscript census records for 1911-1951. The CCRI databases will be linked to other existing decennial census databases that cover the periods from 1871 to 1901 and from 1971 to 2001. The result will be a new foundation for the study of social, economic, cultural, and political change. The Canadian Century Research Infrastructure includes an extraordinary range of data about this “long” twentieth century.

The census databases offer unprecedented evidence about Canada's changing society bringing individuals, families, and households to the forefront of historical investigation, and opening up a myriad of groundbreaking research opportunities. The evidence derived from the project facilitates unique and extensive studies of the changing characteristics of Canada's population, the country's economic changes, and such related questions as the changing character of labour, housing, immigration, families, education, language distributions, ethnicity and religion.

In order to create the micro-datasets, CCRI researchers will examine the cultural, geographic and ideological character of the census questions and responses for each enumeration. Rather than viewing these questions as neutral inquiries and their responses as benign "facts" immediately ready for analysis, CCRI will undertake systematic studies of the social context within which the census questions were constructed and within which answers were provided. These studies will contribute to the contextual data of CCRI by providing users with historically-grounded information about the substantive content of the data under examination. These contextual data can be conceptualized as helping provide the "blueprints" not only for the appropriate construction of CCRI but also for successful analysis by researchers. In this way, CCRI will not only promote substantively-justified analysis but will also contribute to a better-informed discussion of key social and policy issues. The census data and contextual information will be web-extractable. CCRI is supported by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Innovation Trust, the FCAR Funds (Quebec), the Harold Crabtree Foundation, IBM Canada, Statistics Canada, the National Archives of Canada and other partners.

York Centre Director: Professor Gordon Darroch, Sociology 2090 Vari Hall and 282 York Lanes (darroch@yorku.ca). York Centre Coordinator, Dr. Evelyn Ruppert, 282 York Lanes (ruppert@yorku.ca). 416-736-2100 ext 33494 or 416- 650-8227. See the national website http://www.canada.uottawa.ca/ccri/ and through the York home page.

Centre for Feminist Research (CFR)

Launched in 1991, this Centre is the focal point for all research in the area of women's studies at York University. The Centre encourages the participation of graduate students who have an interest in feminist research. Contact: 416-736-5915.

Centre for International and Security Studies

Contact: 416-736-5156.

Centre for Jewish Studies

Contact:416-736-5823.

Centre For Refugee Studies

Inaugurated in the fall of 1988, the Centre was designated as a Centre of Excellence by the Canadian International Development Agency in 1991. The Centre's activities broadly encompass: refugee movements, and resettlements, the prevention of human rights violations, democratic development, effective human rights machinery and the conditions of sustainable return, and protection from discrimination. The Centre houses a full range of scholarly pursuits: research, publishing and documentation. It is possible to receive a graduate Diploma in Refugee and Migration Studies in conjunction with a Master's or Doctoral degree program. The Centre is located at 322 York Lanes. Contact: 416-736-5663.

Centre For Research On Latin America And The Caribbean (CERLAC)

Established in 1978, this is Canada's only university-based research centre specializing in Latin American and Caribbean studies. CERLAC is an interdisciplinary research unit concerned with the economic development, political and social organization, and cultural contributions of Latin America and the Caribbean. The Centre receives visiting scholars, organizes conferences and lectures, and houses an extensive and unique collection of documents. Students currently completing a Master or Doctoral program at York are eligible to receive a Graduate Diploma in Latin American and Caribbean Studies. Contact: 416-736-5237.

Centre For Research On Work And Society (CRWS)

The Centre was founded at York University in 1990 to address the issues arising for labour out of the transformations in the world of work. The Centre publishes a newsletter, an electronic journal, Just Labour, and working papers series, offers a Resource Centre containing material from a number of English and French speaking countries, and office space and research assistantships to graduate students. Contact: 416-736-5612.

Institute for Research on Learning Technologies (formerly the Centre for the Study of Computers in Education)

Contact: 416-736-5001.

Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS)

The Joint Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement (CERIS) aims to facilitate the integration of immigrants into the Greater Toronto Area and the rest of Canadian society in three ways: by influencing government policy and practice through research; by providing training for students and community-based researchers; and by disseminating relevant research information and promoting comparative research at the national and international levels.

CERIS is a consortium of universities in the Toronto area, including York, immigrant service agencies, other community groups and planning councils. Aware that more than 200,000 immigrants arrive in Canada each year, 70,000 of whom settle in the Greater Toronto Area, CERIS began gathering information about how individuals adapt to life here and examining the impact of immigration on society. Contact: 416-946-3110.

Culture of Cities Project

The international interdisciplinary research project on the Culture of Cities has produced publications such as Alan Blum’s The Imaginative Structure of the City (2003), and special issues of journals on Scenes in the City (Public, 22/23), Space, Place and Culture (Canadian Journal of Urban Research, Summer 2002 Vol. 11 Issue 1), Continuity and Change in Contemporary Dublin (Canadian Journal of Irish Studies, Fall 2004), le Spectacle des villes (Sociologie et Sociétés, 2005), and forthcoming volumes on City Ciphers: Montreal and Toronto (ed. J. Sloan), Circulation (ed. A. Boutros and W. Straw), Ethical Collisions: Case Studies in the Culture of the City (eds. A. Blum and K. Dowler), Art and the Material City (A. Blum and K. Dowler), and separate volumes on Citizenship (ed. Kieran Bonner), and Building and Rebuilding (ed. Alan Blum).

The project has been transformed into a centre of intellectual initiatives, communal activities, program development, and research and teaching in anew location in downtown Toronto. Students from a variety of graduate programs collaborate with faculty in research through conferences, workshops and publications. A number of graduate students from sociology work towards their degrees through research initiated and developed on the Project. The Centre hosts occasional special events, Friday afternoon talks by invited speakers, and a film series. All interested students are invited and can contact the centre for information and to be added to the list for announcements. The Centre maintains active relationships with faculty at Ryerson, Glendon, and the School of Architecture at the University of Waterloo. A new five year research project will be located at the centre beginning in September 2006 funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, City Life and Well-Being: The Grey Zone in Health and Illness, directed by Alan Blum with Kevin Dowler and other colleagues from neighbouring universities and hospitals. Contact: blum@yorku.ca.

Health Services And Nursing Research

Professor Pat Armstrong is the current Chair in Health Services and Nursing Research, and is expected to educate and mentor students in the areas of health policy and politics, emphasizing gender and political economy, with input from the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions and the Women’s Health Bureau at Health Canada on applied health services and policy research issues.

Institute For Social Research (ISR)

ISR maintains the largest university-based survey research unit in Canada, directed by sociologist Michael Ornstein. The Institute's data archivist Anne Oram (oram@yorku.ca) provides access to studies conducted by the Institute and to Statistics Canada data distributed via the Data Liberation Initiative, and to a variety of major Canadian surveys. The Statistical Consulting Service at the Institute provides assistance to faculty members and students who are engaged in social research (quantitative and qualitative), from the design stage through to analysis; please contact Bryn Greer-Wootten (bryngw@yorku.ca). Each fall, winter and spring, ISR offers a variety of short courses in data analysis, statistical computing, qualitative research and survey research methods. The Institute's website is at www.isr.yorku.ca. Telephone: 416-736-5061.

LaMarsh Centre For Research On Violence And Conflict Resolution

The Centre is mandated to support, conduct and disseminate the results of research on violence and conflict resolution in the broad sense. The Centre sponsors seminars, organizes an annual graduate student symposium and provides graduate students with office space and employment as research assistants on various projects. Contact: 416-736-5528.

Nathanson Centre For The Study Of Organized Crime And Corruption

The focus of the Nathanson Centre is on the development of a cross-disciplinary agenda of research and project initiatives to enhance our knowledge of the issues related to organized crime and/or transnational crime and corruption. A priority of the Centre is to cultivate a community of graduate students from diverse disciplines who will choose to research topics related to organized crime and/or transnational crime, security and corruption. Graduate fellowships are available. Contact: 416-736-5907.

Qualitative Research and Resource Centre (QRRC)

The Qualitative Research and Resource Centre (formerly the Small Groups Laboratory) was established as a vehicle to promote the study and practice of qualitative inquiry. The Centre can accommodate a range of studies including focus groups, longitudinal research, narrative inquiry, natural observation, and group interviews.

Research facilities and resources include: study design consultation, technical advice and support, reference materials, qualitative software, audio and video taping, transcription equipment, and observation facilities. The Centre organizes workshops and forums on issues of interest to qualitative researchers. Contact: 416-736-5014.

Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies

Contact: 416-736-5415.

York Centre for Asian Research

Professor Peter Vandergeest directs The York Centre for Asian Research, which was created to enhance the understanding of Asia and Asian diasporas. Their goal is to raise the profile of scholarship and education about Asia and Asian diasporas through research, lectures, workshops, and other public events. YCAR also supports scholars, community groups, and other organizations working to improve social justice and welfare in Asia and among Asian communities elsewhere. Through links with NGOs, governments, and academic institutions in Asia, Canada and elsewhere, YCAR facilitates the exchange of ideas and knowledge and promotes public awareness about Asia and Asian diasporas. YCAR is a centre for information on expertise about Asia and Asian Canadians, both within York University and further afield.
Contact: 416-736-2100 Ext. 44068.

York Institute For Health Reseacrh (YIHR)

The York Institute for Health Research encourages examination of health issues within an interdisciplinary context. There are currently six areas of research at the Centre: Political Economy of Health; Health Policy, Institutions and Professions; Women and Health; Culture, Ethnicity and Health; Mental and Physical Fitness; Health and the Environment. The Centre is building a bank of graduate students interested in research project work. Contact: 416-736-5941.

York University Centre for Public Law and Public Policy

Contact:416-736-5515.