Award of Excellence in Applied Research

The Award of Excellence in Applied Research honours faculty, staff, and/or work teams who contribute to the achievement of JIBC’s vision and consistently demonstrate the values of the organization.

2018

No award was given.

2017

Disaster Resilience Planning Program

The JIBC Disaster Resilience Planning Program is a stellar example of how JIBC contributes professional, applied research and training expertise to build safer, healthier and more resilient communities in BC, across Canada and abroad. 

The creation and continued development of this applied research program is highly relevant in the context of the vulnerability of small coastal, remote and rural communities to natural disasters and hazards such as recent BC wildfires and floods. Such communities face a number of socio-economic and geographical challenges.

The resulting Rural Disaster Resilience Planning Framework is a flexible, participatory, and community-centred process for engaging remote and rural communities in disaster resilience planning at the local level with a focus on enhancing local capacity and capability.  It is available online and has received international awards.

It has also contributed to the enhanced and new curriculum at JIBC, and increased research capacity, technical innovation and expertise, and professional development.

2016

Adam Vaughan

Adam Vaughan has been involved in many projects and proposals over the past four years, starting with the Simulation Training and Exercise Collaboratory Project (SIMTEC).

Adam has been an advocate for research in the mental health of first responders, helping revise the resilience course that supports all professions represented at JIBC, and serving as Co-Principle Investigator on a Centre for Safety and Security proposal to evaluate the implementation of the course into all public safety professions, in uniformed and non-uniformed personnel. This course has garnered much attention recently, and may well be used in New Zealand, Australia, the US, and Canada, creating international interest and providing an opportunity to promote JIBC at events and help in brand awareness.

Adam has been working in teams at JIBC in research and has been instrumental in providing data analysis help and advice across several projects. He has authored a paper for SIMTEC, and co-authored a paper on resilience. He has also presented at international conferences representing JIBC and JIBC research.

2015

JIBC Student Research Skills Framework project team – Florence Daddey, April Haddad, Greg Metcalf, Tannis Morgan, Sarah Wareing and Nathan Wright – led by Greg Anderson, Stuart Ruttan and Ron Bowles

The JIBC Student Research Skills Framework was developed to guide and promote the development of research skills of JIBC students. The project team represented all three Schools, the Office of Applied Research and Graduate Studies and the Library.

In essence, the framework uses an inquiry-based learning model which makes it possible for students to learn research methods while examining topics or issues that are of interest to them. JIBC instructors are therefore able to identify suitable research activities for their students regardless of their academic level.

Through the team’s efforts, rather than being passive learners, students find themselves in the research "driver's seat," learning the skills to answer questions that directly impact their workplace, their community, and their own lives.