The Faculty of Graduate Studies (FGS) fosters excellence in graduate education and postdoctoral research at York University. FGS is committed to supporting and advocating for graduate student and postdoctoral scholar success, intensifying research, delivering innovative and accountable services, and providing oversight to ensure high quality graduate programming, teaching and learning.

Dean's Remarks
2017-18 was another banner year for award-winning graduate and postdoctoral research at York University. So energetically are researchers applying their knowledge, research, and communication skills in collaboration with a host of community partners to analyse and solve local and global problems.
A great example of this is the award-winning research, historical, contemporary, often bridging both, which focuses critical attention on the lives of girls and women. Sociology postdoctoral researcher Dr. Rachel Barken’s analyses of women’s informal care work in long-term care settings seeks effective alterations of policy and practice. The results of clinical neuropsychology doctoral student Komal Shaikh’s investigations of cognitive dysfunction associated with cancers that disproportionately affect women will heighten awareness in the medical community and the broader circles of support care. Banting postdoctoral researcher Dr. Heather Fitzsimmons Frey’s innovative methodology to investigate 19th-century in-home theatricals employs practice-based research which is simultaneously knowledge creation and knowledge mobilization. While examining with youth participants various diaries, letters, and scripts, working through scenes and discussing images, Fitzsimmons Frey draws findings which braid youth psychology, sociology and education.
These projects exemplify the cross-disciplinary nature of so much research conducted by the graduate and postdoctoral community at York, involving innovative, inter- and multi-disciplinary methodologies and significant implications.
Look, for instance, at how master’s student, Raghed Charabaty, uses film to explore the relationship between mass uprooting, political unrest and the hostility of desertification in the Middle East. One of four CGS Nelson Mandela award-winners at York, his work can’t but ignite ideas in the minds of those working in, for instance, International Development Studies, Disaster and Emergency Management, Middle Eastern History and Politics, Geography (physical and human) and Environmental Studies.
The impact of postdoctoral researchers on campus is increasing exponentially, exemplified, for instance, in Dr. Heath MacMillan. Not only did his resource flourish with international recognition in Biology Professor Andrew Donini’s lab, collaborating with Professors Jean-Paul Paluzzi and Scott Kelly, but his supervision of master’s student Gil Yerushalmi played its own role in this brilliant MSc being recognised and awarded for his own biological research.
The Faculty of Graduate Studies earned some recognition of its own this year – indeed, acclaim – by hosting for the first time at York University the provincial Three Minute Thesis (3MT) competition. Credit is due to interim Dean, Fahim Quadir, Communications Manager, Wesley Moir, and all of the staff of FGS for this exciting research event. Of special note also this past year is the creation of FGS’s innovative Wellness Consultation Service, with kudos upon its principal counsellor, Sarah Irwin-Gardner. Designed specifically for ease of access and confidentiality, the Wellness Consultation Service offers a unique, fast-access counselling and consultation service specifically for graduate students.
With a segue opportune yet uncomfortable, I must note that 2018 was also a year of great challenge for the graduate and postdoctoral community at York, with a labour disruption that affected the primary focus of all students on campus, namely their studies. FGS is committed to supporting graduate students in all aspects of their academic and professional development as we move ahead from this challenging period. We administer the fellowship guaranteed by the university to all registered full-time graduate students, just as we administer with CUPE 3903 a variety of funds supporting graduate student research, fieldwork, and conference travel, degree completion and thesis/dissertation production, which have been negotiated between the university and the union. What cannot be lost as arbitration ensues, however, is the exceptional quality of our graduate students and all the contributions that they make at and to this university.
As we move into the fall term, I am excited for the opportunities that lie ahead for York, and am enthusiastic to see our scholars’ ground-breaking, status-quo shaking, and paradigm-shifting work flourish even further.

Thomas Loebel
Dean & Associate Vice-President
Faculty of Graduate Studies

Best Wishes, Fahim!
A warm thank you to our outgoing Interim Dean Fahim Quadir, who has taken on a new role as Vice-Provost and Dean of the School of Graduate Studies at Queen’s University, effective July 1.
Student Enrollment
Total Graduate Students 5,801
Graduates
JUNE 2017
831
Total Graduates
OCTOBER 2017
958
Total Graduates
1,800+
Petitions processed
137
Ethics protocols processed

175
Master's Papers/Projects completed
240
Master's theses completed
17
PhD Papers/Projects completed
232
PhD Dissertations completed

Wellness Consultation Program Launched
In December 2017, GradConnect Wellness Services launched a unique, fast-access counselling and consultation service specifically for graduate students. Wellness consultations help graduate students with:
- Concerns about mental health
- Balancing life as a graduate student
- Personal wellness goal setting
- Transitioning to graduate school
- Difficulty coping with stress, anxiety, self-doubt or isolation
- Staying healthy while progressing through one’s degree program
- Exploring options for mental health and wellness services at York University or in the community
Students have autonomy in booking appointments for wellness consultations and can do so by phone, email, or through an online scheduler that is available 24/7.

Updates to Research Ethics Protocols
York University policies on research ethics require that all research conducted by faculty members and students comply in full with the Tri-Council Policy Statement on Research Involving Human Participants. FGS and the Office of Research Ethics conducted an extensive review to make necessary and appropriate adjustments to the ethics approval procedures for graduate student research to ensure compliance.

Mental Health and Wellness Workshops Developed
Nine wellness workshops were held for the graduate community throughout the academic year. Topics included enhancing self-compassion and personal resilience, relaxation techniques, strategies for anxiety reduction and relaxation, and suicide prevention and intervention.

New Graduate Supervision Policy Developed
Following extensive consultations and outreach through the formation of a Working Group on Graduate Supervision, FGS developed a new policy on graduate supervision, in addition to developing complementary tools to assist supervisors in their principal task: helping students realize their scholarly potential in a timely manner.

YU START Launches for Grad Students
YU START is a new student transition program to help students prepare for graduate school at York. The online resource is an excellent tool for students to stay connected with the institution and to receive timely feedback to their questions through message boards and online groups with fellow colleagues.

FGS Hosts New Graduate Student Social
Partnering with York Libraries in the Scott Library Collaboratory in September, 406 new graduate students attended the event. The Social is a great opportunity for new students to meet colleagues from other graduate programs and to learn about a variety of academic support services available on campus to support their graduate journey.

Collaboration with the Elia Family
FGS collaborated with the 2017 Italian Contemporary Film Festival (ICFF) on the screening of Noelle’s Journey, a documentary by Peter Gentile based on the life of Mariano Elia. The Elia Scholars Program is York University’s most prestigious graduate award for incoming domestic or international doctoral students.

Council and Governance
- 48 program changes approved
- 2 new graduate programs approved, 2 new degrees (Supply Chain Management [MSCM], Marketing [MMKG])
- 395 faculty appointments processed
- 137 ethics protocols processed
- 172 course change approvals
- 96 new graduate courses approved
- 6 major policy enhancements approved by FGS Council

Dean's Initiative Fund
10 student events supported by the Dean's Initiative Fund, with over $6,000 in support distributed
Student Finances
$36,999,949
* Waivers: $44,311 included in chart
Major Graduate Scholarship Competitions
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) | York Recipients | Funds Awarded |
---|---|---|
CIHR Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship | 3 | $125,000.00 |
CIHR Doctoral Frederick Banting & Charles Best CGS | 15 | $420,000.00 |
CIHR Master's Frederick Banting & Charles Best CGS | 3 | $52,500.00 |
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) | ||
NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarship CGS-D | 9 | $291,665.00 |
NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Post Graduate Scholarship PGS-D | 12 | $245,000.00 |
NSERC Alexander Graham Bell Graduate Scholarship CGS-M | 12 | $163,335.00 |
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) | ||
SSHRC Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship | 13 | $610,417.00 |
Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Doctoral Scholarship | 88 | $2,911,671.00 |
SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship | 55 | $1,046,666.00 |
Joseph-Armand Bombardier CGS Master's Scholarship | 108 | $1,201,664.00 |
Provincial Scholarship Competitions | ||
Ontario Trillium Scholarship Program | 24 | $631,095.00 |
Ontario Graduate Scholarship | 249 | $3,251,666.00 |
QEII Graduate Scholarship in Science & Technology | 11 | $155,000.00 |
Total | 602 | $11,105,679.00 |
Major Postdoctoral Fellowship Competitions
Fellowship | York Recipients | Funds Awarded |
---|---|---|
CHIR Postdoctoral Fellowship | 1 | $45,000 |
NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowship | 1 | $45,000 |
SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellowship | 9 | $364,500 |
Total | 11 | $454,500 |
Postdoctoral Highlights

On April 19, 2018, York welcomed 20 remarkable graduate researchers from across the province to our campus.
3MT (Three Minute Thesis) is an international research competition where graduate students have 3 minutes to present their research and its impact to a panel of non-specialist judges and peers. Along with special guest Rob Baker of The Tragically Hip, FGS invited several graduate studies alumni of York to serve on the judging panel.


With close to 150 attendees, including a celebratory dinner with the Council of Ontario Universities (COU) and the Ontario Council on Graduate Studies (OCGS), 3MT Ontario 2018 was an exciting celebration of graduate research and collaboration.