From the Desk of the Vice-President, Academic and Research: Teaching, Learning, and Research Initiatives

As we move into March, I am pleased to share exciting academic and research progress over the past month. We have secured new research funding opportunities for Island Studies and vaccine research, among others. The AI Advisory Group has awarded funding for projects that strengthen the University's capacity in thoughtful and evidence-based curriculum redesign that incorporates artificial intelligence. This month's newsletter provides a brief update on other teaching, learning, and research initiatives across campus. 

Curriculum Coherence

The Academic Planning and Curriculum Committee (APCC) developed a curricular coherence initiative in April 2025 which aims to reduce or remove unnecessary obstacles that impede student progression to graduation. The Teaching and Learning Centre has recently shared data for a set of curriculum coherence indicators for the past year and averages for the past three and five academic years for each academic program at UPEI. The data was compiled from various sources, including the Academic Calendar. Academic units have been asked to reflect upon the data for their program(s) and consider possible ways to improve curricular coherence. Please contact Dr. Charlene VanLeeuwen, Manager, Teaching and Learning Centre, with any questions, for assistance, or to identify any issues with the curriculum coherence data. 

Canada Impact+ Research Chairs

A new Canada Impact+ Research Chair program was announced by the federal government in December 2025. The program aims to attract internationally renowned researchers, from outside of Canada, in designated areas of strategic importance to Canada. I am pleased to report that UPEI was granted an application limit of $3M/year, which would fund up to three Impact+ Chairs, valued at up to $8 million each ($1 million per year for eight years). A Research Training Award that funds Doctoral and Postdoctoral training was also announced. UPEI is allocated one Doctoral fellowship valued at $40,000 per year for three years and one postdoctoral fellowship at $70,000 per year for two years. 

Designated areas of the program align well with existing UPEI strengths such as health, biotechnology, climate resilience, democratic and community resilience, and clean technology. There will be two competition rounds, with deadlines in March and June.  While the accelerated timeline has been demanding, it has sharpened our focus on identifying top-tier candidates and streamlining our application process.  A Search Committee was formed to nominate a candidate(s) for the March competition, with further nomination(s) anticipated for June. Nominations for the Impact+ Training Awards were sent for submission to the Tri-Agency prior to the submission deadline of March 4. 

Research Grant Administration Platform (from Romeo to Endpoint IQ)

UPEI’s current research grant administration platform, Romeo, has reached its end of life. The platform was originally developed by a company called Process Pathways, which was later acquired by a larger company, Cayuse.  

A request for proposals was issued in June 2024 to select UPEI’s next grant administration platform. Proposals were received from Cayuse, Worktribe (a UK-based software platform for higher education research and curriculum management) and Endpoint IQ (a research management software company in Toowong, Australia) and their products were beta-tested. For several reasons, including better functionality, more user-friendly interface, and extra features for graduate program administration as well as cost, the selection group decided that the best direction forward will be Endpoint IQ. The new platform offers all core Romeo capabilities (e.g., functionality for tracking funding applications and research ethics compliance). In addition, it is configurable, and provides the flexibility to digitize adjacent workflows, reduce administrative burden on users, meet all Canadian regulatory reporting requirements, and ensure critical processes don’t fall through the cracks.  

Our current Romeo license will expire at the end of this year. The team in the Office of Research Services (ORS), in collaboration with IT Systems and Services, is planning to begin a migration of research data and training users over the spring and summer 2026 in time for a full transition in the upcoming fall/winter terms. Endpoint’s Scholar IQ graduate research student management platform will also have valuable features to support every phase of the graduate student lifecycle, from application to examinations and thesis submissions, and advanced analytics, among others. Stay tuned for more information coming from ORS as this new platform rolls out. For further information, please contact Dr. Marva Sweeney-Nixon, Associate V-P Research, and Dean of Graduate Studies. 

Senate Committee on Teaching Evaluation

The Senate Committee on Teaching Evaluation is meeting monthly to investigate alternative holistic approaches to teaching evaluation. A process of consultation with the University community has begun—starting with student focus groups. A second phase will be happening shortly with faculty, sessional instructors, students, and administrators. A call for expressions of interest will be circulated. Please consider participating in a focus group. The second phase of focus groups will be examining, in detail, alternative methods that are used at other universities, the suitability of different approaches to the UPEI context, and elements that you would like to see incorporated into teaching evaluation processes at UPEI. The goal is to improve our current methods of teaching evaluation to mitigate bias, while still including student voices and feedback in teaching evaluations. A webinar with an invited speaker is tentatively planned for late March or early April, to provide an overview of teaching evaluation methods across higher education. This webinar will be open to the entire campus community and will precede the second phase of focus groups.  

Teaching and Learning Workshops

Please mark your calendar for upcoming professional development workshops and Lunch and Learn sessions to be hosted by the Teaching and Learning Centre in RL 230.

• Multiple Choice Testing: Myths and Misconceptions (March 18 at 11:30 am)
• Tenure/Permanency and Promotion workshop series, including Putting it All Together (March 13 at 12:30 pm); and Explaining your Professional Clinical Service Activities (May 14 at 1:30 pm)
• Moodle Gradebook (March 24 at 1:30 pm—ONLINE)
• Moodle Essentials (April 22 at 1:30 pm—ONLINE)

The annual UPEI Teaching Community Conference will be held on April 28, 2026. Further details are available here. Please note that the deadline for submission of proposals has been extended to Monday, March 9, 2026.

Greg F. Naterer, PhD, P.Eng. (he / him)
Vice-President, Academic and Research
University of Prince Edward Island
Charlottetown, PE Canada C1A 4P3