Dr. Phil Barker, UBCO's former Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation, takes a reflective look at how research opportunities have flourished during his nine years in the role.
After nine years in the position, Dr. Philip Barker exited the role of UBC Okanagan's Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation (VPRI), on August 31, 2024.
He leaves behind an impressive list of accomplishments.
Under his leadership, total UBCO research funding skyrocketed to $45.9 million, an increase of 299 per cent from 2015 when he took the reins. The number of Canada Research Chairs saw a three-fold increase. Six interdisciplinary research institutes were fostered, as were nearly 30 clusters of research excellence. Nearly 1,100 active research projects were underway last year alone.
He led the creation of internal research funding programs to support research and recognize excellence, and championed an interdisciplinary approach to combine research experts from across the university to understand society's biggest problems and find creative, meaningful solutions.
As he prepares to begin life anew as a full-time researcher, Dr. Barker shares his thoughts on his time as VPRI, and how the UBCO research enterprise has changed to establish the campus as a major player in the Canadian and global research field.
What first drew you to UBCO?
I actually heard about the opportunity from my father-in-law who cut the ad out of the Globe and Mail and sent it to my wife. We were in Montreal at the time, and he lived in Vernon, so he definitely had a bit of a gentle pressure campaign going to get us to move west.
I threw my hat in the ring and was interviewed on a beautiful sunny day in March. I was immediately struck by the beauty of the campus, but the key thing was how taken I was with Dr. Deborah Buszard, the former UBCO Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor. The campus was only 10 years old and she had an exciting vision for UBCO and how I could contribute.
I came from an entrepreneurial background and saw this as a startup opportunity. I knew it would be fun to be on the ground floor and see what we could do in a region like this. My family had moved to Kelowna from Winnipeg when I was eight years old and I left 10 years later when I graduated from Kelowna Secondary School. The opportunity to come back and play a part in the growth of this part of the province was too good to pass up.
What were your first impressions of the university?
The university had done a great job of developing academic programs to meet the needs of students in the BC interior, but from a research point of view, they were still in the early stages-the campus didn't yet see itself as part of a research university. There was an issue around a lack of research infrastructure, but there also really wasn't a culture in which research was viewed as an important, essential part of an academic's job.
The good news was that UBCO was still young and there was a lot of potential and enthusiasm for what it could bring and become. All the signals were heading in the right direction, but there was a lot of work to do.
Can you explain more of the broad potential you saw early in your time here?
There were great researchers here, doing great things, but I still saw it as a greenfield project. It was a campus in one of the fastest-growing areas of the country, so there were obvious ways the campus could meet the needs of the region, and ways the region could help us get there. There were also really great things happening on the ground-exciting activities in the School of Engineering, the health domain work was really interesting, and there was great work going on in the humanities and social sciences. But it was largely on an individual researcher level-interdisciplinarity hadn't yet taken hold-so there was great potential in that regard.
Describe the research enterprise when you first arrived
Although there were real luminaries on the campus, it was a challenging environment because the campus hadn't yet committed to research and research infrastructure.
Even though researchers had needs, the campus was not well positioned to deliver on them. My job was to make sure our researchers and scholars had the tools and resources to do their job and to build a common understanding of how we'd get there, including the cost, and the value of doing it. Again, one of the attractions for me taking the role was working with Dr. Buszard, who completely understood. Together we made the case that we had to open facilities as well as establish funding programs and-with our amazing executive colleagues-we began to make investments in research to get things off the ground.
I was fortunate to arrive when there was funding available to make this happen and now UBCO has internal research funding programs like Aspire, Eminence and Critical Research Equipment and Tools. We had to work hard to get each one over the finish line and, in my opinion, they have been very successful. I'm proud to have helped make that happen for our researchers.
What has the UBCO research trajectory been during your time as VP?
Happily, the trajectory has been nothing but upward. I think one of the most important things I'm leaving behind is a community that believes research is important, is worth doing well, worth paying for and will support where we want to go as a society. The rising tide has been possible, in part, because of the internal programs we've funded to pull people together in interesting ways but also because our faculty have been knocking it out of the park in external funding competitions. Our Research Excellence Clusters have been one of the most successful initiatives, and have led to activity with significant influences.
We're doing everything from working with municipalities on homelessness and developing the latest and greatest in battery and solar energy technology, to exploring what wellness looks like in the 21st century and seeking ethical approaches to AI.
We've also paid attention to working closely with the Tri-councils and external partners and have seen great success as a result. Our share of Tri-council research funding has increased in a big way, which not only added to our upward trajectory but has contributed to our recognition nationally. This success is not a reflection of the VPRI, it's a reflection of a massive team effort.
Why were internal funding programs and initiatives important to the success of UBCO's research?
When I arrived, I was told we had a major challenge attracting young faculty because we could not offer the start-up packages that other institutions could. We responded by creating the Aspire program to contribute to start-up packages of our early career researchers, and this has been very successful. We also needed to develop programs that recognized research leadership on our campus and helped define excellence in research. To address this, we created the Principal's Research Chairs program. This program was a critical element in defining what excellence and research leadership looks like and continues to help us recognize outstanding work on our campus.
How has UBCO's national standing changed?
The Canada Research Chairs (CRC) program is Canada's premier mechanism for recognizing outstanding national scholarship. It's intended for rising stars, and for those who have already risen. When I arrived, UBC's complement of CRCs was weighted heavily toward Vancouver, and we only had five of these prestigious awards for our campus. It took a while but we have now developed a UBC system-wide distribution of CRCs that has resulted in an appropriate number of CRCs for UBCO and enhanced our profile on the national stage. I'm happy that we got this done.
How are UBCO's research advances adding value to the region and beyond?
Research campuses in mid-sized cities have outsized effects on economic prosperity by attracting bright people who create knowledge, offer new perspectives and develop products, services and capabilities. Our clinical psychology program is delivering psychologists throughout the province. Our Southern Medical Program is delivering general practitioners who establish practices in the region. The School of Engineering is delivering talent that serves the interior and far beyond. We've created a talent pipeline.
Our research partnerships are also key. Working with the City of Kelowna, we're exploring the best way to electrify the bus fleet, and whether solar energy in the city's buildings makes sense. We also act as an R&D partner for numerous companies and social agencies. There are literally hundreds of examples of UBCO faculty and researchers collaborating with entities in our community to try to enhance their ability to understand a problem and find solutions.
Describe the research enterprise as you see it today
We're on fire. We're competitive with other research campuses across the country and our share of Tri-council funding is in line with our research population. We are pursuing an exciting strategy to respond to climate change and researching the influence of interventional health treatments in rural and remote settings. Our humanities scholars are world-renowned. We're global leaders on the battery innovation front and potential faculty members in every discipline are striving to join us. UBCO's research journey will continue to be exciting for decades to come.
What are you most proud of during your time here?
Without a doubt, it's the development of a community that recognizes the importance of research and knows that we're not only doing great work, but delivering the best educational opportunities to our students. They are learning from experts who are cutting-edge in their fields. We're delivering on a promise to the community to do work that is regionally relevant and globally important. On the operational side, I'm especially proud of the VPRI team. They're an outstanding group of people devoted to the success of the research enterprise. Our path would not be possible without such a talented and dedicated group. I am grateful to have worked with each of them.
What are your hopes for the future?
I fully expect the trajectory developed over the last nine years will be maintained and the opportunity of the campus will continue to be realized. We're a jewel in the province's crown. I also anticipate the continued intelligent growth of campus by expanding the Innovation Precinct and West Campus lands. For me personally, I've been both a researcher in the trenches and a senior administrator. As I return to the professoriate, I am keen to fully re-engage with my lab and I hope I can bring perspectives that are helpful in advancing our overall research mission.
Any final thoughts?
It's been an exciting time, and I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to join UBCO and work with great people while I've done it. I've been lucky to have worked with three powerful female leaders-Dr. Buszard, Dr. Gail Murphy and Dr. Lesley Cormack. They've provided strong leadership and support to me that has been incredibly helpful and meaningful. I believe that organizations usually find the right leadership at the right time and I think I was the right person in 2015 when I came in as the start-up guy.
The campus is now ready for some new blood and incoming Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation Dr. Suzie Currie will bring a new mindset and vision. Our campus is at a stage where defining what UBCO is as a research entity is possible in a way it wasn't when I joined, so I feel like I've done what I came here to do. I'm leaving at the right time.
