Environmental Design (EVDS) Professor, Cormack Gates has received distinguished recognition for his environmental design research, specifically projects and initiatives that address the implementation gap that persists between scientific knowledge and conservation actions.
This week the Globe and Mail identified Gates as one of the top researchers in Canada for his interdisciplinary approach to theory and practice in environmental design.
Created by Higher Education Strategy Associates (HESA), the bibliometic product, HiBAR – of Hirsch-Index Benchmarking of Academic Research - provides a broad measurement of which researchers wield the most influence in their field. Using a large database created by HESA of every Canadian university faculty member, it generates an H-index score for each person using raw data from Google Scholar.
Developed in 2005 by Professor Jorge Hirsch, a University of California physicist, the H-index measures both the productivity and impact of the published work of a scientist or scholar. This index is based on a measurement of a researcher’s set of most cited papers and the number of citations that they have received in other publications. HiBAR is the first Canadian version.
Three scholars at the University of Calgary have been identified on this list including, EVDS Environmental Science and Planning Professor Cormack Gates, Faculty of Medicine Professor Ghali W.A and Department of Sociology Professor Robert A. Stebbins.
According to the Index, the impact of Gates' research rates high in terms of creating designs that satisfy societal needs, specifically in the field of conservation.
“Conservation design research involves understanding, informing and creating plans or processes to achieve ecological outcomes desired by society,” states Gates. “This type of research challenges the boundaries of single disciplines. It requires an understanding of the limitations of strictly regulatory approaches to conservation and the necessity of engaging multiple stakeholders in designing solutions to complex socio-ecological problems."
EVDS was founded in 1971 on an overarching commitment to the integration of design, ecology and culture in the making and managing of meaningful and functional human and bio-social environments.
“This ranking helps bring attention to a strong researcher at the University of Calgary,” notes EVDS Dean, Nancy Pollock-Ellwand. “As in other academic units at the University, EVDS has many scholars that apply science to real world issues for impactful solutions”.
The H-index claims advantages over other bibliometric calculations in that it considers both productivity and impact, is not influenced by a small number of very successful articles, discounts the value of papers that are not influential and uses publicly available data.
Click here to view the Globe and Mail article and the H-index results.
Story by Jessica Wallace