Mary Bernard

Program head, Doctor of Social Sciences

Professor

Mary Bernard is currently a professor in the College of Interdisciplinary Studies and program head of the Doctor of Social Sciences, a program she was instrumental in developing. 

During the last 20 years at Royal Roads, she has been a senior academic administrator, including founding associate vice-president Research and acting dean for both the Faculty of Social and Applied Sciences and the Faculty of Management. 

Bernard's research interests include action learning and action research, the social engagement of the social scientist, interdisciplinarity, chaos theory, social and organizational change, and systems thinking. 

 

Experience

Bernard came to Royal Roads in 2000 to become the university’s founding director of Research and subsequently associate vice-president, Research and Faculty Affairs. Through this role, she provided strategic and operational leadership of research, faculty member relations and graduate studies administration. 

From 1980 to 2000, Bernard worked with the Faculty of Environmental Studies and Faculty of Graduate Studies at York University. She worked in primary supervisor and supervisory committee member roles for several hundred graduate capstone papers (major papers, major projects, theses and dissertations). 

She held various academic administrative roles, including coordinator for Action Learning Resources, research coordinator of Native/Canadian Relations centre, manager of Research and External Relations for FES and the York Centre for Applied Sustainability.

Education

1998
PhD in Sociology

York University

1980
Master in Environmental Studies (MES)

York University

1977
Bachelor of Arts in English and Sociology

University of New Brunswick

Publications

Dale, A., Clifton-Ross, J., Jost, F., Leighton, H., Hodson, J., and Bernard, M. (pending). Biodiversity and Climate Change Research: Harnessing the Power of Art, Science and Social Media. Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, Special Edition,  2019.

Hodson, J., Doc, P., Leighton, H., Dale, A., Bernard, M.& Clifton, J. (2019). Understanding research curation: Methodology and insights. 2019.

Doc., P., Hodson, J., Leighton, H., Dale, A., Clifton, J., Newell, R., & Bernard, M. (2019). An investigation into the use of different online media channels for research dissemination. 2019

Bernard, Mary. New Forms of Coherence. Book Chapter in Planning for Turbulent Environments: The Use of Casual Textures and Scenario. R. Ramirez, J. Selsky (eds.) Earthscan, Science in Society Series, 2009.