New executive director at Schwartz Reisman Institute

TORONTO – Now entering its third year of operation, the Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society (SRI) continues to scale in pursuit of realising its strategic vision. Today, SRI appointed Monique Crichlow (pictured) as its new Executive Director.

With a career that has thrived at the forefront of technological innovation in healthcare and the public sector, Crichlow has extensive experience supporting transformational projects and brings with her expertise and skill in the areas of socioeconomic policy development, strategic planning, and government relations.

“We are so excited to welcome Monique to the Institute. Monique joins our leadership team at a pivotal moment in our growth. Her skills and experience at the intersection of technology and public service will help lead our stakeholder engagement and help ensure we scale meaningfully and with depth of purpose in our efforts to achieve our global ambitions,” says Schwartz Reisman director Gillian Hadfield.

Most recently Crichlow was the director of Strategic Engagement & Partnerships at Indoc Research, a not-for-profit organization dedicated to driving scientific innovation and research excellence. Prior to this role, she led strategic initiatives at Compute Ontario, a publicly funded organization that coordinates supercomputing for research. She has spent the last six years heavily focused and invested in promotion and use of advanced research technologies.

Crichlow is also chair of the Canadian National Committee for the Committee on Data for Science and Technology (CODATA), which promotes a culture of research data management in alignment with international initiatives around open data and open science. She also sits on the board of directors at the Wellesley Institute and is an advisor at the Durham College Hub for Applied Research in Artificial Intelligence for Business Solutions. Crichlow holds a master’s degree in Health Administration from the Johnson-Shoyama School of Public Policy at the University of Regina, and a bachelor of arts in Political Science from Glendon College at York University.

“The question at the forefront of the work I’ve done has been how can we do things differently, and quite often, the solution has meant implementing new technologies,” said Crichlow. “SRI’s strengths lie in the area of artificial intelligence and understanding the potential impacts that come with new technologies.”

She added, “With an institute like SRI that is working with people across all aspects of civil society to build solutions in a very practical way, I am confident that AI will advance, the research will advance, and the techniques will advance – in a manner that is human-centred.”

In her new role, Crichlow will drive the development and execution of initiatives and programs to achieve SRI’s mission, taking primary responsibility for strategic operations and engagement across the research ecosystem and scaling the institute to achieve its global ambitions.

“I’m excited to join the University of Toronto where transformative research and innovation in AI is happening across a breadth of fields and disciplines.”