AOHRU Terms of Reference

  1. Purpose: This operational committee under the authority of the School of Dentistry and reporting to the Director, promotes research collaborations among faculty in the School of Dentistry and beyond to improve research quality and productivity.

  2. Composition and Unit Membership:
    1. Chair: Director, AOHRU (or designate)
    2. All faculty members who are appointed by the Chair, School of Dentistry with designated responsibilities within the AOHRU.

  3. Duties & Responsibilities:
    1. Promote clinical and community/population oral health research and knowledge translation.
    2. Support integration and active engagement between the foundational, clinical, community and  population-based research.
    3. Provide research consultation and training on designing population-based, community-based, and clinical studies; settings and sampling methods; recruitment and management of participants/patients; management and analyses of the data; and knowledge translation in the field of oral health.
    4. Facilitate collaborative research between School of Dentistry investigators and researchers from the Faculty of Medicine and Dentistry and other faculties at the University of Alberta.
    5. Seek to engage policy makers, community leaders, industry and national and international investigators with shared interest.
    6. Regularly participate in Unit functions, including attendance and participation in sponsored seminars and special events.
    7. Assist in the implementation of recommendations related to research as may be required by accrediting agencies, the university, or at the request of the Director, AOHRU.
    8. Develop recommendations and priorities for initiatives that promote clinical, community/population oral health research and become available to researchers in the AOHRU.
    9. Facilitate the creation, development, execution, and evaluation of applied oral health research projects, student and faculty mentorship, student and faculty training, and large research initiatives between investigators in the AOHRU and other Units at the School of Dentistry.
    10. Make recommendations regarding future initiatives in research within the AOHRU.

  4. Meetings:
    1. Regular meetings will be scheduled on a quarterly basis. Additional meetings may be scheduled at the discretion of the Chair.
    2. Members are required to attend 70% of regularly scheduled meetings and when absent are required to notify the Director.
    3. Minutes will be recorded and submitted to the Associate Chair, Research and the Chair, School of Dentistry.
    4. Quorum will consist of the Chair (or designate) plus 50% of the membership.