Annual Report of Research Activities 2017-2019

Preamble

The Royal Military College Saint-JeanAnnual Report of Research Activities 2017-2019 marks a turning point. More than the report of the research activities in itself, this report testifies to the revival of the institution as a university. The report has changed its name; from the Commandant's Report it became the Annual Report of Research Activities. This change puts forward the already present but renewed spirit of creation, innovation and dissemination of knowledge. This spirit is essential to the new mission of RMC Saint-Jean.

This double format of the report bridges the gap between the recognition of the International Studies programme by the Quebec Government and the year that welcomed new college and university professors. This recruitment and implementation exercise required the exceptional mobilization of the entire institution. It will be completed during the next year.

We would like to thank Mr. Gawiyou Danialou, and especially Ms. Joanie Tremblay for their efforts in producing this report. Thanks to them, the work and passion of RMC Saint-Jean researchers are demonstrated in the following pages. Today's research will shape the leadership of the Canadian Armed Forces of tomorrow through the teaching faculty to officer cadets. This is why research and teaching must be marked by excellence. This is our mission and our duty.

Roch Legault
Dean of Research
RMC Saint-Jean

Message from de Commandant

It is with pride that I present this exhaustive report on the research activities of the faculty at Royal Military College Saint-Jean. This double report marks the return of university status and a renewal of research to the college. It is an eloquent testimony to the growth of studies at RMC Saint-Jean but also demonstrates the scope and extent of the research conducted here.

Research is at the very heart of the institution and it stimulates the development of professors in their area of expertise. Thanks to their exceptional work, they stand out as being among the best in the academic world, and this expertise directly reflects on the quality of education offered to officer cadets.

Collaboration with other Canadian and international research and teaching institutions, the recruitment of internationally renowned faculty members, significant contributions to the academic community, and the development of new expertise attest the strategic importance of research within National Defence.

Supporting research at the Royal Military College Saint-Jean is a focus of its teaching programmes, but it provides a great deal of credibility so that our cadets can benefit from the expertise of our distinguished research professors in university-level courses, as well as those given at the college level.

Brigadier-General Gervais Carpentier
Commandant
RMC Saint-Jean

Message from the Academic Director (2017-2018)

This RMC Saint-Jean Annual Report of Research Activities demonstrates the importance of these activities for our institution.

Research contributes to the professional development of the person who executes it, to the reputation of the institution where he or she serves, and to the quality of the education offered, while contributing to the advancement of knowledge in general. The Royal Military College Saint-Jean Faculty provides the best teaching possible to Officer-Cadets and Non-Commissioned Members, but it also contributes to the general furthering of knowledge and its passage on to the scientific community in various disciplines. The grants received are also a testimony of the utility of this research. Within the Internal Centre for the Study of the Profession of Arms at RMC Saint-Jean and the new International Studies Bachelor programme, research efforts in all areas will continue unabated.

Either directing their own research or collaborating with other groups conducting research, RMC Saint-Jean professors have demonstrated an enduring engagement in the College. The number and scope of the activities contained in this report attest to this fact.

Lieutenant General (retired)
Michel Maisonneuve
Academic Director
RMC Saint-Jean

Message from the Academic Director (2018-2019)

This Royal Military College Saint-Jean Annual Report of Research Activitie demonstrates the central importance of research to the vision and mission of our university.

Research directly contributes to the quality of education at RMC Saint-Jean by imparting important critical thinking abilities and life skills to our officer cadets. It contributes to the professional development and the general knowledge of the faculty who participate in it. It enhances the status and reputation of RMC Saint-Jean, provincially, nationally and internationally  forging partnerships and alliances at a historic moment in which university status is being reestablished.

It demonstrates to the public that RMC Saint-Jean faculty not only provide a teaching experience to officer cadets and non-commissioned members that is virtually second to none, but that our professors are positioned to inform public dialogue and be thought leaders in various disciplines.

The grants received by faculties are a further testimony to the high regard the research community has for their contributions. Within the International Centre for the Study of the Profession of Arms at RMC Saint-Jean, the new International Studies Bachelor programme as well as the Professional Military Education Department, research efforts are being reinvigorated.

Through their own work or in collaboration with other groups, the research activities and publications set out in this report underscore that the investments in research at RMC Saint-Jean are making an impact.

James Groen
Academic Director
RMC Saint-Jean

Message from the Acting Dean of Research (2017-2018)

Research is at the heart of the core mission of all universities. The 2017-2018 year was central for the establishment of university-level protocols in research at the Royal Military College Saint-Jean. Following in the footsteps of Dr. Marc Imbeault, who developed many of the core elements of the Research Office during his term of office, I began my term as Acting Dean of Research in the fall of 2017. My vision was to develop a Research Office that would be truly supportive of the faculty while establishing links in the community and throughout the province.

To this end, the Research Ethics Board was re-established, and a system for the preliminary evaluation of Research Ethics Board approval requests was created, in order to streamline the process. Membership of the Board was reorganized to be representative of those who conduct research at Royal Military College Saint-Jean. In addition, a Research Committee was created to sit in an advisory capacity to the Dean of Research.

The core mandate of the Research Office is to support faculty research. This includes helping researchers to find suitable conferences and other venues for the dissemination of their work, aiding them with submissions for research grants, as well as supporting them in their applications for sabbaticals and promotion. Perhaps most importantly, the Research Office is responsible for creating and maintaining a positive research environment.

The year 2017-2018 was a transitional year, an interim year, in the reestablishment of the Royal Military College as a university, a transition in which the Research Office played an important role.

Nanette Norris
Acting Dean of Research
Associate Professor, English literature
RMC Saint-Jean

Message from the Dean of Research (2018-2019)

We are moving forward on the paths opened by my predecessors to the deanship to look after the research file: Mr. Marc Imbeault and Mrs. Nanette Norris.

It is a great pleasure to take up the challenges associated with the succession to the position of a deanship now entirely devoted to research at RMC Saint-Jean. To rise to such a challenge is exciting. It began by consolidating the Research Committee, explaining the mechanisms and benefits of research  to win hearts for the research enterprise  by accelerating the development of the International Center for the Study of the Profession of Arms (ICSPA), by continuing the recognition of the RMC Saint-Jean Ethics Committee, by setting up new programmes for teachers, the EDS Research Fund for Teachers (FREDS) and the Start-up Funds; by further engaging our research community with our community, the Centre d’expertise et de formation sur les intégrismes religieux (CEFIR) at Cégep Édouard Montpetit, the Haut Richelieu business incubator and the Inno Secur NPO.

The RMC Saint-Jean Annual Report of Research Activities will be enriched next year with the addition of many researchers who joined our ranks this year. I hope you will be looking forward to it, as much as we are, as defence or research community members.

Roch Legault
Dean of Research
RMC Saint-Jean

2017-2019 Year-in-Review

Language Department

The Language Department of the Royal Military College Saint-Jean offers twenty academic courses in English and French as a Second Language. These post-secondary courses are accredited by Quebec’s Ministry of Education, and Higher Education. Students must pass their language courses in order to receive a college diploma. Prior to the beginning of their first semester at RMC Saint-Jean, students take a placement test in order to be streamed in one of five levels of instruction ranging from beginning to advanced. The goals of all language courses are to help prepare students for university studies in a wide range of disciplines, and to develop students’ abilities to communicate effectively as future officers in the Canadian Armed Forces.

All college students in Quebec must take a minimum of two credited language courses: one general course aimed at developing communicative competencies in each of the four global linguistic skills, and one programme specific course aimed at developing language knowledge, skills, and abilities that are required to discuss their field of studies. The Department also offers non-credit courses to officer cadets who must continue to upgrade their second language proficiency levels in order to meet National Defence standards.

In addition to teaching, faculty members in the Language Department develop new material, structure bilingualism and cultural programmes, organize cultural activities and events to promote bilingualism, act as mentors to the students, manage projects, and conduct research, notably in the following areas:

• teaching language and culture;
• teaching language and literature;
• the relationship between sociolinguistic competence and cultural intelligence;
• integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) and multimedia into the classroom, and the impact of such technologies on the learner, on learning, and on motivation;
• education in a bilingual setting;
• neurolinguistics;
• morphology acquisition in French as a second language;
• motivation of the adult learner;
• bilingualism and multilingualism;
• autoethnographic frameworks;
• teacher resilience;
• mental health and self-care in education; and testing.

Sara Trottier (2018-2019)
Sophie Normandin (2017-2018)
Head
Language Department
RMC Saint-Jean

Conferences

Wells, Margaret

Others

Boucher, Krystel

• Member of the RMC Saint-Jean Dean of Research Selection Board, Royal Military College Saint-Jean, 2017.

Normandin, Sophie

• Member of the Research and Development Committee of the Official Language Education and Training (SOLET), Department of National Defence, 2017.

Serebrenik, Aleksandra

• Member of the organizing committee, Symposium The Challenge of Diversity and Inclusion in the Armed Forces and Police Forces, Royal Military College Saint-Jean, November 17^th 2017.

Department of Sciences

The mission of the Department of Science (DoS) is to strive towards excellence in teaching science courses to the College’s officer cadets, developing research projects, publishing findings in scientific journals, and presenting results in highly recognized international scientific meetings.

The teaching staff offers high-quality education and organizes many activities allowing the officer cadets to develop and widen their scientific knowledge. Among others, the Maths & Science Club’s conferences, the annual scientific outing and the integrative activity in science projects present the officer cadets with a rich and diverse menu to an existing high-level academic programmes.

Professors represent the College by participating in many activities of the scientific and academic community. Professor Danialou published a paper in the Journal of Nutrition and Metabolism. Professor Lavigne is a member of the steering group committee for the worldwide OSeMOSYS project. He chairs a session at the INFORMS international meeting where he also shares his work. Professor Kéou works on a project on vascular thromboses (in collaboration with the GIREF) and on another project on the problem of swelling at the outlet of a channel (in collaboration with a researcher from the University of Montreal).

Besides chemist Professor Piché who has been working at RMC Saint-Jean since the summer of 2016, four new positions have been filled in January 2018 : Professors Boudreault, Giguère and Rempel and Mrs. Plante who is a teaching assistant.

Denis Lavigne
Head
Science Department
RMC Saint-Jean

RESEARCH FUNDING

Publications

A. Articles publiés dans des périodiques avec comité de lecture

Danialou, Gawiyou

Giguère, Alexandre

Oral & Poster Presentations

Giguère, Alexandre

Lavigne, Denis

Assignments

Danialou, Gawiyou

Consultant

• Consultant for Introduction à la microbiologie by Tortora, Funke & Case, 3^rd ed., Éditions ERPI, 2017-2018.

Others

Danialou, Gawiyou

Supervision of laboratory internship

• Mr. Alexis Labrie-Pichette, NSERC internship scholarship, UQAM undergraduate student in the Sciences de l’activité physique program. Apprenticeship on some laboratory investigation techniques (molecular biology, physiology, cell biology and biochemistry).
• Mrs. Roxane St-Amand, NSERC internship scholarship, UQAM master student in the Sciences de l’activité physique. Apprenticeship on some laboratory investigation techniques (molecular biology, physiology, cell biology and biochemistry).

Lavigne, Denis

Session presidency - conference

Department of Humanities & Social Sciences

The Department of Humanities and Social Sciences provides officer cadets with the range of humanities and literature courses essential to their education - not only for the completion of the requirements for the D.C.S., and for the satisfaction of the prerequisites for their transition to Royal Military College of Canada - but also towards the objective of developing future officers who possess excellent knowledge of general culture. Emphasis is equally placed on mastery of written and oral expression. In addition to teaching, professors within the department also develop pedagogical material, organize various cultural activities, and conduct research in the following areas:

History:

• the Conquest of Canada Century;
• the Quebec intellectuals of the 20th;
• the culture of the Lower Canada Patriots;
• national history;
• history teaching;
• commemoration policies;
• political and cultural war studies.

Semiotics:

• literature semiotics;
• music semiotics;
• cinema semiotics;
• cult studies (cult movies, music, novels) and popular culture.

Psychology:

• neuropsychology;
• music cognition;
• neurogenetic disorders of music perception.

Political Science:

• the composition of the contemporary ideological field.

Philosophy:

• nationalism and cosmopolitanism in the era of globalization (political ideologies in the contemporary world).

Literature:

• the culture of war in the 20th century;
• the depiction of war in literature;
• women’s literature (Simone de Beauvoir, Nancy Huston and Annie Ernaux);
• the relationship between responsibility and literature in contemporary Quebec and France;
• cultural memory in Quebec;
• the boundary between nature and culture, as they play out especially in the relationship between Gothic and Romantic literature;
• the revival of Victoria Welby’s semiotic system;
• popular culture;
• literary stylistics.

Annick Girard (2018-2019)
Danic Parenteau (2017-2018)
Head
Department of Humanities and Social Sciences
RMC Saint-Jean

Research Funding

Publications

A. Articles published in peer-reviewed journals

Charbonneau, Bruno

Imbeault, Marc

Legault, Roch

B. Monographs & Chapters in a monograph

Courtois, Charles-Philippe

Girard, Annick

Norris, Nanette

Parenteau, Danic and Parenteau, Ian

C. Articles published in non-peer reviewed journals

Charbonneau, Bruno

Imbeault, Marc

Parenteau, Danic

Conferences

Charbonneau, Bruno

Courtois, Charles-Philippe

Girard, Annick

Imbeault, Marc

Legault, Roch

Norris, Nanette

Parenteau, Danic

Oral & Poster Presentations

Courtois, Charles-Philippe

Imbeault, Marc

Norris, Nanette

Parenteau, Danic

Assignments

Charbonneau Bruno

Discussions & expert view

• Advidor for the Royal Canadian Military Police Canada (RCMP), Capacity-building Program, conference call, December 18^th 2019.
• Advidor for SDGs Statistical Model (TOSSD), OCDE (Paris), conference call, April 26^th 2019.
• Discussion between military and scholars, 2^nd Division, BGen. Jeannie Carrigan, Garisson, Montreal, June 27^th 2019.

Consultant

• "Knowledge for Peace, Swisspeace" Project, Berne, Switzerland, 2016-2019.

Report

• "Impact of international forces on Mali, Malians and Malian conflict dynamics", (Unpublished report) for the Department of National Defence for the purposes of the "Ottawa: Academic Outreach Program".

Evaluation – Application from a malian refugee

• Evaluating a Malian refugee application. Expertise requested by Silcoff, Shacter Barristers & Solicitors, August 22^nd 2018.

Evaluations – Articles & scientific publications

• Two articles for African Affairs.
• An article for International Peacekeeping.
• Two articles for Conflict, Security & Development,.
• An article for African Security Review.
• Nine articles evaluated, Special dossier for Études internationales, December 2018.
• Book project, Routledge Handbook of Conflict Response and Leadership in Africa, Routledge, February 19^th 2019.
• Book project, Knowledge for Peace, Edward Elgar Publishing, January 9^th 2019.
• Book project, Routledge Handbook of Peacekeeping, Routledge, November 27^th 2018.
• Book project, Postcolonial Security by Marco Wyss, Oxford University Press, August 2018.

Video conferences - MOOC

• "Opérations de paix en Afrique francophone", four video conferences for a Université Senghor d’Alexandrie MOOC, Egypt, December 9^th-14^th 2018.

Trainings & workshops

• "Action for Peace", workshop, Department of Peacekeeping Operations, New York, July 1^th-18^th 2018.
• Five seminars on Mali, CJOC, Department of National Defence, Ottawa, October 2018.
• "Médiation et politique internationale des conflits en Afrique francophone", workshop offered at the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Cairo, Egypt, December 13^th 2018.

Courtois, Charles-Philippe

Assessor

• Journal article assessor, Histoire sociale/Social History, August 2017.
• Journal article assessor, Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française, October 2017.
• Journal article assessor, Mens, November 2017.

Assessor – Master thesis

Imbeault, Marc

Senior scholar

• "Éthique des missions médicales à courts termes" Project (cooperation with the Unité d'enseignement et de recherche en science de la santé of the Université du Québec en Abititi-Témiscamingue), Canadian Defence Academy Research Programme, 2019-2021.

Co-inverstigator

• Co-investigator on the project "La radicalisation d'extrême-droite en Montérégie", Public Safety Canada, 2019-2022.

Programme board member

• Graduate studies programme board member, Santé mondiale, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue, January 2019.

Collaborator

• Les intégrismes religieux au Canada et la radicalisation, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, January 2019.

Parenteau, Danic

Content Assessor
Jury board member for the Ottawa City Award, Ottawa, May 2019.

Norris, Nanette

Conference organization
Organizer of the "First Annual D. H. Lawrence Virtual Conference for Graduate Students", April 15^th 2017.

Mobilization of Research

Charbonneau, Bruno

Courtois, Charles-Philippe

Imbeault, Marc

Legault, Roch

Parenteau, Danic

Radio interview

Article in a newspaper

Richard, Béatrice

Others

Caumartin, Anne

Lettre of opinion

Charbonneau, Bruno

Co-author of a report

Article – Webpage

Conference organization

Centre FrancoPaix

• Strategic workshop on the CC-COIN project planning, UQAM, Montreal, QC, June 1^th 2019.

Centre FrancoPaix - Conferences

Supervision of students

• Mr. Maxime Bédard, PhD candidate at UQAM, Montreal, QC.
• Mr. Daniel Eizenga, ost-PhD candidate, UQAM, Montreal, QC.

Community Support

• Head, International Centre for the Study of the Profession of Arms (ICSPA), Royal Military College Saint-Jean, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC.
• Head, Centre FrancoPaix, UQAM, Montreal, QC.
• Member, Programme Committee, Royal Military College Saint-Jean, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC.
• Member, Strategic Research Committee, Royal Military College Saint-Jean, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC.
• Member, Dean of Studies and Vice-Dean of Studies selection board, Royal Military College Saint-Jean, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC.

Courtois, Charles-Philippe

Guest speaker

Symposium organizer

• Head organizer for the Royal Military College Saint-Jean, Colloquy Défis et enjeux de l’après-guerre au Québec, 1918-1919 et après, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC, November 9^th-10^th 2018.
• Organizing committee board member, Colloquy Défis et enjeux de l’après-guerre au Québec, 1918-1919 et après, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC, November 9^th-10^th 2018.
• Scientific committee board member, Colloquy Défis et enjeux de l’après-guerre au Québec, 1918-1919 et après, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC, November 9^th-10^th 2018.

Imbeault, Marc

Articles - Miscellaneous

Guest speaker

• Guest speaker at the round table "Vivre ensemble en Paix", UniAction Spiritualité & Vivre ensemble conference. Organized for the International Day of Living Together in Peace, Montreal, QC.
• Guest speaker at the round table "Diversité dans les Forces armées canadiennes", The Challenge of Diversity and Inclusion in the Armed Forces and Police Forces colloquy, Royal Military College Saint-Jean, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC.
• Guest speaker for Événements en sciences de la santé at UQAT, "Quelques enjeux éthiques des missions médicales à court terme", Rouyn-Noranda, QC.

Board of Directors, committee and & collaboration

• Board of Directors member and Executive committee member of the Association canadienne d’éducation des adultes des universités de langue française (ACDEAULF).
• Responsible of the Excellence Award committee of the Association canadienne d’éducation des adultes des universités de langue française (ACDEAULF).
• Officer for l’Association canadienne d’éducation des adultes des universités de langue française at the CAUCE/AÉPUC Annual Deans Meeting.
• Collaborator of the Centre d’expertise et de formation sur les intégrismes religieux et la radicalisation (CEFIR) at Collège Édouard-Montpetit.
• Member of the graduate program committee on global health of the Unité de recherche et d’enseignement en sciences de la santé of the Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue (UQAT).

Norris, Nanette

• Consortium C4 member, Royal Military College Saint-Jean, QC, 2017-2018.
• Board of Directors member, editor of the directory and Vice-president, D.H. Lawrence Society of North America, 2017-2018.
• Board of Directors member, Canadian Society of Jewish Studies, 2017-2018.

Richard, Béatrice

Colloquy organizor

• Organizing committee member, Colloquy Défis et enjeux de l’après-guerre au Québec, 1918-1919 et après, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC, November 9^th-10^th 2018.
• Scientific committee member, Colloquy Défis et enjeux de l’après-guerre au Québec, 1918-1919 et après, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC, November 9^th-10^th 2018.

Address

Guest historian, Commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the Dieppe Raid, Montreal, QC, August 17^th 2017.

Professional Military Education Department

Since 2003, members of the Professional Military Education Department (PMED) have participated in the professional development of the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) non-commissioned members (NCMs). As of 2015, they teach at the Chief Warrant Officer Robert Osside Profession of Arms Institute (Osside Institute) of Royal Military College Saint-Jean.

Four development programmes are offered by the Osside Institute, being the Intermediate Leadership Programme (ILP), leading to a promotion to the rank of Warrant Officer; the Advanced Leadership Programme (ALP), leading to a promotion to the rank of Master Warrant Officer; the Senior Leadership Programme (SLP), leading to a promotion to the rank of Chief Warrant Officer; and the Senior Appointment Programme (SAP), allowing Chief Warrant Officers to be designated to a senior appointment position. The PMED members teach the totality of the distance curriculum and actively participate within the residential courses, in close collaboration with its military directing instructor staff.

Comprised exclusively of historians and political scientists, research interest of the department’s members initially focused on military history. Research projects led teachers to trace Canadian soldiers in Vimy (France), in Sicily (Italy), in Medak (Croatia) and in Cyprus. These research projects aimed at enhancing the Institute’s courses but also led to the publication of journal articles and the production of a documentary film.

Over the years, the Osside Institute’s programmes content and the research interests of the teachers have evolved. Thus, in developing their course content and in getting to know their clientele, PMED staff have developed a particular expertise in its main field of focus, being the evolution of the profession of arms and more specifically the professional development of NCMs. Through the years, they have become references for the CAF on these issues which never hesitate to consult them when they feel the need. Consequently, they have been involved in the development of the content for all NCM professional development programmes and have participated in the Strategic Employment Project and NCM 2030 project which demonstrate the important role they play in the advancement of the profession of arms in Canada.

The specific needs of the Osside Institute programmes have also allowed teachers to deepen their knowledge and led to research in fields such as systems thinking, complexification of warfare (women, peace and security agenda), military sociology as well as ethics. This expertise has been recognized by the CAF.

In addition to their primary responsibility in the education of NCMs, the PMED teachers are also fully engaged in the Royal Military College Saint-Jean’s mission of promoting its national and international influence while supporting other departments of the Academic wing in their tasks toward officer cadets.

Manisha Patel
Head
Professional Military Education Department
RMC Saint-Jean

Publications

B. Monographs & Chapters in a Monograph

Djebabla-Brun, Mourad

Oral & Poster Presentations

Djebabla-Brun, Mourad

Mobilization of Research

Djebabla-Brun, Mourad

Others

Djebabla-Brun, Mourad

Colloquy organization

Scientific committee member, Colloquy Défis et enjeux de l’après-guerre au Québec, 1918-1919 et après, Royal Military College Saint-Jean, Saint-Jean-sur-Richelieu, QC, November 9^th-10^th 2018.

Events at RMC Saint-Jean

2017

• Symposium The Challenge of Diversity and Inclusion in the Armed Forces and Police Forces, November 17^th 2017
• Official launch of the International Centre for the Study of the Profession of Arms (ICSPA), April 11 2017.
• Symposium Breaking Down Silos and Connecting Stakeholders, organized with the Centre for National Security Studies, April 11^th-12^th 2017.
• 2017 Leadersphere Symposium, May 11^th 2017.

2018

• Colloquy Défis et enjeux de l’après-guerre au Québec, 1918-1919 et après, November 9^th 10^th 2018.

Date modified:

2022-09-14