New chair enhancing college’s public safety research

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on August 6, 2022.

Lethbridge College has appointed Kirsten Fantazir as its first President's Applied Research Chair in Public Safety. Lethbridge College photo

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

Lethbridge College has appointed its first President’s Applied Research Chair in Public Safety, as a proactive approach to creating change in the public safety field and Canada’s criminal justice system.

Kirsten Fantazir has been chosen for the role to work directly with partners to identify knowledge, skill and research gaps in the Canadian public safety industry and create potential solutions. 

Fantazir joined Lethbridge College in 2003, has been a faculty member in the School of Justice Studies (SJS) since 2010 and spent this past academic year as the SJS Distance Learning Program Chair.

She is also an experienced researcher, completing multiple projects focused on exploring student motivation, engagement and retention in non-traditional adult learning settings using digital role-playing technologies. Her PhD in Psychology focused on studying game-based learning technologies through gamification.

Through consultations with justice-related industry partners, the college’s SJS faculty and administration have begun development of a five-year applied research plan for the Public Safety Applied Research Initiative that will focus on areas such as public safety innovation, community partnerships, wellness initiatives, and organizational structure and culture.

“We want to be responsive to the public safety industry, specifically to inform evidence-based practices in the field,” said Fantazir in a press release.

She added that there is a lot of information and data out there and one of the challenges they often encounter is figuring out a way to use this information to help their partners make well-informed decisions and policies.

“Building bridges between academia and industry to apply research findings and theories in the field is something I’ve always been interested in as a researcher. I’m excited to work strategically with our partners to help solve current challenges and problems and share those successes with other organizations,” said Fantazir.

The press release states that meaningful reconciliation and collaboration with Indigenous organizations and partners will be foundational throughout the plan and its implementation, which will concentrate on creating real-world solutions that can be implemented by public safety organizations and key community partners.

As part of the creation of the President’s Applied Research Chair in Public Safety position, the college’s Centre for Applied Research Innovation and Entrepreneurship is pursuing federal funding that will allow Fantazir to expand the college’s footprint in the research field, creating new opportunities for faculty, students and staff.

“Expanding our research activities in the Centre for Justice and Human Services aligns with our college’s strategic priorities, as well as the priorities of the Alberta 2030 report,” said in a press release Kenny Corscadden, Lethbridge College vice president research and partnerships.

He said that Fantazir’s work in her new role will directly support the Justice Studies Bachelor of Applied Arts program and create opportunities to strengthen their industry partnerships, leading to increased opportunities for students and faculty members.

“It is exciting to have someone with Kirsten’s expertise and experience leading our expansion in this important research area,” said Corscadden.

Fantazir is the college’s second President’s Applied Research Chair, following in the footsteps of Mike McCready who was named President’s Applied Research Chair in Virtual and Augmented Reality in 2019.

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