President
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada
Ted Hewitt was appointed president of SSHRC in March 2015. Prior to his appointment, he was SSHRC’s executive vice-president and chief operating officer.
From 2004 to 2011, Ted was vice-president, research and international relations, at London, Ontario’s Western University, where he had been a professor of sociology since 1989. He was also a public policy scholar at the Brazil Institute of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C. A leading authority on Brazil, Ted has published in monographs, edited works and a range of academic journals. In 2002, Brazil’s Ministry of Foreign Relations named him a commander of the Order of Rio Branco.
Ted’s recent research has focused on national and international innovation systems, with emphasis on the roles of universities, industry and government in promoting economic prosperity in the 21st century. He is Canadian co-chair of the Canada-Brazil Joint Committee for Cooperation on Science, Technology and Innovation, and a member of the board of the Brazil-Canada Chamber of Commerce.
Ted holds a PhD in sociology from McMaster University.