McGill’s School of Social Work has announced the appointment of Dr. Nico Trocmé as its new Director, effective July 1, replacing the previous Director, Dr. Wendy Thomson, who is moving to England to take up a senior post in municipal government.
Trocmé is the Philip Fisher Chair in Social Work and directs the Centre for Research on Children and Families (CRCF), positions which he has held since joining McGill in 2005. Trocmé is a busy man. He is the principal investigator for the Canadian Incidence Study (CIS) of Reported Child Abuse and Neglect (1993, 1998, 2003 and 2008), the lead researcher for a Federal-Provincial-Territorial initiative to develop a common set of National Outcomes Measures in child welfare, directs the Canadian Child Welfare Research Portal (cwrp.ca), and is conducting a research capacity development and knowledge mobilization initiative involving child welfare and Aboriginal service provider agencies in Quebec.
Recognized as one of the most prolific social work researchers in Canada, Trocmé is the author of more than 130 scientific publications, has been awarded $25 million in funding through grants, contracts and gifts, and has mentored a new generation of Canadian child welfare scholars.
Trocmé has acted as a child welfare policy and program consultant to several provincial governments and Aboriginal organizations and has presented expert evidence at various inquests and tribunals. Prior to completing his PhD, he worked for five years as a child welfare and children’s mental health social worker.
The School’s programs have undergone extensive review and updating to meet modern professional standards. In September it will launch the first Masters in Couple and Family Therapy in a Canadian School of Social work. The BSW and MSW programs have been recently accredited and received an excellent independent Academic Unit Review. The PhD program is thriving with over 35 students, many of whom have been awarded SSHRC, CIHR, Trudeau and Vanier scholarships.
Thomson, who has made inroads into Canadian policy-making, during her two terms leading the School, also advised Ghana’s President John Kufuor on Evidence-based policy-making for two years; then served as Commissioner for three years on the Ontario Commission to Promote Sustainable Child Welfare. She also spent more than 18 months as Chair of the Expert Group on Patient-based Funding for the Quebec government. She is now taking a leave from her professorship at McGill to return to England to serve as the Managing Director of Norfolk, a multi-function regional tier of government in a very pretty part of England.