Four UCalgary scholars named Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada

The Royal Society of Canada (RSC) announced its new Fellows for 2022 and four University of Calgary faculty members were among those to receive the prestigious honour. Fellows of the RSC are peer-elected scholars who have made remarkable contributions in the arts, the humanities and the sciences, as well as in Canadian public life.

Dr. Penelope Farfan, PhD; Dr. Mayank Goyal, MD, PhD; Dr. Hendrik Kraay, PhD; and Dr. Sasha Tsenkova, PhD, will be formally inducted into the RSC at a ceremony in November, to be held in Calgary.

“The University of Calgary is proud to have four outstanding scholars named as Royal Society of Canada Fellows this year,” says Dr. Ed McCauley, president of the University of Calgary and Fellow of the RSC. “This honour is reserved for vanguards of their disciplines who have made notable scholarly, scientific or artistic advancements in their fields. I’m pleased to welcome Drs. Farfan, Goyal, Kraay and Tsenkova to the Royal Society of Canada.”

“The Royal Society of Canada is delighted to welcome this outstanding cohort of artists, scholars and scientists,” says RSC President Jeremy McNeil. “These individuals are recognized for their exceptional contributions their respective disciplines and are a real credit to Canada.” 

Dr. Penelope Farfan, PhD

Professor, School of Creative and Performing Arts – Drama Division, Faculty of Arts

Farfan is an award-winning scholar whose interdisciplinary research on feminist and queer performance has reshaped the fields of modernist theatre, drama, dance, and performance studies. She is also an award-winning editor and an internationally recognized expert on contemporary feminist theatre whose research has foregrounded Canadian playwrights while also advancing knowledge of playwriting by women from around the world.

Her work has been recognized with the Association for Theatre in Higher Education (ATHE) Outstanding Article Award, the ATHE Excellence in Editing Award for sustained career achievement, and the Women and Theatre Program Achievement Award for Scholarship, as well as a University of Calgary University Professorship and a Faculty of Graduate Studies Great Supervisor Award.

Learn more about Farfan’s research and teaching.

Dr. Mayank Goyal, MD, PhD

Clinical Professor, Departments of Radiology and Clinical Neurosciences, Cumming School of Medicine

Goyal is a leading researcher and innovator in acute ischemic stroke treatment worldwide. His leadership in randomized trials (ESCAPE, SWIFT PRIME and HERMES collaboration) changed stroke care and established mechanical thrombectomy worldwide. Subsequently, through the ESCAPE-NA1 trial, he showed that neuroprotection in humans is possible. Goyal developed multiphase CT angiography, a technique for fast imaging diagnosis of acute stroke that is now routinely used across the world.

Goyal leads efforts at evidence-based medicine through worldwide randomized controlled trials, and is a Fellow of Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, Canadian Association of Radiology, American Heart Association and European Stroke Association. He has received Lifetime contribution to research awards from Canadian Association of Radiology and American Society of Neuroradiology.

Learn more about Goyal’s work on the ESCAPE and ESCAPE-NA1 trials.

Goyal is a member of the Hotchkiss Brain Institute at the Cumming School of Medicine.

Dr. Hendrik Kraay, PhD

Professor, Department of History, Faculty of Arts

Kraay is one of the most influential North American historians of Brazil; his scholarship has been foundational to our understanding of Brazil’s birth as an independent state. Kraay’s sophisticated, innovative, and meticulous research has shaped local and global scholarship on Brazil, influencing the way both historians and the public view the complex history of the largest country in Latin America.

For his contributions to Brazilian history, in 2005, Kraay was inducted by the Brazilian government into its Ordem de Rio Branco (Order of Rio Branco) at the rank of cavaleiro (knight). In 2018, he received the Distinguished Fellow Award from the Canadian Association for Latin American and Caribbean Studies. In 2018-19, Kraay held a Calgary Institute for the Humanities annual research fellowship. 

Learn more about his Kraay’s research and teaching.

Sasha Tsenkova, PhD

Professor, School of Architecture, Planning and Landscape

Sasha Tsenkova is one of the world’s prominent scholars in urbanism, focusing on the nexus of planning, design and policy. She is the leading authority in Canada on housing and planning policies in Eastern Europe, and an internationally recognized expert on comparative urban and housing research. Her innovative and impactful work on resilience focuses on housing and planning strategies to design sustainable, livable and equitable cities.

Tsenkova’s scholarship is recognised by a number of prestigious awards for international scholars, such as Killam Fellowship, Urban Studies Fellowship, Sasakawa Scholarship, International Peace Scholarship, British Council Award, and visiting professorships at Harvard and Cambridge universities. Tsenkova is also a Fellow of the Canadian Institute of Planners.

Learn more about Tsenkova’s research and teaching.