As part of an announcement, the Government of Canada today revealed $1.7 billion in funding to support research and innovation across Canada. Queen’s researchers across disciplines will receive $40.3 million that will advance research programs over several years and support the building of new research infrastructure. 

Minister of Transport, the Honourable Pablo Rodriguez made the announcement on behalf of Minister François-Philippe Champagne of Innovation, Science, and Industry and Minister Mark Holland of Health. The announcement included funding from Canada’s Tri-Agencies and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) as well as the appointment and renewal of Canada Research Chairs.

The funding programs announced today support everything from the exploration of new research questions as well as ensuring ongoing infrastructure support for active projects at Queen’s. This includes $9.5 million from the Research Support Fund, Incremental Projects Grants, and Research Security programs which assist universities with the expenses associated with managing the research funded by the federal research granting agencies.

"When we invest in science and innovation, we are investing in our wellbeing and prosperity," says Minister Rodriguez. "Our researchers continue to distinguish themselves internationally and, by supporting them, we are helping them to continue to improve our quality of life, fight climate change, and inspire the next generation of researchers across the country and around the world."

Canada Research Chairs

Founded in 2000, the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) program is part of a national strategy to attract and retain leading and promising minds with the aim to make Canada one of the world’s top countries in research and development. Queen’s is home to 32 Canada Research Chairs, including two recently announced Canada Excellence Research Chairs, that are advancing a wide range of disciplines.

Eva Kaufmann (Biomedical and Molecular Sciences) has been appointed the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Immunology and Inflammation. Dr. Kaufmann’s research will focus on “trained immunity” and its implications in allergic diseases such as asthma.

Kyla Tienhaara (Environmental Studies) has been reappointed the Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Economy and Environment. Dr. Tienhaara’s research examines the prospects for “Green Keynesianism” or the “Green New Deal” in Canada and the United States in light of the significant changes in the political landscape of each country since 2008.

Read more about the Queen’s CRC appointments in this Gazette article.

Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI)

Three Queen’s research teams have been awarded over $18 million from CFI’s Innovation Fund to advance revolutionary projects in translational medicine, nuclear energy, and environmental sciences. The fund provides support for research infrastructure that will help tackle critical societal issues.

The Microscopes and Ions for Small Modular Reactors project led by Mark Daymond (Mechanical and Materials Engineering) will establish a world-leading facility, as extension of the existing highly successful Reactor Materials Testing Laboratory (RMTL), equipped with an accelerator and transmission electron microscope (TEM) to study materials under ion irradiation and corrosive environments in real-time.

Led by Lynne-Marie Postovit (Biomedical and Molecular Sciences) and Stephen Archer (Medicine), the TIME Core project will establish a core facility consisting of six-world class research platforms that will allow investigators to move bidirectionally from scientific discovery to the treatment of patient populations.

Finally, the ECCO-Ontario project under the direction of Stephen Lougheed (Biology) will develop innovative and sustainable approaches to aquatic environment monitoring, as well as address challenges in Ontario’s waterways and wetlands, which are experiencing unprecedented degradation and species loss.

Read more about the Queen’s CFI-funded projects in this Gazette article.

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC)

The NSERC Alliance Grants program enable researchers to collaborate with partner organizations, private, public, or not-for-profit, to support projects led by strong, complementary, and collaborative teams to generate new knowledge and accelerate the application of research results to create benefits for Canada. Grants provide funding for up to five years and range in support from $20,000 to $1 million per year.

Fady B. Abdelaal (Civil Engineering): Chemical Durability of Reinforced and Nonreinforced Polymeric Geomembranes in PFAS and Chlorinated Water – $72,000

Bram Adams (School of Computing): On Release-Readiness of ML Applications – $60,000

Maria Aristizabal (Biology): Uncovering the Role of Cdk8 in RNA Synthesis – $25,000

Alireza Bakhshai (Electrical and Computer Engineering): An Intellectual Overlap of Pure Mathematics and Engineering Techniques Targeted to Develop Self-Reliant, Efficient, and Clean Artificial Intelligence Processors – $874,500

Dominik P.J. Barz (Chemical Engineering): Functionalized High Surface Area Materials for Selective Capacitive Deionization – $25,000

Diane Beauchemin (Chemistry): Development of Total Consumption Systems for Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry in Single Particle and Single Cell Modes – $60,000

Laurent Karim Béland (Mechanical and Materials Engineering): Carbon Capture and Valorisation Using Nuclear Power: Is it Feasible? – $1,486,400

• Computer Simulations of Molten Salts Interactions with Metallic Materials  – $215,200
• A Unified Model of Electron Stopping and Electron-Phonon Coupling to Better Understand Radiation Damage in Zirconium – $25,000

Richard Brachman (Civil Engineering): Hypersaline Chemical and Elevated Temperature Effects on Bentonite for Disposal of Used Nuclear Fuel – $80,400

Mark Daymond (Mechanical and Materials Engineering): Materials Deformation and Aging in Nuclear Power Systems – $1,700,000

• Investigation of the Circumferential Stress Corrosion Cracking Mechanism in Pipeline Materials – $80,000

Gabor Fichtinger (School of Computing): Artificial Intelligence Techniques for Computer-Assisted Planning of Liver Surgery – $25,000

Sidney Givigi (School of Computing): Autonomous Cognitive Vehicles – Action and Reaction – $804,012

Ryan Grant (Electrical and Computer Engineering): Path-Diverse Switchless High-Performance Networks – $1,144,800

Mark F. Green (Civil Engineering): Impact of the Addition of a Newly Developed Bioresin Called Biofusion on the Strength of Concrete – $205,000

Ehssan H. Koupaie (Chemical Engineering): Development of A Data-Driven Life-Cycle Greenhouse Gas Emissions Decision Tool for Municipal Organic Waste Management – $1,444,800

Stephen Lougheed (Biology): New Genomics and Aerial Drone Tools for Monitoring, Managing, and Mitigating Threats in Aquatic Ecosystems – $844,714

Chris McGlory (School of Kinesiology and Health Studies): Validation of Protein Kinase Phosphorylation in Human Skeletal Muscle – $24,970

Anna Panchenko (Biomedical and Molecular Sciences): Deciphering the Functional Significance and Physico-Chemical Mechanisms of Histone Post-Translational Modification Cross-Talk – $25,000

J. Scott Parent (Chemical Engineering): Recyclable Polyolefin Thermosets – $137,220

Nahee Park (Physics, Engineering Physics, and Astronomy): Development of Cost-Effective Optical Modules Based on Wavelength-Shifting Fibres for Future Neutrino Telescopes – $25,000

Greg van Anders (Physics, Engineering Physics, and Astronomy): NanoDirt: Toward Cheap, Safe, and Sustainable Self-Assembled Materials – $25,000

Zhongwen Yao (Mechanical and Materials Engineering): Characterizing Mechanical Properties and Deformation Behavior of Bulk Hydrides as a Function of Temperature in Zr-2.5Nb Pressure Tube Material – $170,000 

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

The SSHRC Insight Development Grants program fosters research in its early stages. The grants support the development of new research questions, as well as experimentation with new methods, theoretical approaches, and ideas. Funding is available for two years and provides support up to $75,000.

Claire Ahn (Education): Disrupting the “Checkbox” Pedagogy: Advancing Critical Social Justice Education in Secondary English Language Arts Classrooms – $ 64,158

Kilian Atuoye (Global Development Studies): Equity and Community Wellbeing in Large Scale Land Acquisitions in Sub-Saharan Africa – $72,990

Sojung Bahng (Film and Media): Meta-Metaverse: Digital Art-Based Research on Reflective Approaches to the Metaverse – $70,414

Megan Edgelow (School of Rehabilitation Therapy): Public Safety Personnel Mental Wellness: The Impact of Organizational Factors – $73,600

Surulola Eke (Political Studies): Beyond Social Norms and Customs: Researching Sustainable Formalization of Labour Relations in Agrarian Economies – $60,646

Debra M. Haak (Law): Sex in the Age of Gender: Conceptual Charity as a Foundation for Reconciling the Interests, Rights, and Experiences of Women, Transgender, and Gender Nonconforming People in Canada – $27,448

Myra Hird (School of Environmental Studies): Reducing Canada’s Plastics Waste: Exploring the Potential of a Contextual Engineering Approach to Engineering Plastics Design – $41,789

Danielle Macdonald (School of Nursing): Birth during COVID-19: Understanding How a Pandemic Influences Experiences of Birth – $62,715

Hannah McElgunn (Languages, Literatures, and Cultures): (Re)storying Hopi Ethnobotanical Knowledge: A Collaborative Approach to Oral History – $67,587

Gabriel Menotti Miglio Pinto Gonring (Film and Media): Entangled Traditions: Mapping the Emergence of New Media and Computer Arts in Postwar Brazil – $67,500

Ishita Pande (History): Still Cancer: A Patient’s History of Disease – $67,499

Leslie Ritchie (English): Black and White: The Spaces of Abolition in an Eighteenth-Century Newspaper – $32,160

Tim Salomons (Psychology): Risk in a Painful Moment: Examining How Dynamic Increases in Social Disconnection Increase Suicide Capability – $68,906

Mark Stoller (Geography and Planning): Facilitating Youth-Elder Engagement through Participatory Film and Oral History in Gjoa Haven, Nunavut – $68,809

Tandy Thomas (Smith School of Business): Gender Equality and Engaged Fathers: The Role of the Marketplace in Bridging, or Not, the Gender Gap in Dual Career Households – $59,272

Vanessa Thompson (Gender Studies): Abolition Worlds. Transnational Movements within the Black Diaspora – $68,841

Vera Vine (Psychology): Effects of Childhood Adversity on Adolescents’ Interoception and Emotion Awareness – $74,558

For more information on the announcement, visit the Government of Canada’s website.