Wicked Ideas Winners

The Wicked Ideas Competition is a Vice-Principal Research pilot initiative to fund and support research collaboration and excellence. 

Wicked Problems are issues so complex and dependent on so many factors that it is hard to grasp what exactly the problem is, or how to tackle it. Wicked Ideas are needed to solve these problems, and demand the input of multiple disciplines with relevant practical expertise.

This competition will fund Wicked Ideas that respond to local, national and global challenges, by supporting the formation of research teams that offer the expertise and perspectives needed to tackle these challenges. 

Inaugural Recipients

Investigator Project Title
David Lyon (Sociology) &
Dan Cohen  (Geography and Planning)
Big data exposed: What smartphone metadata reveals about users
John Allingham  (Biomedical and Molecular Sciences) &
Chantell Capicciotti  (Chemistry)
Untitled
Susan Bartels  (Emergency Medicine) &
Stéfanie von Hlatky  (Political Studies)
Untitled
Joe Bramante  (Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy) &
James Fraser  (Physics, Engineering Physics and Astronomy)
Macro coherent quantum transitions in parahydrogen
Kevin Stamplecoskie (Chemistry) &
Cathy Crudden (Chemistry)
Immortal solar cells
Kerry Rowe (Civil Engineering) &
Fady Abdelaal  (Civil Engineering)
Using cleantech to monitor geosynthetic liners in frozen grounds for sustainable development of sub-Arctic and Arctic mineral resources
Graeme Howe (Chemistry) &
Philip Jessop  (Chemistry)
Solving the water-removal bottleneck in sustainable chemistry
Nora Fayed (Rehabilitation) &
Claire Davies (Mechanical and Materials Engineering)
Untitled
Laurence Yang  (Chemical Engineering) &
Pascale Champagne (Civil Engineering)
Reducing the greenhouse gas burden of livestock by harnessing carbon-neutral algae to produce milk.
Robert Colautti (Biology) &
Nader Ghasemlou  (Biomedical and Molecular Sciences)
The E.D.G.E. of Lyme
Mark Daymond (Mechanical and Materials Engineering) & 
Suraj Persaud  (Mechanical and Materials Engineering)
Materials performance in molten salt reactor (MSR) environments proposed for advanced nuclear systems
Heather Castleden  (Geography and Planning) &
Diane Orihel  (Biology)
The spirit of the lakes and all their relations: Two-Eyed Seeing in microplastics research