UdeM receives over $14.5M in funding for Canada Research Chairs and research facilities

On January 12, 2022, the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry of Canada, announced an investment of over $550 million in ongoing support for Canada’s science and research sector, which will benefit more than 5,500 researchers from coast to coast to coast. The funding will strengthen the country’s research infrastructure and have real, lasting impacts in Canada and beyond.

It is being distributed under three programs:

• New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Transformation stream: grants for seven Canadian-led research teams to carry out large-scale, interdisciplinary research projects with the potential to effect lasting change;
• Canada Research Chairs program: $151 million to establish or renew 188 chairs at 43 Canadian institutions; the chair-holders and their research teams will conduct advanced research;
• Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI): The CFI has announced a $9,525,675 investment in research facilities; of the total for Quebec, 40% will come from the CFI, 40% from the research support program of Quebec’s Ministère de l’Économie et de l’Innovation, and the remaining 20% from other partners.

“I am proud to see the diversity of our talent at UdeM in fields as varied as research-creation, new materials and genetics,” commented Marie-Josée Hébert, UdeM’s Vice-Rector of Research, Discovery, Creation and Innovation. “The scope of the funded projects shows how determined our researchers are to deploy their teams to produce new, innovative creative knowledge and help build a better world.”

Funded projects for UdeM

New Canada Research Chairs:

Ana Sokolović (Music), Canada Research Chair in Opera Creation, Tier 1, from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), first research-creation chair at the Université de Montréal.

Miriam Cohen (Law), Canada Research Chair in International Justice and Fundamental Rights, Tier 2, from SSHRC + $397,635 in CFI/Quebec  research-facility funding .

Marie Laberge (Medicine), Canada Research Chair in Adolescent Work Disability Prevention, Tier 2, from SSHRC + co-applicant for a grant from the  New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) Transformation stream.

Guilllaume Lajoie (Faculty of Arts and Sciences), Canada Research Chair in Neural Computation and Interfacing, Tier 2.

Audrey Laventure (Faculty of Arts and Sciences), Canada Research Chair in Functional Polymer Materials, Tier 2, from NSERC + $692, 451 in CFI/Quebec  research-facility funding.

Guillaume Lettre (Medicine), Canada Research Chair in Cardiovascular and Blood Disease Genetics, Tier 1, from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

Roxane Maranger (Faculty of Arts and Sciences), Canada Research Chair in Aquatic Ecosystem Science and Sustainability, Tier 1, from NSERC + $692,451 in CFI/Quebec research-facility funding.

Anne Monique Nuyt (Medicine), Canada Research Chair in Prematurity and Developmental Origins of Cardiovascular Health and Diseases, Tier 1, from CIHR.

Joëlle Pelletier (Faculty of Arts and Sciences), Canada Research Chair in Engineering of Applied Proteins, Tier 1, from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC).

Bertrand Routy (Medicine), Canada Research Chair in Gut Microbiome to Predict and Increase Cancer Immunotherapy Efficacy, Tier 2, from CIHR.

Renewed Canada Research Chairs:

Antoine Boivin (Medicine), Canada Research Chair in Partnership with Patients and Communities, Tier 2, from CIHR.

Frédéric Charron (Medicine), Canada Research Chair in Developmental Neurobiology, Tier 1, from CIHR.

Valérie Mongrain (Medicine), Canada Research Chair in Sleep Molecular Physiology, Tier 2, from CIHR.

William Witczak-Krempa (Faculty of Arts and Sciences), Canada Research Chair in Quantum Phase Transitions, Tier 2, from NSERC.

In addition, the CFI and Quebec have invested $612,656 in a research facility for Professor André Gaudreault (Faculty of Arts and Sciences) in connection with the work of his Canada Research Chair in Film and Media Studies.

With these awards, women now hold 47% of the Canada Research Chairs at UdeM, including 18 Tier 1 (senior) chairs. This is an impressive improvement over the figures from four years ago: in January 2018, scarcely 23% of the university’s research chairs had been awarded to women.