Representatives from the U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities issued the following statement regarding the announcements of the first projects funded under the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF).
Launched in December 2014, CFREF will invest $1.5 billion over seven years to propel Canadian research at universities and colleges from world-class to world-leading in areas that create long-term economic advantages for Canada. The inaugural competition saw Canadian postsecondary institutions compete for research funding of up to $350 million over seven years. A second, larger competition will take place in 2015-16.
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OTTAWA – The U15 Group of Canadian Research Universities warmly welcomed the federal government’s announcement of the first round of Canada First Research Excellence Fund awards. Several institutions will receive support from this pioneering fund to pursue exceptional, world-class research excellence.
“Today’s announcement is a clear demonstration that the federal government is committed to supporting globally competitive research excellence through its largest investment in our sector in years,” said Feridun Hamdullahpur, Chair of the U15 and President and Vice-Chancellor of Waterloo University. “The projects and partnerships these Canadian universities submitted for funding demonstrate that we have the capacity and drive to be world leaders in research and innovation.”
The funded initiatives at a U15 institutions announced include:
- $114 million for the University of Toronto’s Medicine by Design initiative, which will undertake transformative research and clinical translation in regenerative medicine, enhance capability in synthetic biology and computational biology and foster translation, commercialization and clinical impacts; and
- $37.2-million for the University of Saskatchewan’s Designing Crops for Global Food Security initiative, which draws on Canada’s top plant-breeding research, agriculture institutions, businesses and organizations, including partners such as MDA Systems Ltd., PotashCorp, the Saskatchewan Canola Development Commission and Agrisoma Biosciences Inc.
“The successful initiatives announced today will expand and enhance our research landscape in Canada. When the federal government announces the second-round recipients, we will have even more research excellence to celebrate,” said Suzanne Corbeil, Executive Director of the U15. “The ground-breaking research resulting from CFREF investments will advance our scientific understanding, boost our global position and cement Canada’s reputation as a top destination for work and study by the best and brightest researchers here at home and around the world.”
David Turpin, University of Alberta
Arvind Gupta, The University of British Columbia
Elizabeth Cannon, University of Calgary
Richard Florizone, Dalhousie University
Denis Brière, Université Laval
David Barnard, University of Manitoba
Suzanne Fortier, McGill University
Patrick Deane, McMaster University
Guy Breton, Université de Montréal
Allan Rock, University of Ottawa
Daniel Woolf, Queen’s University
Gordon Barnhart, University of Saskatchewan
Meric Gertler, University of Toronto
Feridun Hamdullahpur, University of Waterloo
Amit Chakma, Western University