That grounding has led the two, this year’s recipients of the Early Career Researcher of the Year Award (presented by uOttawa’s Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation), to pursue impact‑driven research focused on solving real‑world challenges and turning evidence into meaningful change.
Sarra Magdouli
Assistant professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
Through years in R&D and environmental consulting in Quebec’s mining sector, Sarra Magdouli had seen the consequences of the industry up close: contaminated sites, wasted resources and communities left to manage the long-term fallout of extraction. Those experiences continue to shape the research questions she pursues today.
Professor Magdouli’s research lies at the intersection of environmental biotechnology and resource recovery. Using micro-organisms that naturally thrive in metal-rich, harsh environments, she’s developing processes that can both remediate contaminated soil and water and recover critical metals such as cobalt, lithium and rare earth elements, essential to batteries and clean energy technologies.
Her approach reframes industrial waste not as a liability to manage, but as a resource to recover.
“I became curious about whether we could address pollution and resource depletion at once.”
Sarra Magdouli
— Department of Civil Engineering
Beyond her laboratory work, Magdouli’s research program is designed to train the next generation of engineers to work across disciplinary boundaries. It brings together environmental engineering, microbiology, materials science and artificial intelligence to address complex challenges that no single field can solve alone.
Her goal is to move these biotechnologies closer to real-world deployment — at larger scale, with stronger industry partnerships and more tangible benefits for communities.
What distinguishes Magdouli’s work is the way she approaches problems that many in the field have come to accept as a given. Drawing on experience in research, industry and practice, she asks different questions — about value, responsibility and what’s possible within environmental constraints — and builds her work from there. That originality of thought, combined with a clear commitment to impact, is what has led to this recognition.
Nicole Racine
Associate professor, School of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences
Nicole Racine’s path into research began not in a laboratory, but in a community centre, where she spent a summer co-facilitating “Mother Goose” groups, play-based sessions for mothers and young children who had experienced trauma and domestic violence. What she witnessed there, women working hard to build safer, more stable lives for their children, went on to shape her research path.
Today, Professor Racine has built a growing national profile in early childhood mental health, producing research with sustained policy relevance.
Racine led a study on quantifying the burden of early childhood mental disorders in Canada, showing that one in 10 children receives a diagnosis before school age. The findings addressed a major evidence gap for policymakers and clinicians alike, providing data needed to inform early identification and service planning.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, Racine’s review in JAMA Pediatrics examining the effects of the crisis on child and youth mental health attracted broad international attention and was taken up in policy discussions in organizations including the World Health Organization and World Bank.
“The most important questions don’t come from academic settings — they come from the communities we serve.”
Nicole Racine
— School of Psychology
That community-rooted orientation also shapes Racine’s intervention research. As principal investigator for a $1.2 million CIHR-funded study, she’s working to identify the active components of early mental health interventions for children who’ve experienced adversity.
What sets Racine apart is not only the scale of her research impact, but the clarity of purpose that runs through it. Relying on population‑level data, clinical science and community‑embedded interventions, her work consistently bridges evidence and action, answering questions that policymakers and practitioners have long been unable to resolve. That combination of intellectual leadership, real‑world relevance and sustained engagement is why she has been recognized with this award.
The Early Career Researcher of the Year Award is presented annually by the University of Ottawa's Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation, to recognize faculty who have demonstrated exceptional promise and impact in the early stages of their research careers.