The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, announced an investment of $506 million through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s (NSERC) Discovery Research programs, including $13.3 million to the University of Ottawa.
uOttawa will receive the research funding in new awards and one-time, one-year COVID-19 extensions with funds for researchers working in fields ranging from physics and electrical engineering to biology and molecular medicine.
Minister Champagne made the announcement from uOttawa’s Advanced Research Complex (ARC) alongside uOttawa President and Vice-Chancellor Jacques Frémont; Vice-President, Research and Innovation Sylvain Charbonneau; The Honourable Mona Fortier; NSERC President Alejandro Adem; and uOttawa grant recipients Anne Broadbent, Ebrahim Karimi, and past grant recipient Pierre Berini.
Professor Broadbent is receiving $240,000 over five years in Discovery Grants to create innovative and disruptive software technologies for the quantum internet that will benefit the Canadian population. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Mathematics and Statistics in the Faculty of Science, where she holds the University Research Chair in Quantum Information and Cryptography.
“This support allows our researchers to continue on the road to excellence, relevance and impact. We can also fully achieve our goal of building a better world.”
Jacques Frémont
— President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Ottawa
“The University of Ottawa recognizes the immeasurable value of the federal government’s Discovery Grant program. It not only contributes to the vitality of our research projects, but also creates a stimulating environment for the next generation. This support allows our researchers to continue on the road to excellence, relevance and impact. We can also fully achieve our goal of building a better world,” says –Jacques Frémont, President and Vice Chancellor of the University of Ottawa.
More than $432 million of this funding is for 2,560 new awards to researchers across the country who are leading world-class research programs in a wide variety of natural sciences and engineering disciplines. These include projects focused on climate change, chemistry, biology, mathematics and statistics, computer science and artificial intelligence, and engineering, to name a few.
Today’s announcement also includes $73.8 million in one-time, one-year extensions with funds to existing Discovery Research grants held by more than 1,907 researchers across Canada. This investment is part of an ongoing response by NSERC to support researchers impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak.
For further details, please consult the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada’s press release.
Media requests: media@uOttawa.ca