The Government of Canada announced today that it is investing $635 million in science, research and engineering to support more than 4,800 researchers across Canada.
UBC researchers were awarded $17.3 million through the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council’s Discovery Grants and Discovery Accelerator programs, $13 million through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council’s Partnership Grants, Partnership Development Grants and Insight Grants programs, and an additional $2.7 million through NSERC’s Research Tools and Instruments program.
These investments will support emerging and ongoing research in areas of critical importance that will help inform governments, businesses and individuals as they make decisions to grow our economy, protect our environment and ensure the well-being of communities across Canada.
The UBC Okanagan researchers who received funding are listed below:
investigator |
Project Title |
grant |
Award |
Duration |
| Kyle Larson Faculty of Science |
Orogen parallel flow in convergent systems | NSERC Discovery Grant | $ 305,000 | 5 years |
| Rehan Sadiq School of Engineering |
‘Digital Water’ Paving a Way towards Resilient Urban Water Systems | NSERC Discovery Grant | $ 260,000 | 5 years |
| Jasmin Hristov Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (Sociology) |
Land Violence, Security, and Development in Honduras, Guatemala, and Mexico | SSHRC Insight Grant | $ 229,033 | 5 years |
| Michelle Hilts Faculty of Science (Physics) |
The development of advanced imaging and dosimetry for permanent breast seed implant radiation therapy | NSERC Discovery Grant | $ 205,000 | 5 years |
| Lukas Bichler School of Engineering |
A multi-process approach towards the development of novel Mg alloys | NSERC Discovery Grant | $ 195,000 | 5 years |
| Joshua Brinkerhoff School of Engineering |
Cryogenic Flow Physics to Advance Liquid Hydrogen-Based Aviation | NSERC Discovery Grant | $ 195,000 | 5 years |
| Adam Wei Faculty of Science (EEGS) |
Determining forest disturbance thresholds for managing cumulative hydrological impacts | NSERC Discovery Grant | $ 180,000 | 5 years |
| Eric Li Faculty of Management |
Food Odyssey: An exploratory study of the implementation of sustainable and resilient local food systems | SSHRC Partnership Development Grant | $ 179,800 | 3 years |
| Soheil Mahmoud Faculty of Science (Biology) |
Regulation of terpenoid metabolism in lavender | NSERC Discovery Grant | $ 165,000 | 5 years |
| Amir Ardestanijaafari Faculty of Management |
Adjustable Robust Optimization and its Applications | NSERC Discovery Grant | $ 155,000 | 5 years |
| Julien Gibon Faculty of Science (Biology) |
Signaling mechanisms of the pro Brain Derived Neurotrophic Factor (proBDNF) and the prodomain BDNF (pBDNF) in neurons | NSERC Discovery Grant | $ 150,000 | 5 years |
| Liwei Wang School of Engineering |
Advanced rapid control prototyping testbench for the development of high power converters, battery chargers, mechatronic systems, and AC-DC microgrids | NSERC Research Tools and Instruments | $ 149,227 | 1 year |
| Gino DiLabio Faculty of Science (Chemistry) |
Development of Fast and Accurate Computational Chemistry Methods based on Atom-Centred Potentials and their Application to Crystal Structure Prediction | NSERC Discovery Grant | $ 145,000 | 5 years |
| Conor Pranckevicius Faculty of Science (Chemistry) |
Multifunctional Borylenes for Metal- and Boron-Mediated Reactions | NSERC Discovery Grant | $ 145,000 | 5 years |
| Michael Benoit School of Engineering |
Design of novel crack-resistant aluminium alloys for additive manufacturing | NSERC Discovery Grant | $ 140,000 | 5 years |
| Kenneth Chau School of Engineering |
Multi-scale computational nanophotonics | NSERC Discovery Grant | $ 140,000 | 5 years |
| Michael Noonan Faculty of Science (Biology) |
Statistically efficient integration of animal tracking data into ecological theory and evidence-based conservation | NSERC Discovery Grant | $ 140,000 | 5 years |
| Babak Mohamadpour Tosarkani School of Engineering |
Design and optimization of sustainable closed-loop supply chain networks under uncertainty | NSERC Discovery Grant | $ 130,000 | 5 years |
| Miles Thorogood Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies |
Echo – A New Set of High-level Audio Features for Computational Sound Design Systems | NSERC Discovery Grant | $ 120,000 | 5 years |
| Jian Liu School of Engineering |
Differential Electrochemical Mass Spectrometry for Online Detection and Quantification of Gas Evolution in Energy Storage and Conversion Systems | NSERC Research Tools and Instruments | $ 100,231 | 1 year |
| John-Tyler Binfet Okanagan School of Education |
Undergraduate Student Stress Reduction Through Virtual Canine Comfort | SSHRC Insight Grant | $ 88,915 | 3 years |
| Karen Ragoonaden Okanagan School of Education |
Mindfulness and Antiracist Education: Developing Critical Reflection | SSHRC Insight Grant | $ 86,370 | 3 years |
| TOTAL | $ 3,606,576 |