UBC Okanagan researchers will be able to make further advances in everything from AI communications and advanced wireless systems to quantum chemistry and climate-resilient buildings after being awarded more than $4.3 million in new research funding today.
The funds were made available through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Research Program, which supports ongoing programs of research with long-term goals rather than a single short-term project or collection of projects.
A total of 19 UBCO-led projects were awarded funding as part of an announcement of investments in Canadian research by the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions along with Karim Bardeesy, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Industry and Dominique O’Rourke, Member of Parliament for Guelph.
Discovery research helps enable some of the most revolutionary scientific and engineering achievements and is NSERC’s largest area of investment.
More than $47 million was awarded to researchers across both UBC campuses through a combination of Individual Discovery Grants, Discovery Horizons grants (which support interdisciplinary research with at least one discipline outside natural sciences and engineering) and Research Tools and Instruments grants (which support the purchase of research equipment).
2026 Discovery Grants
UBC Okanagan-led projects and programs
The NSERC Discovery Grants program supports ongoing programs of research with long-term goals and recognizes the creativity and innovation at the heart of all research advances.
Discovery Launch Supplements provide timely resources to support early career researchers (ECRs) as they establish a Discovery Grant-funded research program. Projects marked with * below were awarded additional Discovery Launch Supplements of $12,500
- Alam, Shahria (School of Engineering)
Transformative Strategies for Infrastructure Resilience in a Changing World: Advancing Through Experimentation and Emerging Technologies - Barker, Philip (Biology)
Deciphering TNF Receptor Signaling Strategies Conserved From Flies to Man - Brinkerhoff, Joshua (School of Engineering)
Multiscale modelling of onshore and offshore wind farms - Cawood, Tarryn (Earth & Environmental Sciences and Physical Geography)
Exploring the effects of deformation and metamorphism on sulfide-hosted trace elements* - Chaaban, Anas (School of Engineering)
Towards AI-Native Communication Schemes Enabled by Stacked-Intelligent-Surface Neural Networks - DiLabio, Gino (Chemistry)
Advancing Accurate and Efficient Quantum Chemistry Through Atom-Centered Potentials - Ens, Barrett (Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics)
Human-Centred Design for Adaptive Situated Computing Environments - Eves, Neil (School of Health and Exercise Science)
Sex Differences in the Regulation of Mechanical Cardiopulmonary Interaction - Foulds, Ian (School of Engineering)
Point-of-Care System for Quantifying Agglutination Based Biomarker Panels - Hewage, Kasun (School of Engineering)
Planning and development of climate-resilient and occupant-centric net-zero-energy building clusters - Ielpi, Alessandro (Earth & Environmental Sciences and Physical Geography)
Morphodynamic response of watersheds to environmental stresses - Islam, Muhammad (School of Health and Exercise Science)
Impact of exercise and dietary manipulation on muscle and immune cell mitochondria* - Larson, Kyle (Earth & Environmental Sciences and Physical Geography)
Exploring deformation, fluid movement and tectonic processes through beta-decay geochronology - Mahmoud, Soheil (Biology)
Metabolism and Biotechnology of Plant Isoprenoids - Markley, Loïc (School of Engineering)
Periodic Structures and Metasurfaces for Electromagnetic Wave Control and Channel Enhancement in Advanced Wireless Systems - McNeil, Christopher (School of Health and Exercise Science)
Acute effects of cannabis on neuromuscular function / optimization of transcutaneous electric stimulation - Narayan, Runjhun (Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistics)
AI-Accelerated Aptamer Discovery for Precision Agri-Biosensors* - Szilagyi, Robert (Chemistry)
Leveraging Synergy between Computations and Spectroscopy for Mechanistic Discovery - Tavakoli, Javad (Mathematics, Statistics and Physics )
A Mathematical Framework for Queueing Systems and Robust Markov Decision Processes with Applications to Healthcare Operations