UBC Okanagan to become home to national health institute 

Dr. Mary Jung, a Professor in the School of Health and Exercise Sciences, will serve as Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes for a four-year term.

UBC Okanagan researcher Dr. Mary Jung is taking over leadership of one of the 13 institutes that make up the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), enabling her—and UBCO—to play a key role in advancing health research across the country. 

Dr. Jung, a Professor in the School of Health and Exercise Sciences, was appointed Scientific Director of the CIHR Institute of Nutrition, Metabolism and Diabetes (INMD) for a four-year term, beginning January 1, 2026. 

The appointment will see the INMD, currently located at the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Toronto, relocate to UBCO’s campus for the duration of her leadership appointment, making UBCO a hub for health research and impact in Canada. It marks the first time UBCO has hosted a national institute. 

“Having the opportunity to champion and support health research, knowledge mobilization and capacity development is an honour,” says Dr. Jung. “I’m looking forward to representing CIHR and working with Canada’s research communities, people with lived experience and partner communities to shape Canada’s health research priorities and give back to the health research ecosystem.” 

Dr. Jung is one of Canada’s leading experts on the development and evaluation of evidence-based interventions to promote healthy behaviours and prevent chronic health conditions. She developed the diabetes-prevention program Small Steps for Big Changes, where diet and exercise modifications are used to reduce people’s risk of developing Type 2 diabetes. In partnership with the YMCA, the program is currently running in 50 cities in Canada as well as sites in Australia and Portugal. 

In her role as scientific director, she will establish strategic priorities for research across the fields of nutrition, metabolism and diabetes, mentor the next generation of health researchers and advocate for researchers when establishing partnerships with national and international health agencies.  

“Dr. Jung’s appointment is a well-earned recognition of her expertise and career and provides incredible momentum for UBC Okanagan,” says Dr. Suzie Currie, Vice-Principal and Associate Vice-President, Research and Innovation. “Hosting a national CIHR institute on our campus further exemplifies UBCO’s commitment to strategic, impactful research. We are excited to be playing a key role in shaping the future of nutrition, metabolism and diabetes research in Canada.”  

The position helps highlight UBCO’S research impact in Canada, as well as internationally. As scientific director, Dr. Jung will help guide the strategic direction of Canadian health research, connect research communities and collaborate with funding agencies around the world. Having received CIHR support for her own research in the past, she says the opportunity to lead the institute brings a special significance. 

“This is a dream come true. CIHR is internationally recognized as a leader in health research and scientific excellence,” she says. “They’ve helped shape and advance my research program, and I’m very grateful for the chance to now give back to the research world that has so often supported me.”  

Position enables more dedicated time to community-engaged research

Associate Professor Dr. Heather Gainforth is the SSHRC Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Research Coproduction and Implementation Science.

Dr. Heather Gainforth has a singular principle that drives her research and her career.

“At the end of the day, everything I do is in service to the communities that benefit from my work.”

That work—seeking to inject meaningful community engagement into all aspects of university research projects—received national recognition today when Dr. Gainforth, Associate Professor in the Faculty of Health and Social Development, was named the SSHRC Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Research Coproduction and Implementation Science.

“It’s huge,” she says. “Being a CRC is not only an honour, but it helps protect my time to better conduct my research and better service communities—I can show up so much more in the ways I want to.”

The CRC program is designed to attract and retain some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds in engineering, natural sciences, health sciences, humanities and social sciences. Dr. Gainforth’s appointment, announced October 22 by the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, brings the total number of CRCs at UBC Okanagan to 10.

Her work involves ensuring people with lived experience are engaged throughout the research process. Her field of research most often involves supporting people living with a spinal cord injury to thrive after their injury.

“So, in my work, for example, it’s not about doing research for people with spinal cord injuries, but doing research with them to ensure our research is relevant, useful and impactful.”

As a behavioural scientist, she’s seeking to change the behaviour of researchers themselves—to have them reevaluate the ways in which they conduct research to ensure their projects fully engage the communities for whom they conduct their research.

She leads a team that has developed guiding principles that help researchers working on partner-based research—often with communities experiencing chronic conditions like spinal cord injury—to conduct quality, ethical research that is relevant, useful and avoids tokenism. The principles are meant to be used by all partners throughout the research process and are starting to be adopted by researchers across Canada, fundamentally changing the national research environment for the better.

Some funding bodies are now even recommending researchers use the principles in funding applications, and some community agencies require their use in order for researchers to partner with them.

“I’m tremendously proud to see Dr. Gainforth’s work and expertise acknowledged with this prestigious honour,” says Dr. Suzie Currie, Vice-Principal and Associate Vice-President, Research and Innovation. “Her commitment to building meaningful, equitable partnerships in research exemplifies the best of what research can achieve—impact that extends deep into communities, far beyond campus, to create lasting change.”

Dr. Gainforth’s CRC appointment recognizes her as an emerging leader in her field and helps her dedicate more time specifically to conducting research. She hopes to use the increased time to continue to support transformational change in spinal cord injury research, evaluate the systems she and her team are changing and support other groups interested in engagement.

“Ten years ago, when I started looking at how to transform our research systems to meaningfully engage the communities who use our research, it felt risky. I was critiquing the very system in which I worked,” she says. “With this appointment, it’s wonderful to know the Canada Research Chairs Program, and UBCO, see the value in this work. I’m grateful for their support.”

Fourteen UBC researchers were announced as new and renewed Canada Research Chairs in this latest round of appointments, representing an investment of $11.1 million.

UBC Okanagan faculty receive nearly $1.5 million in Canada Foundation for Innovation funding across multiple projects

UBCO researchers received funding for projects ranging from nanogeology, crop resilience and robotic construction fabrication to control technology, chronic disease and acute brain injury.

UBC Okanagan researchers will be able to explore new therapies for devastating brain injuries, thanks to funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).

A total of six researchers from across UBC Okanagan were awarded $1.49 million for research infrastructure on campus through CFI’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF), as announced by the Government of Canada on Friday, October 10. The fund helps universities recruit and retain incredible faculty members and acquire the tools to support their leading and innovative research.

Dr. Ryan Hoiland, Assistant Professor in the Southern Medical Program, is one of the six UBC Okanagan recipients. An Investigator with the Centre for Chronic Disease Prevention and Management (CCDPM), Dr. Hoiland’s research program focuses on brain injury resulting from cardiac arrest.

According to the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, about 60,000 Canadians suffer a cardiac arrest every year, with only five to 15 per cent of patients surviving. When someone’s heart stops beating, blood flow and oxygen delivery to the brain stops too, and oxygen levels in the brain remain low after resuscitation. The resulting hypoxic-ischemic brain injury (HIBI) is the main cause of death in post-cardiac arrest patients.

“The overall aim of our research program is to improve our understanding of the disease processes that occur with hypoxic-ischemic brain injury following cardiac arrest so that we can develop new treatments,” says Dr. Hoiland.

Currently, there are no effective treatments for HIBI, and progress for developing therapeutic interventions for HIBI has been stagnant for decades. By using the equipment and infrastructure acquired with this funding to address key gaps in HIBI research, Dr. Hoiland’s lab will be uniquely positioned to accelerate progress and generate desperately needed knowledge to advance clinical care for HIBI patients.

One aspect of the research that Dr. Hoiland is most excited about is using the NovaGuide 2® Intelligent Ultrasound, funded through this CFI JELF. This one-of-a-kind transcranial Doppler ultrasound uses an artificial intelligence algorithm and robotics to automate the measurement of blood flow to the brain.

“As we learn more about the regulation of blood flow and oxygen delivery to the brain following hypoxic-ischemic brain injury, the automation of the NovaGuide 2 reduces a major barrier for wider implementation in research within additional health care settings such as more rural communities,” says Dr. Hoiland.

This ultrasound will be housed at Kelowna General Hospital. Dr. Hoiland is working in partnership with physicians, nurses and respiratory therapists for this patient-based neuromonitoring research.

“We hope that the research enabled by this CFI award will allow us to better serve all British Columbians, irrespective of where they live.”

Across both campuses, UBC researchers received more than $5.7 million for 31 successful projects in this latest round of funding.

UBCO CFI JELF recipients

Chen, Qian (School of Engineering)
Digital Integration for Robotic Fabrication in Construction (DIRFIC) to facilitate rapid affordable housing in Canada

Dr. Qian Chen’s research is working to address Canada’s housing crisis, safeguard construction workers during construction projects and position Canada as a leader in manufacturing and construction innovations. By developing a scalable and digitally integrated technology framework for robotic fabrication in construction, her lab aims to address the need for rapid, sustainable and affordable housing across the country. Part of her CFI JELF includes an industrial-sized robotic arm to help model the complex constraints of robotic assembly and test the integration algorithm in real-world case studies.

Dubosq, Renelle (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science)
From nano to tectonic: A centre for nanogeology research

Dr. Renelle Dubosq’s funding will develop a Centre for Nanogeology Research within UBCO’s existing FiLTER laboratory and enhance existing electron-beam facilities. These upgrades will allow for nanoscale analysis of geomaterials. Dr. Dubosq’s research will study the feedbacks between element mobility, fluids and structural defects at the nanoscale to assess their role in deformation of minerals and apply these processes to a tectonic scale. By improving the baseline knowledge of Canada’s natural mineral resources, this project could help address the demand for critical minerals crucial for green energy transitions and contribute to a better understanding of seismic rupture, which is essential for seismic hazard assessment in earthquake-prone regions.

van Heusden, Klaske (School of Engineering)
Data-driven control for safety-critical applications

Control technology, used in everything from cell phones to aircraft, buildings to manufacturing, is becoming more complex with increased levels of autonomy. Dr. Klaske van Heusden’s research focuses on the algorithms required to make the next generation of automated systems safe. Her program works to overcome the shortcomings of current methodology and develop data-driven methods for safe control. This CFI JELF will provide the necessary equipment to develop and evaluate safe control methods compatible with learning control algorithms needed to empower autonomous systems. Her research aims to bridge the gap between current methods and real-world safety-critical control.

Hoiland, Ryan (Southern Medical Program)
The translational acute brain injury laboratory

See above for details.

Islam, Muhammad Hashim (Faculty of Health and Social Development)
Real time assessment of metabolism in distinct human cell types across the health-disease continuum

Most chronic diseases affecting Canadians, such as heart disease and diabetes, involve disordered metabolism. However, how metabolism within different human cells and tissues is impacted with these diseases is poorly understood. Dr. Muhammad Hashim Islam’s research aims to advance this understanding and apply the information towards optimizing lifestyle interventions that are aimed at improving disease-related metabolic defects. This CFI JELF will help acquire an analyzer to enable real-time measurement of major metabolic pathways in various human cells and tissues. This technology will help Dr. Islam in developing new approaches for combatting chronic disease by targeting metabolic pathways, with the overall goal to improve the lives of millions of Canadians impacted by chronic disease.

Mason, Chase (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science)
Applying Plant Evolutionary Physiology for Next-Generation Crop Resilience: Establishing the SARC and CBIL at UBCO

Climate change and other challenges are applying pressure to the resilience of Canada’s agri-food system. Using this CFI JELF, Dr. Chase Mason will establish the Sustainable Agriculture Research Complex in UBCO’s West Campus Lands, the area within the Agricultural Land Reserve area located near John Hindle Drive. The complex will consist of two acres enclosed with deer fencing, containing field plots, an experimental trial garden and hoophouses. In his fundamental and applied agricultural research, Dr. Mason aims to create more stress-tolerant and pest-resistant versions of existing crops and explore new and underutilized crops that could thrive in Canada through the next decades of climate change.

Recognition includes support to build world-leading research programs

Two UBC Okanagan researchers have received a significant financial boost to their research projects through the Michael Smith Health Research BC (MSHRBC)’s Scholar and Health Professional-Investigator (HP-I) programs.

Both the Scholar and HP-I programs provide $90,000 in funding for up to five years, with the Scholar program geared towards outstanding early-career health researchers and the HP-I program to health professionals actively involved in patient care.

Dr. Gabrielle Legault – 2025 Scholar Program recipient.

Dr. Gabrielle Legault, Assistant Professor in Indigenous Studies, is a 2025 Scholar recipient. Her research aims to address health research gaps for urban Indigenous people. While urban Indigenous people represent 78 per cent of BC’s Indigenous population, Dr. Legault notes that health research for these communities often lacks meaningful engagement, limits their agency and inadequately represents their diverse Nations, cultures and lived experiences.

Her research will co-develop scalable, culturally responsible governance models for health research that center urban Indigenous perspectives. The team will engage with urban Indigenous health leaders, community members and health researchers to co-create community-informed pathways and help health studies better reflect and serve urban Indigenous communities in BC.

“The knowledge generated from this project will address systemic gaps in Indigenous health research by developing inclusive research practices and ensuring that urban Indigenous priorities shape the research agenda,” says Dr. Legault.

Dr. Barbara Oliveira – 2025 Health Professional-Investigator recipient

A Registered Dietitian and Research Associate in the School of Health and Exercise Sciences, Dr. Barbara Oliveira received the Health Professional-Investigator (HP-I) award. Her research project centers around Type 2 diabetes (T2D) remission, when patients’ blood sugar levels return to sub-diabetes levels without any medication to lower glucose.

Many patients, and their health-care providers, are unaware T2D remission is possible through changes to diet and lifestyle. The project will use social media to connect with potential candidates and educate them about this possibility, ultimately referring to dietitians specially trained in the research program’s strategies for T2D remission. With this awareness and personalized expert support, the project aims to empower people living with T2D to both reach and maintain remission.

“The HP-I award gives me the chance to keep building my research,” says Dr. Oliveira. “This opportunity helps me focus on patient-centered care for Type 2 diabetes remission and work with a great team to make science more accessible to everyone.”

Ongoing MSHRBC funding support helps researchers develop and build leading-edge research programs and train the next generation of scientists while giving recipients expanded potential to make significant contributions to their field.

Across both campuses, the 2025 MSHRBC awards celebrated and supported 13 UBC researchers to help build BC’s health research talent.

UBC has recently restructured and reorganized several internal support services under Innovation UBC—a consolidated group of experts and resources across both campuses that works with researchers to support and accelerate the translation of research into real-world impacts. These supports are showcased in four key areas:

• Sponsored research
• Entrepreneurship and ventures (formerly e@UBC and e@UBCO)
• Inventions and licensing
• Partnerships

As we continue to support researchers in the best manner possible here in the Okanagan, we have aligned some staff members in the Office of the Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation (OVPRI) with Innovation UBC’s structure.

Okanagan contacts for the four key Innovation UBC areas are now as follows:

• Sponsored research – Derek Gratz, Associate Director, Innovation UBC, Okanagan
• Entrepreneurship and ventures – James McCartney, Industry Project Officer, Innovation UBC, Okanagan
• Inventions and licensing – Derek Gratz, Associate Director, Innovation UBC, Okanagan
• Partnerships – Sandra Spencer, Associate Director, Partnerships, Research and Innovation

Please note, while James McCartney is the Okanagan contact for Entrepreneurship and Ventures, entrepreneurial programming is now being delivered in partnership with Innovation UBC from the Vancouver campus.

We are committed to evolving alongside the needs of our research community and look forward to supporting researchers with improved coordination, responsiveness and impact as a result of these strategically aligned changes.

Please connect with the above-named individuals with any questions related to their specific areas of expertise.

Project receives more than $2.1 million in federal funding

UBCO’s Dr. Francisco Peña is leading an international team that will translate and digitally preserve the General e grand estoria—the largest universal history written in Medieval Europe.

One of the world’s most unique and important texts, the General e grand estoria (GE), will soon be translated, analyzed and made widely available, thanks to a global endeavour being led by a UBC Okanagan researcher.

Dr. Francisco Peña, Professor in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, is leading a team of international scholars in the collaborative effort to translate and digitally preserve the General estoria—the largest universal history written in Medieval Europe.

The project was awarded more than $2.1 million through a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) Partnership Grant, announced today by the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, as part of a larger funding announcement for Canadian university research that included more than $9 million for UBCO research.

“While this is one of the world’s most unique and important texts, it is unfortunately not widely known,” says Dr. Peña. “Many relevant texts written in medieval Spain have disappeared. Through our efforts, we hope to change that fact and preserve this valuable piece of literature forever.”

The GE was commissioned by Alfonso X of Castile, who ruled Spain from 1252 to 1284. It was an effort to record the entire history of humanity, from the origins of the world as narrated in the Bible up to the time the work was commissioned.

Written in Spanish, the GE is unique in several ways, explains Dr. Peña. It’s the first work of its type in a language other than Latin, and it includes the social and cultural history of the world to that point in time, not just the political history.  It’s also noteworthy that its authors spanned multiple religions. While many texts of the time were commissioned and written by Christians alone, the GE’s authors included Christians, Muslims and Jews.

It totals more than 6,000 pages, and is an integral piece of Spain’s history.

Dr. Peña will oversee the project along with project co-directors, Dr. Katie Brown from University of Exeter in England and Dr. Francisco Gago-Jover from the College of the Holy Cross in Worcester, Massachusetts.

The project team includes 55 scholars and practitioners from 18 partner organizations across Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Spain, Portugal, Egypt, Colombia and Tunisia.

In addition to translating to English, the team will be annotating and analyzing the translated text to aid in explaining it to a lay audience.

“The text hasn’t been well understood to date because it’s impossible for a single scholar to tackle a project like this with its size and complexity,” says Dr. Peña. “So, we’ve assembled this team from across the globe to tackle it together.”

They’ll be using a digital platform called Colabora that Dr. Peña developed with colleagues in 2018, using funding from a previous SSHRC grant, to transcribe, digitize, translate and annotate the original GE text. During this latest project, he hopes to be able to train Collabora’s AI components to read the 13^th century handwriting to speed up the document’s transcription.

The original text is housed at the Biblioteca Nacional de España, and part of the $2.1 million will be used to provide graduate students with a number of experiential learning opportunities working alongside the original 13th century document in Spain.

“In the spirit of how the original text was written, we want to create a network of students from many countries and cultures and give them opportunities to work and study together at the same time. This is an invaluable opportunity for us to provide training and experience they can’t receive any other way,” says Dr. Peña.

The team also plans to create a series of additional materials to help lay audiences understand the original work and will partner with libraries and school districts in North America, Europe and North Africa to help disseminate the information.

Connecting with a general audience is a huge component of the project, says Dr. Peña.

“In the last few years, there’s been a mistrust of academic institutions—a perceived distancing of universities from non-university communities. We want to bridge that gap,” he says. “This document was written in the language of the people—there was an aim to reach as many of them as possible. We’re going to do exactly the same thing.”

The Canadian government’s willingness to support the work of preserving a Spanish document is unique, says Dr. Peña.

“I love that Canada has stepped up to do this for something that’s not Canadian. To help preserve history, reach and connect people from different cultural backgrounds, and spread knowledge,” he says. “This may be a Spanish text, but the values—that’s what’s Canadian.”

Latest NSERC, SSHRC, NFRF results include 38 successful UBCO projects

Researchers across UBC Okanagan will benefit from the latest funding announcement from the federal government, investigating everything from nanoscale insights into tectonics to a unique 13th-century Spanish text.

UBC’s Okanagan campus has received a significant investment from the federal government, with more than $9 million in research funding announced today across 38 research projects.

The grants, awarded through Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), will fund cutting-edge research at UBCO, including investigations into food bank resilience, emerging fuels and digital literacy for older adults.

One highlight of these projects is a successful SSHRC Partnership Grant for more than $2.1 million led by Dr. Francisco Peña, Professor in the Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies, which involves an international team of researchers looking to translate, digitize and annotate the General estoria for a lay audience. This unique 13th century text, written in Spanish, was an effort to record the entire history of man, from the origins of the world as narrated in the Bible up to the time the work was commissioned.

The research funding was part of a larger announcement by the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions. She announced $1.3 billion in research funding for Canadian universities through various programs from federal granting agencies.

OKANAGAN PROJECTS

Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)

SSHRC 2024 Partnership Grants

Partnership Grants are intended for large teams of postsecondary institutions and/or organizations of various types that work in formal collaboration.

Peña, Francisco (Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies)
The Confluence of Religious Cultures in Medieval Historiography: A Digital Edition of the General e Grand Estoria (DEGE)

SSHRC 2024 Partnership Development Grants 

SSHRC Partnership Development Grants (PDG) provide support to new or existing partnerships for initiatives that advance research, provide research training, and/or knowledge mobilization in the social sciences and humanities.

Rush, Kathy (Faculty of Health and Social Development)
A Public-Private Digital Literacy Program Partnership To Advance Support for Older Adults’ Digital Literacy Learning Journey

SSHRC 2024 Insight Grants  

SSHRC’s Insight Grants support scholars in the social sciences and humanities to address complex issues pertaining to individuals and societies and to further our collective understanding.

Aguiar, Luis (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)
Ethnic Media in Canada at a Crossroads: Challenges, Opportunities and Contributions to Canadian Society

Carlyle, Margaret (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)
Delivering the Enlightenment in the French Atlantic World

Sloan Morgan, Onyx (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)
Tracing the Settler Colonial Legacies of Insurance: From Empire to Wildfires in British Columbia, Canada

Smith, Megan (Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies)
Truth Machine: Authenticity & Immersive Computational Art in the time of Artificial Intelligence

Walsh, Zachary (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)
Locating the new normal: Nonclincal psychedelic use in context

Ward, Shannon (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)
Language Revitalization in Transnational Perspective: Tibetan-Canadian Children’s Experiences of Heritage Language Education in an International Boarding School

Wilson, Shawn (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)
Continuing the Ceremony of Research: New Directions in Indigenous Methodologies

SSHRC 2025 Insight Development Grants

Insight Development Grants support research in its initial stages. The grants enable the development of new research questions, as well as experimentation with new methods, theoretical approaches and/or ideas.

Asano, Miho (Faculty of Health and Social Development)
What It Means to Live Alone and Die Well – Elder Orphans 

Craig, Andrea (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)
Measuring Conflict and Estimating the Impacts on Immigrant Outcomes 

Girvan, Anita (Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies)
Gule Wamkulu: Chewa governance systems for Transnational well-being in and Beyond African and Afro-descended Communities 

Hasan, Mohammad (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science)
Design, Co-Creation, and Evaluation of a Usability Scale for VR Applications by and for Older Adults 

Héroux-Legault, Maxime (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)
Understanding and Improving Attitudes toward Immigrants in Canada 

Mohamadpour Tosarkani, Babak (School of Engineering)
Building Resilient Food Banks: A Community-Centered Framework for Emergency Preparedness

Robinson, Pamela (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)
Ethics from the ‘inside’

Shen, Qingyang (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)
Effect of tenement regulation on property values and development timelines

New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) 

2024 Exploration competition

The objective of the Exploration stream is to support high-risk, high-reward and interdisciplinary research. It seeks to inspire projects that bring disciplines together beyond traditional disciplinary or common interdisciplinary approaches by research teams with the capacity to explore something new that might fail, but that has the potential for significant impact.

Hoekstra, Femke (Faculty of Medicine)
Implementing Drone Technology in Rural Indigenous Healthcare Systems: The Drone Transport Initiative

Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC)

2024 DISCOVERY GRANTS

The NSERC Discovery Grants program supports ongoing programs of research with long-term goals rather than a single short-term project or collection of projects. These grants recognize the creativity and innovation that are 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

Andrews, Jeffrey (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science)
Unsupervised statistical learning: spatial models and error estimation

Bauschke, Heinz (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science)
Modern Splitting Algorithms: static properties, asymptotic behaviour, extensions and applications

Dubosq, Renelle (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science)
Nanoscale insights into tectonic phenomena: Exploring mineral structure-property relationship in Earth sciences*

Foster, Glen (Faculty of Health and Social Development)
Human neurocirculatory control during physiological stress

Frattolin, Jennifer (School of Engineering)
Unravelling the interplay of arterial biomechanics and chemokine transport*

Godin, Robert (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science)
Spectroscopic investigations of charge flow in photocatalytic carbon nitride systems

Irani, Pourang (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science)
Beyond Performance: Exploring End-User Comfort for In-Situ User Interfaces

Kheirkhah, Sina (School of Engineering)
Emerging fuels’ combustion for future power-generation and aviation gas turbines

Li, Ri (School of Engineering)
Super-biphilic Surface-enhanced Boiling Heat Transfer of Dielectric Fluids for Near-source/junction Microchip Cooling

Murch, Susan (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science)
Chemistry of Non-Protein Amino Acids

Nicoladis, Elena (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences)
Do gestures relieve the cognitive load of weak proficiency in bilinguals?

Purcell, Sarah (Faculty of Medicine)
Defining the role of endogenous and exogenous ovarian sex hormones on energy balance regulation*

Russello, Michael (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science)
The genomic basis of adaptation to changing environments with applications to wildlife conservation

Sediako, Dimitry (School of Engineering)
The Development of Sustainable Metallic and Composite Materials for Next Generation High-Efficiency Automotive Powertrains

Thompson, John (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science)
Mixed-type and time series clustering with change-points*

Zarifi, Mohammad Hossein (School of Engineering)
Sustainable, Eco-Friendly RF/Microwave Systems for Edge Intelligence for 6G and Beyond

RESEARCH TOOLS AND INSTRUMENTS

The NSERC Research Tools and Instruments grants foster and enhance the discovery, innovation and training capability of university researchers in the natural sciences and engineering by supporting the purchase of research equipment.

Arjmand, Mohammad (School of Engineering)
Rheometer | Dynamic Mechanical Analyzer for Rheological and Structural Characterization of Polymer Composites
Co-applicants: Sadeghzadeh Milani, Abbas;

Li, Isaac (Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science)
Urgent replacement of motorized microscope stage for super-resolution molecular force imaging

Li, Ri (School of Engineering)
High-performance Thermal Infrared System for the Research of Near-source/junction Microchip Cooling

Siddiqua, Sumi (School of Engineering)
Gas Chromatography for development of novel CO2 adsorbents

BCKDF funding awarded to the campus’s newest Canada Research Chairs

Photo credit: Margo Yacheshyn

Two UBC Okanagan researchers have received a combined $440,221 in infrastructure support from the Government of BC.

The funding came from the latest round of the BC Knowledge Development Fund (BCKDF) awards, which help support expanding research capacities at BC post-secondary institutions. At UBC Okanagan, these funds are supporting research projects from UBC Okanagan’s newest Canada Research Chairs.

Dr. Alanaise Ferguson from the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is the Canada Research Chair in Health, Healing and Community Revitalization: Indigenous Approaches to Overcoming Intergenerational Trauma and Loss (Tier 2). Her BCKDF-funded project is a communication centre for health and cultural revitalization that prioritizes Indigenous lived experiences.

From the School of Engineering, Dr. Will Hughes is the Canada Research Chair in DNA Engineering (Tier 1). His BCKDF funding will go towards the DNA Nanotechnology Laboratory, where Dr. Hughes and his team are studying storing data in synthetic DNA, or nucleic acid memory (NAM).

“I am delighted to see this investment in research infrastructure, which will support UBC Okanagan’s newest Canada Research Chairs and their colleagues,” says Dr. Lesley Cormack, Principal and Deputy Vice-Chancellor. “I’m grateful to the Province of BC for helping enable our researchers’ cutting-edge and important work in DNA nanotechnology and developing Indigenous approaches to overcoming intergenerational trauma and loss.”

The most recent round of BCKDF funding gave approximately $52.3 million to support 25 research projects at five BC post-secondary institutions. Across both campuses, UBC researchers were awarded more than $47 million for 21 projects.

Drs. Alanaise Ferguson and Will Hughes recognized for research excellence

Photo credit: Margo Yacheshyn / University Relations

Two UBC Okanagan faculty members have received prestigious Canada Research Chair appointments from the federal government.

The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Transport, announced the new chairs today on behalf of the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, as part of a larger funding announcement for Canadian researchers and projects.

Dr. Alanaise Ferguson from the Irving K. Barber Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences is the new Canada Research Chair in Health, Healing and Community Revitalization: Indigenous Approaches to Overcoming Intergenerational Trauma and Loss (Tier 2), while Dr. Will Hughes from the School of Engineering is the Canada Research Chair in DNA Engineering (Tier 1).

Both faculty members also received Canada Foundation for Innovation funding through the John R. Evans Leaders Fund for their research infrastructure, for a combined total of more than $440,000.

Dr. Alanaise Ferguson, Associate Professor, Indigenous Studies is the new Canada Research Chair in Health, Healing and Community Revitalization: Indigenous Approaches to Overcoming Intergenerational Trauma and Loss (Tier 2).

OVERCOMING INTERGENERATIONAL TRAUMA AND LOSS

An Associate Professor in Indigenous Studies, Dr. Ferguson focuses on developing Indigenous approaches to overcoming intergenerational trauma and loss. As a registered psychologist, and the daughter and granddaughter of residential school survivors, she incorporates therapeutic models in her work and engages with diverse Indigenous ways of healing.

“Indigenous approaches to health and wellbeing are really expansive and include techniques and processes we might not necessarily recognize,” said Dr. Ferguson. “One of these techniques is cultural reclamation, such as language reclamation or the resurgence of Indigenous stories—basically the things we lost when we were enduring different policies of genocide, especially in the last century.”

With a group of Canadian scholars, Dr. Ferguson is developing a healing plan that can be easily adapted across Canada in various environments and communities.

Though Indigenous people experience similar levels of mental health issues as non-Indigenous Canadians, their rates of post-traumatic stress disorder and chronic stress are disproportionately higher, says Dr. Ferguson. This stress can contribute to other health disorders, including cardiovascular diseases and diabetes, and to greater involvement in the criminal justice system.

“If Indigenous people had access to culturally appropriate services, then we could really remediate that disparity,” says Dr. Ferguson.

Dr. Will Hughes, Director of the School of Engineering, is the new Canada Research Chair in DNA Engineering (Tier 1).

DNA ENGINEERING

Dr. Hughes, who serves as the Director for the School of Engineering and a Professor in Applied Science, designs DNA for multiple uses, including storing and reading digital data.

The increasing popularity of cloud computing is creating a two-fold storage crisis. First, the world is projected to run out of semiconductor-grade silicon—necessary for manufacturing the flash memory used in cloud storage applications—by 2040. Secondly, storing the huge amount of data already created in memory requires a massive amount of energy, resulting in high environmental and financial costs.

To help solve this problem, Dr. Hughes believes storing data in synthetic DNA is a viable alternative. Nucleic acid memory (NAM), as coined by his team, is stable, sustainable, inexpensive to operate, and can store significantly more data in a smaller package.

In contrast to large servers and data centres, with the emerging capabilities of DNA, it’s possible that the projected digital universe in 2040 could fit in a 100×100×10 cm³ box—slightly smaller than a U-Haul box to move a TV.

Dr. Hughes’s project focuses on encoding and encrypting information into DNA in multiple dimensions, but the team will also be exploring basic questions about how DNA interacts, how information flows in a system and how to take advantage of the biological and non-biological components of DNA for data storage applications. To address these questions, they’re also building the next generation of sequencing tools.

“This project is an engine for creating questions and answering questions,” says Dr. Hughes. “It’s where science and engineering and design come together in authentic ways.”

To the benefit of UBCO, Dr. Hughes combined CFI funding related to his CRC with that of another CRC in UBCO’s Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science, Dr. Isaac Li, to purchase a near video-rate atomic force microscope.

“It is a gift to work with Dr. Li, and together we were able to acquire a state-of-the-art instrument that neither one of us could have acquired independently. Partnership means everything here, and this new CRC-funded equipment will support UBC Okanagan’s growing research success for years to come.”

The federal government established the Canada Research Chairs program in 2000 to promote excellence and innovation in Canadian research centres. Chairholders are some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds, improving our depth of knowledge and quality of life, strengthening Canada’s international competitiveness and helping train the next generation of researchers. UBC Okanagan now has nine Canada Research Chairs.

With the announcement, UBCO researchers received more than $4.1 million in funding for 26 UBCO-led projects, including the two CRC-associated JELF awards, 10 SSHRC Insight Development Grants and 14 NSERC Alliance Grants.

SSHRC Insight Development Grants

UBCO researchers received more than $630,000 in funding from SSHRC Insight Development Grants, over 10 successful projects.

Adebayo, Sakiru (English and Cultural Studies)
The Melancholic Diaspora: Postcolonial African Immigrant Subjects in the United States

Obeegadoo, Nikhita Sonia Richa (Languages and World Literatures)
From coelacanths to mangroves: A multilingual, multispecies and decolonial approach to global archipelagic literature

Ronquillo, Charlene (Nursing)
Stakeholder perspectives and impacts of explainable artificial intelligence: A case study in a British Columbia health authority

Saifer, Adam (Faculty of Management)
Connecting the dots: Investigating institutional philanthropy’s entanglement with right-wing populism in Canada

Wong, Wendy (Economics, Philosophy and Political Science)
Increasing Accessibility in Surveys

Mohamadpour Tosarkani, Babak (School of Engineering)
A novel decision-support approach for exploring and analyzing factors affecting Canadian food industry performance

Neimanis, Astrida (Community, Culture and Global Studies)
Enhancing Access and Inclusion in Environmental Humanities Research Practice

Chau, Shirley (Social Work)
Anti-racism task forces and reports at universities in Canada: What happens to them after the launch party? A Critical Race Theory application of institutional response to calls for action…

Paulson, Timothy (History and Sociology)
Canola Capitalism: Futures Markets and Genetically-Modified Rapeseed on the Canadian Prairie, 1963-2007.

Yoon, Kyong (English and Cultural Studies)
Asian Canadian YouTubescape: Youth Cultural Politics of Visibility

NSERC Alliance Grants

UBCO researchers had 14 successful applications during 2022/23, totalling over $3 million in NSERC funding.

Sina Kheirkhah (School of Engineering)
Development of hydrogen safety codes and standards through a collaboration between UBC and the University of Groningen: Design of reacting flow facilities

Suliman Gargoum (School of Engineering)
Automated Low-Cost Change Detection of Road Infrastructure Assets Using Remote Sensing and AI

Zheng Liu (School of Engineering)
Multi-Modal ILI Data Fusion for Combined Diagnostics of Pipeline

Sumi Siddiqua (School of Engineering)
Bio-mediated treatment of organic soil with fungal strain Penicillium Chrysogenum and wood fly ash

Ifeoma Adaji (Computer Science, Mathematics, Physics and Statistic)
A Systematic Review of Behaviour Change Technologies for Influencing Healthy Nutrition

Jian Liu (School of Engineering)
High-performance quasi-solid-state zinc-ion capacitors coupling carbonaceous electrodes with eutectic hydrogel electrolytes

Solomon Tesfamariam (School of Engineering)*
Performance-Based Design of Tall Mass Timber Buildings Under Earthquake and Fire Loads

*has since moved to another institution

Rehan Sadiq (School of Engineering)
Enhancing Sustainability Performance in Aquatic Centres: A Life Cycle Approach

Thu Thuy Dang (Chemistry)
Single-cell omics approaches for anticancer camptothecin biosynthetic pathway elucidation

Ahmad Al-Dabbagh (School of Engineering)
Toward resilient operation of large-scale systems

Nathaniel Pelletier (Biology)
Collaborative roadmap development towards a net zero greenhouse gas emissions Canadian egg industry

Kenneth Chau (School of Engineering)
UV LED Light Controlling Elements for Photoreactor Applications

Shahria Alam (School of Engineering)
Crack detection and prediction of RC piers during earthquakes using machine learning and artificial intelligence

Kyle Larson (Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences)
Tectonics, deformation, fluid flow, and gold metallogeny during Cretaceous inversion of the Selwyn basin

Projects funded to improve campus air quality, energy efficiency and wildfire resiliency

New research projects from the Campus as a Living Lab program will help UBC Okanagan set an example of sustainability in the region.

Now in its second year, the Campus as a Living Lab (CLL) program is funded by the Office of the Vice-Principal, Research and Innovation and partners researchers with campus operations staff to help design and implement innovative solutions to on-campus challenges. This opportunity allows research to be directly applied to a real-world setting while providing meaningful impact to the campus through climate action, resilient systems, sustainable places and communities, or health and wellbeing.

This year’s results saw two successful projects selected in a competitive process.

Ryan Gordon, a summer research assistant, hangs an ART device in the Pritchard Simulation Centre at Kelowna General Hospital. These low-cost air filtering devices will be mounted in high-priority areas across UBC Okanagan to reduce viral spread and air pollution.

IMPROVING INDOOR AIR QUALITY

Dr. Sunny Li (School of Engineering) and Dr. Jonathan Little (Faculty of Health and Social Development) are partnering with Roger Bizzotto and Martin Gibb in Facilities Management to clean UBC Okanagan’s air through wall-mount air filtering devices that are cleverly disguised as paintings.

Developed out of the work of the Airborne Disease Transmission cluster, these Aerosol Removing Tapestry (ART) devices use positively charged filters to reduce airborne particles and bacteria. The ART device is low cost, quiet and uses only about four watts of energy per device. The team plans to assess UBC Okanagan indoor spaces for the highest risk areas of viral spread and pollutant inhalation, test different device sizes and locations, and monitor their effects on airflow in this live setting.

“This work has significant potential for the health and wellbeing of students, as the Okanagan region is grappling with a rise in respiratory illness and increased wildfire smoke in the summer months,” says Dr. Li. “Being a successful applicant for the Campus as a Living Lab competition is a great honour. We are thrilled to embark on this collaborative journey exploring how we might enhance the indoor air quality across our campus through the implementation of our ART filter devices.”

Researchers and campus staff are aiming to improve the efficiency of the energy system responsible for the campus’s legacy academic buildings, including the Campus Administration building pictured above. Photo credit: Martin Dee / UBC Communications & Marketing

IMPROVING CAMPUS ENERGY EFFICIENCY

The second project will apply Dr. Klaske van Heusden’s control-relevant modeling research from the School of Engineering to optimize UBC Okanagan campus heating and cooling systems for increased energy efficiency and reduced greenhouse gas emissions.

Control-relevant models are simple, approximate models estimated from data. Designed to minimize the impact of modeling errors, they’re created to help enable high-performance control systems that are relatively easy to maintain.

In 2019, 88 per cent of the greenhouse gas emissions from UBCO campus operations were due to heating buildings with natural gas. Working with Colin Richardson, Associate Director of the UBC Okanagan Energy Team, Dr. van Heusden will apply her modeling research to help improve the energy system responsible for the older academic buildings on campus. This system currently functions about 68 per cent efficiency, despite the potential for operating at 90 per cent.

The team believes the project will mark the first time this type of modeling has ever been applied to energy control systems in buildings. The modeling approach is more cost effective than other more complex modeling options and can lead to simpler solutions that don’t require specialized staff to control and implement.

“It is well known that most buildings function well below the energy efficiency they were designed for,” says Dr. van Heusden. “The technology to optimize energy use is mature and reliable but is not used in practice. We’re working on methods that can bridge this gap. I’m very excited to evaluate the impact of our technology on greenhouse gas emissions, right here at UBCO.”

The Campus as a Living Lab project launched at UBC Okanagan in 2022 and funded their first cohort in 2023.

“I’m thrilled to see projects that are going to directly benefit the campus community,” says Dr. Miranda Hart, Campus as a Living Lab project lead.

“Air quality is a growing concern for the campus, and the world in general. The technology developed through CLL is an elegant, easy solution that may eventually help improve life quality for millions. Optimizing our campus energy system will reduce campus carbon footprint, help us on our goal towards carbon neutrality and reduce our contribution to climate change.”

Located in the wildfire-prone Okanagan Valley, UBC Okanagan can greatly benefit from a smart fire detection system throughout its network of buildings. Photo credit: Geoff Lister

GRAND CHALLENGE – WILDFIRE RESILIENCY

In addition to the annual CLL competition, this year introduced the Campus as a Living Lab Grand Challenge, a one-time opportunity for two UBC Vancouver projects, and one at UBC Okanagan, to be awarded major seed funding to address on-campus solutions to the climate emergency.

The successful Okanagan project—proposed by Dr. Qian Chen and Dr. Shahria Alam from the School of Engineering and Roger Bizzotto of Facilities Management—will implement a smart fire detection system to improve wildfire resilience at UBC Okanagan. Keeping in mind the 2023 wildfire and the high overall fire risk in the Okanagan, the team will build a 360-degree system of “virtual watchtowers” that use sensor networks, thermal camera imaging and AI-driven predictive control.

“With this system, each building on campus becomes a smart agent to understand when to trigger sprinkler system, and when and how to optimize air purification in hot spots in response to real-time particulate matter data, reducing considerable manual effort from the facilities management team to patrol and manage those systems,” says Dr. Chen.