Canada Research Chairs Cluster Hiring
UBC Okanagan is recruiting three climate-themed Canada Research Chairs (CRCs) to join our thriving research enterprise. These Chairs will develop and lead world-renowned research programs and help guide Canada’s response to the challenges caused by climate change.
At UBCO, we have identified climate change mitigation and resiliency as a research priority. As such, we are taking an interdisciplinary approach via several faculties to concentrate on specific topics that support this priority area:
- disaster resiliency;
- climate adaptation; and
- human health, comfort and safety in unstable environments.
In support of this work, and to further bolster our research strength and capacity, we’re recruiting these three CRCs to be hired under the theme of fostering resilient communities through research in climate change mitigation and adaptation.
These important roles will help tackle this work, reinforce our dedication to the university’s core focus and intentionally leverage the physical, geographical and human resources available at UBC’s Okanagan campus. Our goal is to address the most pressing issues of our time. Through our research and educational expertise, physical location and active partnerships, we are uniquely positioned to help develop and provide evidence-based solutions to enhance global resilience.
The positions
Faculty of Applied Science (School of Engineering)
The world is facing unprecedented natural hazards – from wildfires and heatwaves to floods and landslides – that are occurring with increased uncertainty, intensity and frequency. Given the broad magnitude and impact of these hazards, the need for safe and resilient infrastructure and communities has never been greater. This position provides a unique opportunity for a leading researcher investigating climate change and natural hazards’ potential impacts on infrastructure and communities.
Irving K. Barber Faculty of Science (Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences)
Water resource science has been an area of intensive research in the Faculty of Science at UBC Okanagan for nearly two decades. The successful CRC candidate will be an outstanding, emerging scholar conducting research in the area of climate resilience and water resources with the potential to influence policy at all levels of governments. Working in the Water Resource Science (WRS) laboratory in the Department of Earth, Environmental and Geographic Sciences, the candidate will also help raise the profile of UBC Okanagan’s BSc. (Hon.) Freshwater Sciences degree program – the oldest freshwater resources degree program in Canada.
Faculty of Health and Social Development (School of Health and Exercise Sciences)
This CRC position and research program will be aligned with the institutional priority of environmental resilience, with clear avenues for developing mitigation strategies to enhance human performance, comfort and safety in thermally challenging and unstable environments.
The successful candidate will be an emerging scholar who will develop and lead a world-class program of research examining the acute and chronic influence of environmental thermoregulatory stress, ideally using an experimental systems physiology approach that complements the strengths in cardiac, vascular, respiratory, cerebrovascular and metabolic physiology that currently exist within the School of Health and Exercise Sciences.
The CRC program is funded through three federal funding agencies: Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).
There are two types of CRC positions:
- Tier 1 chairs, tenable for a seven-year term and renewable once, are for outstanding researchers recognized by their peers as world leaders in their respective fields.
- Tier 2 chairs, tenable for a for a five-year term and renewable once, are for exceptional emerging scholars recognized as having the potential to lead in their research areas.