Research community news
Aspiration PDF update
May 8, 2025
As of April 1, 156 post-doctoral fellows work across all faculties at UVic. For the most part, they’re funded by NSERC, MITACS, CIHR, MSHRBC and SSHRC. Nine, however are UVic Aspiration...
Science Meets Parliament BC 2025
May 8, 2025
“As an organizer [of Science Meets Parliament BC] this year, I got a bigger, broader perspective on the benefits of the program,” says UVic post-doctoral fellow Andrea Mellor,...
Canada Research Chair aims to unravel prostate cancer’s defence
April 10, 2025
Fonseca and the Cytokines sounds like 1960s band, but what Nicolette Fonseca is orchestrating is a far cry from a pop song. Rather, the Canada Research Chair in Systems Approaches to Cancer Biology...
Not playing around: UVic engineers take on hostile drones with $4.2 million investment
April 10, 2025
Engineering professor Homayoun Najjaran has been working with flying robots — drones — since 2007. But he’d seen at least some of their potential more than 10 years...
SSHRC Connection Grants - spring announcements
April 10, 2025
Connection Grants from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council support events and outreach activities geared toward short-term, targeted knowledge...
Building Climate Action Community at UVic
March 13, 2025
On March 3rd, climate researchers from across the University of Victoria came together for the first in a series of events focused on fostering connection, collaboration, and community. Led by...
UNESCO: bringing people together through education, culture and science Impact and resilience in local communities worldwide
March 13, 2025
The United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) chairs program “mobilizes expertise of higher education and research institutions to address the interdependent...
Aspiration Post-doctoral Fellows program welcomes a new cohort of outstanding talent
March 13, 2025
Over the past year, UVic has welcomed five new early-career researchers in the third intake of Aspiration Postdoctoral Fellows. This VPRI initiative attracts outstanding postdoctoral fellows from...
CIHR Project Grants
February 20, 2025
The Canadian Institutes of Health (CIHR) Project Grant program has awarded $411 million for 453 grants for the fall 2024 competition. Five UVic researchers in diverse faculties will receive a total...
Generative AI guidelines for research: Call for feedback
February 20, 2025
The Office of the Vice-President Research and Innovation (OVPRI) have created a draft set of guidelines for the use of generative AI in research. These guidelines aim to provide high-level guidance...
Q&A with Kelli Stajduhar - Special Advisor Health Research
February 20, 2025
We spoke with UVic’s newly appointed Special Advisor Health Research, Kelli Stajduhar, on her plans to implement UVic’s strategic health vision and what opportunities she sees...
Big purpose: UVic students move the needle on harm reduction
January 24, 2025
Dennis Hore and Bruce Wallace, a chemist and a social worker, literally worked on opposite sides of the campus when they were introduced by UVic’s Research Partnerships unit in April...
Q&A with Julia Baum: Special Advisor Climate
We spoke with UVic's Special Advisor Climate, Jullia Baum, about climate research at UVic and her plans in the role.
Flying into the future: Yang Shi advances uncrewed vehicles on land, sea and air
January 23, 2025
A drone’s-eye view of Yang Shi would show us a person eyeing the future and imagining the next transformative idea. “Every day,” he says, “we meet...
New funding expands lab-to-market training for researchers at UVic and across Canada
January 15, 2025
UVic is partnering with Dalhousie University and 49 other institutions on Lab2Market, Canada’s national network for innovation, commercialization and entrepreneurship skills training of...
Team recognition for excellence
December 12, 2024
Researchers across UVic will be delighted to learn that the humans of UVic’s Animal Care Services unit have been recognized with two national and one international awards: The Canadian...
Seven UVic scholars hold their positions among the best in the world
December 12, 2024
Each of Clarivate’s Highly Cited Researchers has authored multiple papers that rank in the top one per cent by citations for their field(s) and publication year. However, citation...
UVic graduate students experience COP
December 12, 2024
UVic faculty and students played key roles at both the biodiversity conference of the parties in Colombia and the climate conference of the parties in Azerbaijan. At both events, legal scholars,...
Grad students advance IDEA through research
December 12, 2024
Great IDEAs (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity and Accessibility) took place on November 6 at the Grad House. Food, drinks, themed bingo and an appreciative audience contributed to the laid-back and...
Eighteen UVic scholars receive funding for 22 projects that convene, collaborate and share new knowledge
December 12, 2024
The Michael Smith Health Research BC 2024 Convening and Collaborating (C2) and Reach programs mobilize communities for research impact. These awards of $20,000 over 18 months enable health...
Recent publications in the Nature family and Science publications
December 12, 2024
A roundup of 5 recent publications from UVic researchers in the prestigious Nature family and Science journals. Geological Net Zero and the need for disaggregated accounting for carbon sinks,...
Canada Research Chairs
November 14, 2024
Two University of Victoria faculty, leaders in data science and energy systems innovation, were named Canada Research Chairs (CRCs) today in an announcement by the Honourable Yasir Naqvi, Member of...
CIHR Catalyst Grants
November 14, 2024
Three University of Victoria scholars have been awarded $100,000 for one year through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research’s Catalyst Grant program “Sexually Transmitted...
Michael Smith Health Research BC: Research Trainee Program
November 14, 2024
MSHR BC Research Trainee program supports health researchers in the training phase of their research career to enable career development and enrich BC’s health research...
Transforming energy, making matter
Antimatter; Mozart; UVic: The theme throughout this composition is experimental particle physicist Heather Russell. Russell, the Canada Research Chair in Experimental Particle Physics, studies the...
UVic researchers strengthen sexual and reproductive health and rights
Around the world, the rates of sexually transmitted infections are increasing, reproductive rights are being threatened, and a backlash against the human rights of trans and gender diverse...
Fish school – UVic researchers share an ocean of findings
November 4, 2024
Most of the time, life under water is invisible and inaudible to us land-dwellers. Researchers at the University of Victoria have long played a key role in helping the rest of us see, hear and...
UVic researchers identify a pathway to better cognitive health for diabetics
November 4, 2024
Interleukin-10 is a naturally occurring protein in mammals and it’s generally considered to be anti-inflammatory, which is a good thing. However, a University of Victoria research team...
Michael Smith Health Research BC 2024: Research Trainee Award recipients
October 30, 2024
MSHR BC Research Trainee program supports health researchers in the training phase of their research career to enable career development and enrich BC’s health research...
CFI president starts his tenure with a visit to UVic
October 23, 2024
Sylvain Charbonneau, president and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, put UVic research under a microscope during a campus visit on October 22. Charbonneau shared that he was keen to hear...
5 Days of Action
October 17, 2024
5 Days of Action (November 4-8, 2024) amplifies the work groups, units and organizations are doing to create a more diverse, inclusive and equitable campus and community throughout the year. Each...
Interprovincial collaboration to improve brain health
October 17, 2024
On October 15, the Québec Consortium for Drug Discovery (CQDM) and the Brain Canada Foundation announced the funding of three collaborative research projects, for a total of $7.4 million,...
Empathy: our best social app
October 17, 2024
UVic software engineering professor Daniela Damian leads with empathy, and teaches her students to do the same. In the Inspire: STEM for Social Impact program she founded in 2022, students from...
Matthew Alford joins UVic as the 2024 Fulbright Canada Research Chair
October 17, 2024
On February 1, 2025, Dr. Matthew Alford of the Scripps Institute of Oceanography at the University of California San Diego will join UVic as the 2024 Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Healthy...
What’s new with 2024’s Aspiration 2030 Research Clusters
October 17, 2024
Three new research clusters were announced in the June Bulletin. When we checked in to see what their first few months have brought, they all had impactful activities to report.
Indigenous stories: good hearts, good minds and an extraordinary book club
September 19, 2024
Before the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada released its report in 2015, UVic education professor Carmen Rodriguez de France knew what Indigenous stories had been published in Canada...
CIHR Funding provides $3.2M boost to UVic health research
September 19, 2024
The CIHR Project Grant program aims to capture ideas with the greatest potential to advance health-related fundamental or applied knowledge, health research, health care, health systems and/or...
Big share: of autoclaves and access
September 19, 2024
Sharing a trouble might halve it. In contrast, sharing a centrifuge can maximize its impact. The distributed network of UVic Health Core facilities aims to enhance health research at UVic by...
Francis Juanes pumps up the volume on fish
September 19, 2024
Award-winning biology professor Francis Juanes has been making a splash. Although he’s not a fisher himself, the Liber Ero Chair for Fisheries Research has studied aquatic animals...
VPRI portfolio staffing updates
September 19, 2024
We are delighted to welcome several new staff members and announce role changes for existing team members. These positions fill vacant positions and cover parental leaves to maintain critical...
Michael Smith Health Research – BC Scholars program funding allows focus on research
September 17, 2024
Five UVic researchers have been selected as Michael Smith Health Research – BC Scholars. This program provides $90,000 per year for five years for salary support to allow the researchers...
UVic researchers awarded over $2M by SSHRC
September 13, 2024
Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of National Revenue, on behalf of the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced that...
CFI-JELF success for three UVic-led research projects
September 13, 2024
At this time of intense international competition, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF) is a critical strategic investment tool designed to help institutions...
UVic PhD candidate reorients our view of planet formation
September 4, 2024
During Jess Speedie’s first year at university, someone told her, “We owe everything on Earth to the rotating disk of gas and dust that existed around our sun when it was young....
2024 UVic Aspiration Research Clusters Announced
June 24, 2024
OVPRI is pleased to announce the 2024 cohort of UVic Aspiration research clusters. The Aspiration Research Cluster program was established to support research excellence, facilitate...
NSERC Discovery Research Program
June 14, 2024
The Government of Canada invested more than $554 million in discovery and applied research via the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Discovery Research program. UVic...
Square Kilometre Array brings galactic data to stellar researchers at UVic
June 14, 2024
The University of Victoria is now the home of Canada’s inaugural Square Kilometre Array Observatory Regional Centre (SRC). On June 3, 2024 the Digital Research Alliance of Canada (the...
Creative Research and Technology Lab: A small studio makes a big noise
June 13, 2024
Less than 10 per cent of active sound engineers and producers in Canada are women or gender diverse. Before he joined UVic, UVic Computer Science and Music Professor Kirk McNally worked at one of...
It’s all fun and games...until it’s not
Online games are a huge part of peoples’ lives. It’s how people socialize, especially in adolescence. Most people under the age of 55 have always played and aren’t...
UVic in the House
June 13, 2024
UVic was once again well represented at Science Meets Parliament (SMP) in Ottawa in May. “The parliamentarians were so engaged, and their breadth of knowledge is impressive,”...
SSHRC Partnership Development Grants
May 29, 2024
On May 29, 2024, the Government of Canada announced more than $51 million to support 90 research partnerships across Canada. This investment, through SSHRC’s Partnership Grants and...
Q&A with Alex D'Arcy
May 9, 2024
VPRI: What excites you most about your new role as Interim AVPR? AD: I’m excited about a lot of things: to learn about research across campus—new methods, new theories, new...
NSERC president meets some of UVic’s trailblazing researchers
May 9, 2024
Donning a lab coat and safety glasses on April 24, 2024, Alejandro Adem got a close-up view of several of UVic’s unique NSERC-funded labs and programs. The president of the Natural...
More than the unit: entangled photons and an all-star collaboration
May 9, 2024
The smallest discrete unit, a quantum, of scholarship—a researcher—might be compared to the smallest discrete unit, a quantum, of light—a photon. Sometimes, going solo...
Wow factor: inaugural Science Meets Parliament BC a success from start to finish
May 9, 2024
On April 22 and 23, 2024, 31 early-career scholars (pictured above)—a dozen from UVic—were fêted by the Honourable Janet Austin, Lieutenant Governor of British...
Creating a vaccine for an ancient, all-too-current disease
May 9, 2024
“My whole mission in life is to help,” says Caroline Cameron. “Especially people whose voices don’t always get heard.” The UVic microbiology...
Arena match
May 9, 2024
Biomedical engineering student Keeley McCormick’s presentation at Arena Pitch did two things. It mirrored the next-generation vaginal speculum that she and her co-founders at Revyn...
NSERC Alliance grants provide support for 19 UVic-led projects
Almost $3 million funding for 17 UVic researchers over 19 projects was announced on March 13, 2024 through the NSERC Alliance Grants program. The Alliance Grants were announced as part of the...
Partnering for a Shared Future
April 10, 2024
UVic’s world-leading research was proudly on display at the Legislative Assembly of BC yesterday. The lunchtime research showcase attracted over 70 BC Ministers, MLAs, policymakers...
Setting the table for social impact
April 10, 2024
Gathering for a meal is a ritual central to human cultures. A previous research participant inspired Dr. Cindy Holmes, associate professor of Social Work at the University of Victoria, to explore...
The 3-Minute Thesis
April 10, 2024
Distill years of research and an 80,000-word thesis into a three-minute presentation? The 3MT®, created by the University of Queensland in 2008, is just one more way that graduate students...
A storyteller’s spark
March 14, 2024
Allison Balabuch, an Education PhD candidate, is a finalist in the Social Sciences and Humanities’ Storytellers Challenge, which comes with a $3,000 prize and the chance to present in...
From H2O to the power of H
The world needs clean renewable energy, we need it now, and Jason Keonhag Lee is catalyzing the transition for us. Drawn both by the challenges and how they connected to his existing knowledge, he...
Science Meets Parliament – BC
March 13, 2024
This spring, 12 UVic scholars will spend two days at the provincial legislature, meeting with MLAs and learning how policy is made in BC. Sarah Nutter, assistant professor, Educational Psychology...
UVic researchers partner with physicists around the world and plant scientists across the country
March 13, 2024
The Honourable Pablo Rodriguez, Minister of Transport and Quebec Lieutenant, announced $515 million in infrastructure support for 100 projects at 32 post-secondary institutions and research...
Social media: navigating the dilemmas
March 13, 2024
Like mazes, social media have many paths that might (or might not) lead to the destination we seek. UVic Anthropology PhD student Raey Costain explains that, whatever our own personal or...
Writing for The Conversation Canada
March 13, 2024
With almost 56,000 reads (and counting) Lois Harder’s January 9, 2024 article on the recent court ruling to end Canada’s second-generation citizenship cut-off is the...
Given some runway, students take flight
February 12, 2024
“Aerospace research,” the UVic Co-op posting said. Who wouldn’t be intrigued? Third-year UVic electrical engineering student Mclaine de Jesus certainly...
UVic researchers move the needle on health
February 9, 2024
Four UVic scholars have been awarded a total of $6.61 million from the Canadian Institutes for Health Research Fall 2023 Project Grant competition. They represent four distinct areas of research...
SSHRC President visits UVic
January 11, 2024
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council President Dr. Ted Hewitt put on his glasses and stepped close to the screen when research project manager Michael Abe brought up the government...
UVic health scholars collaborate, convene and connect
January 10, 2024
UVic scholars collaborate, convene and connect with agencies, practitioners and service users for optimal impact of their health research. Eight of them recently received funding from two Michael...
Good hearts, clean energy: a transformation begins
January 9, 2024
Elders Kathy Horne and Doug Lafortune, both members of local First Nations, welcomed almost 100 partners, collaborators and team members to UVic with an invitation to bring their good hearts to the...
Fulbright Canada Research Chair advances regional climate action
January 9, 2024
Brent Steel has set the bar high. UVic’s inaugural Fulbright Canada Research Chair wanted, during his four-month position at UVic, to continue and expand his research to support the 2016...
Partnership provides a quantum boost for students
January 9, 2024
The interdisciplinary group of engineers and scientists that makes up the quantum photonics, algorithms, and light-matter interactions for technology (QuALITy) cluster at the University of Victoria...
UVic shows up for COP28
January 9, 2024
For the first time, in 2023 UVic scholars organized a strong virtual participation in a Conference of the Parties. “This grew out of our commitments to the UN Race to Zero and to reduce...
Charging up: A City-UVic partnership develops best practices for equitable EV charging infrastructure
December 11, 2023
Access to electric-vehicle (EV) charging is the single most impactful measure the City of Victoria can take to support EV adoption, according to researchers Curran Crawford of the University of...
Weather and climate extremes call for everyone’s strengths: Zhang
November 16, 2023
With degrees in engineering hydrology and a physics doctorate with a specialization in meteorology, Xuebin Zhang’s route to the leadership of the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC)...
Aspiration PDF success
November 16, 2023
Launched in 2022, UVic’s Aspiration Postdoctoral Fellowships program attracts outstanding postdoctoral fellows from around the world to conduct cutting-edge research at UVic. Aligned...
Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)—Funding highlights
November 16, 2023
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) fund some of Canada’s most impactful research. UVic researchers are at the forefront of that work, and are recognized for their...
CISUR celebrates 20 years
November 16, 2023
On October 20, the Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research celebrated its 20th anniversary with a small gathering of current and former CISUR folks, friends and supporters. In 2003,...
Innovate BC Ignite awards
November 16, 2023
On September 25, 2023, Innovate BC awarded $1.365M to five B.C. research and development projects in natural resources and applied sciences that are improving lives for British Columbians....
UVic Physics and Astronomy scholars awarded international fellowships
November 16, 2023
UVic Distinguished Professor Arif Babul and Professor Adam Ritz have been elected Fellows of the American Physical Society, one of the field’s high honours bestowed on individuals who...
Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium: the name says it all
October 6, 2023
Since 2010, statistician and climatologist Francis Zwiers has been the director of the Pacific Climate Impacts Consortium (PCIC). Under Zwiers's leadership the institute has almost doubled in size...
Celebratory theatre: telling tales
August 29, 2023
This is a story of stories. And like all classic tales, each has an inciting incident followed by a turning point at which the hero steps onto a new path. They sidle or charge or struggle forward...
Canada Foundation for Innovation announces results of JELF competition
August 29, 2023
Today, the Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, on behalf of the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of...
UVic scholars lead diverse, innovative projects
August 29, 2023
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Discovery Grants promote and maintain a diversified base of high-quality research capability in the natural sciences and engineering in Canadian...
UVic researchers awarded almost $4M by SSHRC
August 29, 2023
The Honourable Randy Boissonnault, Minister of Employment, Workforce Development and Official Languages, on behalf of the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation,...
Scholar Spotlight: Brent Steel, Fulbright Chair 2023
June 8, 2023
On August 1, Dr. Brent Steel of Oregon State University will join UVic as the inaugural 2023 Fulbright Canada Research Chair in Healthy People and Planet. Steel is a University Distinguished...
University of Victoria and Ministry of Health - Seed Grant Program 2023
June 5, 2023
Seed Grants provide funding for critical research that responds to the government's research questions to support key decision making and policy development. The program is a collaboration between...
$83.6M advances UVic-led vision for clean energy shift
April 28, 2023
The Government of Canada announced today that the University of Victoria will be receiving $83.6 million from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF). This investment is a...
New Frontiers in Research Fund
April 25, 2023
On April 25, 2023, the Government of Canada released the results of the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) 2022 Transformation and the 2022 Exploration competition. The New Frontiers in Research...
UVic Aspiration Research Cluster Program
April 18, 2023
OVPRI is pleased to announce the inaugural cohort of UVic Aspiration research clusters. The Aspiration Research Cluster program was established by the Office of the Vice-President Research and...
$250K Infosys Visiting Chair Professorship
March 1, 2023
Dr. Arif Babul, University of Victoria Distinguished Professor and Professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, has been named Infosys Visiting Chair Professor in Mathematics and Physics...
Gilead Award for Excellence in Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion
January 16, 2023
Katherine Elvira, associate professor of chemistry, Canada Research Chair and Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research Scholar at the University of Victoria, has received the Gilead Award for...
E.W.R. Steacie Award for Ian Manners
January 13, 2023
Ian Manners, professor of chemistry and Canada 150 Research Chair at the University of Victoria, has received the E.W.R. Steacie Award from the Chemical Institute of Canada. The award honours a...
G7 One Health Summit
January 9, 2023
The confluence of human and planetary health, climate, biodiversity and Indigenous knowledge at the G7 Research Summit on One Health in November 2022 was a perfect fit for the University of...
UVic researchers welcome CFI President and Board of Directors
November 24, 2022
President Roseann O’Reilly Runte and members of the board and leadership team of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) saw some of their funding in action at UVic this week. They...
CFI-JELF success for two UVic-led research projects
November 16, 2022
The Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, announced on November 16, 2022 more than $64 million to support 251 research...
Aspiration Post-doctoral Fellows program welcomes the second intake of outstanding talent
Over the past year, UVic has welcomed six new early-career researchers in the second intake of Aspiration Postdoctoral Fellows. This VPRI initiative attracts outstanding postdoctoral fellows from...