UVic Science researchers awarded $8.76 million in NSERC funding
July 08, 2026
Thirty-three researchers from the Faculty of Science have received a combined $8.76 million in research funding from the most recent round of NSERC funding, announced on July 7, 2026. The funding includes the Individual Discovery Grants, which will be distributed over five years, Subatomic Physics Discovery Grants (individual and project), distributed over five years, as well as one-year funding from the Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) competition.
Discovery Grants
- Anderson-Sackaney, Benjamin (Math & Stats): Operator algebraic quantum groups and C*-dynamics, $185,000
- Bazalova, Magdalena (Physics & Astronomy): DREAM-RAD: Development of radiotherapy equipment to advance medicine: Reducing access disparities; $355,000
- Brolo, Alex (Chemistry): Dynamic single molecule processes in surface-enhanced Raman scattering, $500,000
- Brown, Toby (Physics & Astronomy): Galaxy ecosystems across environments: Multi-wavelength insights in the SKA era, $195,000
- Burke, John (Molecular Life Sciences): How are lipid signalling complexes assembled on membranes, $325,000
- Constabel, Peter (Biology): Molecular and biochemical analysis of phenolic defense phytochemicals and signals in Populus and other model plants, $315,000
- Cowen, Laura (Math & Stats): Methodologies for population dynamics impacting species at risk conservation and fisheries management, $270,000
- Cullen, Jay (Earth & Ocean Sciences): Response of ocean chemistry in Canada's subarctic and Arctic oceans under a rapidly changing climate, $180,000
- de Sousa, Rogério (Physics & Astronomy): Quantum theory of light in ferroelectric materials, $200,000
- Ehlting, Jürgen (Biology): Functional genomics of Douglas-fir defense against pathogens, $195,000
- El-Sabaawi, Rana (Biology): How evolution shapes nutrient cycling: Integrating ecological stoichiometry and metabolic theory at the intraspecific scale, $240,000
- Fraser, Wesley (Physics & Astronomy): Understanding planet formation through deep observational studies of the outer solar system, $205,000
- Giebelhaus, Ryland (Chemistry): Automated chemometric tools enabling comprehensive two-dimensional liquid chromatography separations in metabolomics, $175,000
- Grimm, Jamie (Biology): Strengthening Indigenous governance and sustainable fisheries, $190,000
- Johnstone, Douglas (Physics & Astronomy): Assembling stars and setting the stage for planetary systems: The importance of unstable, time-variable accretion flows, disk winds, and jets, $220,000
- Khouider, Boualem (Math & Stats): The climate equation: Advancing convection and sea-ice modeling for more accurate forecasts, $185,000
- Lokhorst, Deborah (Physics & Astronomy): Revealing the circumgalactic medium in the local Universe, $225,000
- Mumford, Jesse (Physics & Astronomy): Simulating topological phases and interactions in synthetic dimensions, $175,000
- Nathoo, Farouk (Math & Stats): Spatial statistics for spatial transcriptomics and simple Bayes factor calculations, $185,000
- Perlman, Steven (Biology): Evolution, ecology, and genetics of conflict and cooperation in insects and their parasites, $315,000
- Petrosova, Helena (Molecular Life Sciences): Uncovering the hidden diversity: Novel insights into membrane composition of non-model bacteria, $210,000
- Scully, Stephen (Math & Stats): Index-reduction and descent problems with applications to quadratic and hermitian forms, $160,000
- Tsao, Min (Math & Stats): Regression model selection via likelihood ratio test, $160,000
- Venn, Kimberley (Physics & Astronomy): Connecting dwarf galaxies, dark matter, and the origin of the elements, $450,000
- Wulff, Jeremy (Chemistry), Two-photon diazirines for biology and materials, $500,000
Subatomic Physics Discovery Grants
- Jensen, Kristan: There and back again: quantum fields and quantum gravity, $400,000
- Kovtun, Pavel: Theories of extreme matter: Hydrodynamics, holography, and effective field theory, $400,000
- Ritz, Adam: Quantum fields and physics beyond the standard model, $450,000
- Shelbaya, Olivier: Model-coupled optimization and delivery of ARIEL beams, $237,000
- Roney, Michael: The Belle II and Chiral Belle projects, $442,798
Research, Tools and Instruments (RTI) grants
- Bates, Amanda (Biology): Modernizing UVic's Outdoor Aquatics Unit for experiments in ocean health and food security, $149,573
- Lam, Nelson (Chemistry): A supercritical fluid chromatography platform for precise analysis of chiral molecules, $145,496
- Saidaminov, Makhsud (Chemistry): Infrared time-resolved photoluminescence (IR-TRPL) spectrometer, $150,000