Canada 150 Research Chairs Program Leaves a Proud Legacy of Innovation

Ted Hewitt, President, Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

Of the many special events and investments launched to celebrate the 150th anniversary of Canada’s Confederation, few will have more enduring impacts than the Canada 150 Research Chairs (C150) Program. The C150 program has amplified Canada's reputation as a global centre for science, research and innovation, inviting research leaders and scholars from around the world to enrich Canada’s research ecosystem with their bold and brilliant ideas. For the past seven years, some of the world’s top-tier scholars and researchers have put the $117.6 million earmarked for the program to work to enrich the lives and livelihoods of Canadians.

The program has supported 24 chairholders from research disciplines in health, natural sciences, engineering, social sciences and humanities. In every field, they are conducting groundbreaking research that is increasing our capacity to innovate. Just as valuable, they are training the next generation of emerging researchers, helping to develop new skills, creating jobs and fostering novel ways of understanding the world around us. They are also demonstrating the benefits and advantages of interdisciplinary and international research collaborations in the process.

Among the most impressive impacts, more than a thousand highly qualified personnel took part in C150-funded projects as members of these research teams so far, including 253 undergraduate students, 565 graduate students and 273 postdoctoral fellows. In addition, 86 faculty from more than 11 countries around the globe took part in C150-funded research as members of the 24 chairholders’ research teams, and 123 highly qualified personnel were recruited to Canada from international institutions.

Thanks to the prestige of the C150 program, more than 800 trainees were able to attract additional sources of research funding to continue their C150-focused research. For instance, 385 trainees received federal funding; 113 received money from provincial sources, 44 from the private sector, and 60 from not-for-profit organizations; and 217 received funds from international sources.

As compelling as these significant statistics and investments are, the most consequential benefit of C150-funded research is the measurable difference it is making in the health and socio-economic well-being of Canadians. Take the example of research conducted by Miguel Ramalho-Santos, a Portuguese-American cell biologist and C150 in Developmental Epigenetics working out of the University of Toronto and Mount Sinai Hospital. His work has broadened our understanding of embryonic development and the long-term impacts these events have on adult health.

Or, world-renowned computer scientist Kerstin Dautenhahn, C150 in Intelligent Robotics at the University of Waterloo, who set up a Social and Intelligent Robotics Research Laboratory at the university. She and her research team are working to make robots more socially intelligent so they can make more positive contributions to society. Dautenhahn is collaborating with Waterloo researchers with backgrounds in optometry, engineering and psychology to develop a social robot that helps children with the medical condition amblyopia, sometimes called “lazy eye.” She’s also using robots to make therapy and education fun for children who have speech and language difficulties.

Wendy Hui Kyong Chun, a trailblazing new media theorist who returned home to Canada after a 25-year absence, is using technology for the betterment of society, too. She became the C150 in New Media at Simon Fraser University, where she founded the Digital Democracies Group, which grew into the Digital Democracies Institute. The multi-institutional, multidisciplinary project draws together experts in data science, communications, the social sciences, the humanities and the arts to address challenges currently faced by democracies, such as online polarization and discriminatory algorithms. The research includes a project on responsible artificial intelligence (AI) that focuses on the role the humanities can play in AI development.

These and other inspiring stories can be found in this special edition of Dialogue.

As the C150 program winds down and these researchers continue their research journeys, Canada will continue to reap its benefits for generations to come. Thanks to this program, more jobs in the postsecondary research space were created, emerging researchers were trained to carry out a variety of projects, and nearly two dozen researchers were able to foster and expand on their expertise across their respective fields of research.

The positive repercussions of the program extend beyond our domestic borders. The global reach of the C150 program is reflected in the fact that these trusted researchers have provided expert advice in response to more than 1,900 requests to date, including from the Government of Canada, the United Nations, NATO, agencies from the United States and European Union governments, the World Trade Organization, the World Economic Forum and NASA, among others.

The transformative legacy of the C150 program is testament to the power of prioritizing science and research, supporting Canadian researchers across the country, and strengthening our capacity to innovate for the benefit of all humanity.

As the postsecondary sector grapples with a multiplicity of converging challenges, it is more important than ever to remember we all have a role to play in making the case for sustained investment in research. The story of the Canada 150 Research Chairs Program is one of many success stories we as a community can tell. I hope this special series will motivate each of you to tell your own impact stories and fly the flag for Canadian research in the months and years to come.