CRCs are world leaders in their field funded by the Government of Canada in the areas of natural sciences and engineering, health sciences, and social sciences and humanities. “These symposia were a wonderful opportunity for researchers to get to know each other’s specialties, and to spark new collaborations with students and the wider community,” says Mario Pinto, Vice-President (Research and International). “I thank all the CRCs for their groundbreaking contributions to address the issues faced by society today.”

This thought-provoking look at current UM research is available to view online, each featuring a brief presentation from the gathered CRCs followed by a question-and-answer period with the audience.

CRC Symposium 1, February 2, 2023 – Fort Garry Campus

Featuring presentations from: Heather Armstrong, Chair in Integrative Bioscience; Guozhen Zhu, Chair in Mechanical and Functional Design of Nanostructured Materials; Trust Beta, Chair in Grain-Based Functional Foods; Eric Collins, Chair in Arctic Marine Microbial Ecosystem Services; Britt Drögemöller, Chair in Pharmacogenomics & Precision Medicine; Ned Budisa, Chair in Chemical Synthetic Biology and Xenobiology; Lori Wilkinson, Chair in Migration Futures; Jason Kindrachuk, Chair in Epidemiology and Global Public Health; Sabine Mai, Chair in Genomic Instability and Nuclear Architecture in Cancer; Jörg Stetefeld, Chair in Structural Biology and Biophysics; Carl Ho, Chair in Efficient Utilization of Electric Power; and Nandika Bandara, Chair in Food Proteins.

CRC Symposium 2, February 27, 2023 – Bannatyne Campus

Featuring presentations from: Tracie Afifi, Chair in Childhood Adversity and Resilience; Robert Lorway, Chair in Global Intervention Politics and Social Transformation; Janilyn Arsenio, Chair in Systems Biology of Chronic Inflammation; Puyan Mojabi, Chair in Electromagnetic Inversion for Characterization and Design; Annette Desmarais, Chair in Human Rights, Social Justice and Food Sovereignty; Zulma Rueda, Chair in Program Sciences & Global Public Health; and Kathryn Sibley, Chair in Integrated Knowledge Translation in Rehabilitation Sciences.

CRC Symposium 3, March 28, 2023 – Fort Garry Campus

Featuring presentations from: Ties Boerma, Chair in Population and Global Health; Kiera Ladner, Chair in Miyo we’citowin, Indigenous Governance & Digital Sovereignties; Rotimi Aluko, Chair in Bioactive Peptides; Zahra Moussavi, Chair in Biomedical Engineering; Terry Klassen, Chair in Clinical Trials; and Galen Wright, Chair in Neurogenomics.

CRC Symposium 4, April 24, 2023 – Bannatyne Campus

Featuring presentations from: Lisa Lix, Chair in Methods for Electronic Health Data Quality; John Ataguba, Chair in Health Economics; Nicole Wilson, Chair in Arctic Environmental Change and Governance; Lorrie Kirshenbaum, Chair in Molecular Cardiology; Meghan Azad, Chair in Developmental Origins of Chronic Disease; and Kristine Cowley, Chair in Function and Health after Spinal Cord Injury.

CRC Symposium 5, May 16, 2023 – Fort Garry Campus

Featuring presentations from: Kristina Brown, Chair in Arctic Marine Biogeochemistry; Nicole Rosen, Chair in Language Interactions; Robert Mizzi, Chair in Queer, Community & Diversity Education; Samar Safi-Harb, Chair in Extreme Astrophysics; and Susan Logue, Chair in Cell Stress and Inflammation.

CRC Symposium 6, June 19, 2023 – Bannatyne Campus

Featuring presentations from: Andrew Halayko, Chair in Chronic Lung Disease Pathobiology and Treatment; Colin Gilmore, Chair in Applied Electromagnetic Inversion; James Blanchard, Chair in Epidemiology and Global Public Health; Marcelo Urquia, Chair in Applied Population Health; and Souradet Shaw, Chair in Program Science & Global Public Health.

Two U of M faculty members are being named new Chairs, and two current chair holders have been renewed. They are all Tier 2s Canada Research Chairs and will each receive $500,000 over five years, for a total of $2 million.

“I congratulate our new and renewed chair holders on their success in being appointed Canada Research Chairs – they are among Canada’s best researchers in their fields,” said Digvir Jayas, vice-president (research and international) and Distinguished Professor at the U of M. “Their expertise adds to the research excellence of our faculty and the learning experiences of our students.”

The new chairs are:

Eric Collins

Eric Collins (Centre for Earth Observation Science), Chair in Arctic Marine Microbial Ecosystem Services, will answer the driving question of: How will sea ice loss, economic development, and other human impacts affect ecosystem services provided by Arctic marine microbes? Objective one will utilize experimental mesocosm studies at the Churchill Marine Observatory to advance the state of the art for in situ treatment of oil spilled in ice-covered waters in support of environmental sustainability and community resilience. Objective two will quantify Arctic marine microbial ecosystem services with an innovative, interdisciplinary effort to map and visualize them in real time in remote locations, producing the first “biodiversity budget” for the Arctic.

Susan Logue

Susan Logue (human anatomy and cell science), Chair in Cell Stress and Inflammation, aims to understand how stressed cells “talk” to neighbouring cells. Using a range of cell biology and biochemical techniques Logue will study cell-to-cell communication during endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress and determine how the unfolded protein response impacts on the wider cellular environment. Knowledge gained from this research program, while increasing our basic understanding of ER stress, will have applications in the treatment of diseases such as cancer.

The renewed chairs are:

Carl Ho

Carl Ho (electrical and computer engineering), Chair in Efficient Utilization of Electric Power, studies low voltage micro-grid technologies, power electronics grid-connected converters, and their controls. He is developing new technologies to support increased harvesting of renewable and clean energy, lower energy losses, higher power quality, and a more reliable platform for simulating power apparatuses in a grid. Over the next 5 years, he and his team will extend this research by focusing on medium voltage grid-level technologies that interconnect micro-grids and minimizes the energy fluctuations caused by renewable energy integration. This work is based on the outcomes of his pilot research and his expanding industrial collaborations.

Nicole Rosen

Nicole Rosen (linguistics), Chair in Language Interactions, conducts advanced linguistic research on language interactions on the Canadian Prairies, including the influence of heritage and immigrant languages on official languages, and on the Michif language. Rosen will develop new methods for the visualization and dissemination of language variation and change, and will work with Métis youth and elders to co-create Michif resources to be used in documentation and revitalization efforts. Rosen’s research links language contact and quantitative and qualitative sociolinguistics, and is uniquely situated to inform language policy and praxis in a complex and urgent global context of multiculturalism and decolonization.