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| Dalhousie President Tom Traves, Minister of Industry Tony Clement, University of Calgary President David Layzell and UBC President Stephen Toope at the announcement of phase one results for the Canada Excellence Research Chairs. |
Dalhousie University is in line for two of Canada’s “super chairs” – the Canada Excellence Research Chairs.
Each chair brings with it $10 million in funding to be used by the university to attract a world-class researcher.
“This is a chance of lifetime to bring top-drawer, Nobel-laureate-style researchers to Dalhousie,” says Martha Crago, Dalhousie’s vice-president research.
The Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) program was created by the federal government last year; it is designed to attract and keep the highest calibre of researchers in this country.
In December, the CERC Secretariat received 135 proposals from 41 universities. Then, last month, the short-list was revealed at an announcement in Ottawa attended by Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Minister of Science Gary Goodyear, Minister of Industry Tony Clement and several university presidents including Dalhousie’s Tom Traves.
“It was a very prestigious event to attend and there was much excitement in the room for this program,” says Nancy Hayter, assistant director of institutional programs, Research Services, who shepherded Dalhousie’s proposals through the rigorous application process.
Dalhousie was among 17 universities to see its proposals among the 40 on the shortlist. Proposed are the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Developmental Immunology and Immunosenescence and the Canada Excellence Research Chair in Ocean Science and Technology.
“With two successful proposals, we did very well in the G13 (the group of leading research-intensive universities in Canada),” says Dr. Crago. “Vaccinology and ocean studies are both very strong areas for us and we are expecting to get both of them. After all, when you compete, you compete as strongly as you possibly can.”
The competition now moves into phase two, when the 40 proposals on the shortlist are whittled down to 20. The next steps for Dalhousie are to identify the two scientists it hopes to attract and the research they will lead. The proposals must be fine-tuned by late fall, with the final announcement expected in February of 2010.
CERC in Ocean Science and Technology
Keith Thompson, professor with the Department of Mathematics and Statistics and the Department of Oceanography, is helping to develop the proposal for the CERC in Ocean Science and Technology. He says the successful candidate will be a dynamic, internationally renowned ocean scientist who would lead a multi-disciplinary effort to bring understanding “to the tough problems facing the marine environment.”
“The problems, such as how climate change is affecting the world’s oceans, are so complex and multi-faceted that you need to bring everyone together—the chemical, biological and physical oceanographers—to work on solutions,” says Dr. Thompson, Canada Research Chair in Marine Prediction and Environmental Statistics.
Getting the new chair would be huge for Dalhousie, says Dr. Thompson. Building on the success of the $45M Canadian government- funded Ocean Tracking Network, the chairholder would attract new students to the university and cement Dalhousie’s already strong reputation as a leader in ocean science. He believes the creation of the chair will be the catalyst for a new oceans institute at Dalhousie which would bring together not only scientists, but policymakers, government officials and private sector partners who could develop and commercialize new technologies.
CERC in Developmental Immunology and Immunosenescence
Two Dalhousie Medical School faculty members are the key players behind the university’s other proposed CERC—the CERC in Developmental Immunology and Immunosenescence: Scott Halperin, professor of pediatrics and microbiology & immunology at Dalhousie, head of Pediatric Infectious Diseases at the IWK Health Centre, and director of the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology; and Jean Marshall, professor and head of Dalhousie's Department of Microbiology & Immunology.
Immunosenescence refers to the gradual deterioration of the immune system brought on by natural age advancement. With age, the human immune system becomes increasingly unable to respond at its best to infections, immunizations and tumors. A CERC specializing in this area would provide leadership to a vaccinology and immunology research program by examining the immune system and determining how it becomes compromised because of age. The program would work to develop new vaccines specifically for different age groups, protecting them from severe and debilitating infectious diseases.
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