NSERC funds social sciences - UVic

Research, Tools and Instruments (RTI) grants Chemists Alex Brolo (pictured) and Jeremy Wulff have each received $500,000 in NSERC funding this year. Photo credit: UVic Photo Services

Thirty-six Faculty of Science professors have been awarded funding through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grant program. The Discovery Grants program is NSERC's largest and longest-standing program. Discovery Grants support ongoing projects with long-term goals, providing researchers with the flexibility to explore the most promising avenues of research as they emerge.

Professor Victor Zhong, principal investigator, and co-investigator Professor Jimmy Lin have been awarded $1,641,776 through the NSERC Alliance Grant program. This funding is complemented by more than $1.8 million in combined cash and in-kind contributions from industry partner BASF Canada, bringing the total project value to roughly $3.5 million. Titled “Deep Research Agents for Natural Science R&D,” the three-year project will co-develop and deploy an end-to-end intelligent research assistant capable of retrieving, reasoning over, and acting on diverse experimental data sources. Developed in partnership with BASF Canada, the project aims to transform chemical informatics from static information retrieval into dynamic, action-oriented knowledge systems that accelerate scientific discovery.

USask Science Ambassador Program coordinator Zoe Slusar (right) stands with a recent group of Science Ambassadors after their placements providing hands-on science education opportunities in underserved communities in Northern Saskatchewan. (Photo: Submitted) Zoe Slusar wants to inspire young people about the possibilities of science.

Researchers in the Faculty of Science have been awarded funding through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance Quantum grants program. This funding supports projects that aim to advance quantum computing, quantum communications, and quantum sensing. Learn more about the newly funded projects and how they’re helping to implement Canada’s National Quantum Strategy.