۲ݮƵ

Please note: The Research + Innovation office will be closed for the holidays from noon on December 24 through January 2nd, inclusive. ❄️ Veuillez noter que le bureau de la Recherche et de l'Innovation sera fermé pour les vacances du 24 décembre à midi jusqu’au 2 janvier inclus.

۲ݮƵ researchers receive over $5M to explore new directions in research

Twenty-one ۲ݮƵ research projects were funded by the New Frontiers in Research Fund 2019 Exploration Grants to explore, take risks, and lead non-traditional research.

The 2019 awarded $46.3 million in funding to support 186 research projects that bring disciplines together in non-traditional ways to explore new research directions. ۲ݮƵ researchers will receive $5.2 million shared among 21 projects, with each receiving up to $250,000 over the next two years.

The NFRF’s Exploration stream addresses gaps in the federal funding system to promote innovation. It supports research that defies current paradigms, bridges disciplines, or tackles fundamental problems from new perspectives. A key principle of this stream is the recognition that exploring new directions in research involves some risk, but is ultimately worthwhile given the potential for significant impact.

۲ݮƵ’s funded Exploration projects support a wide range of topics—from resolving microbial carbon transformations in a warming world, to using machine learning to build a comprehensive database of disclosure information, to reverse engineering the neural circuits of perception.

The NFRF is an initiative of the Canada Research Coordinating Committee and is managed as a tri-agency program on behalf of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

۲ݮƵ 2019 NFRF Exploration competition recipients

Dan Nicolau: Biocomputation with motile biological agents

Stephanie Weber: Organization and function of the dinoflagellate genome

Jennifer Ronholm: Development of biodegradable electrospun nanofabrics with mechano-bactericidal activity

Stuart Trenholm: A closed-loop brain stimulation system for vision restoration following damage to visual cortex

Chao-Jun Li: Low Temperture Solar Nitrogen Fixation

Susan Gaskin: Environmental copper exposure as a modifiable risk factor for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Amy Blum: Viral origami

Jun Song: Artificial intelligence powered materials innovation in emission reduction and energy conversion

David Juncker: Rapid identification of antibody-producing cells against viral agents of new emerging threats and epidemics

Matthew Harrington: From fluids-to-fibers: Tracking the transition from condensed phase biomolecules to biomaterials

Sara Ahmed: Holistic evaluation of the determinants of mobility to enhance social and work participation: Platform trial of the Electronic Mobility Monitoring and Intervention (EMMI) Portal

Nagissa Mahmoudi: Resolving microbial carbon transformations in a warming world

Nicholas King: Automating Scientific Transparency: Using Machine Learning to Build a Comprehensive Database of Disclosure Information

James Kirkpatrick: Scientific Exploration of Induced Seismicity and Stress: Phase 1

Hamed Shateri Najafabadi: Understanding the driving forces behind cellular heterogeneity in cancer

: Unraveling cell-dependent driver genes in complex traits by single-cell deconvolution

Thomas Preston: Understanding Titan: Supramolecular Chemistry beyond Earth

: A machine learning framework for preclinical-to-clinical drug response prediction and identification of therapeutic targets

Arjun Krishnaswamy: Reverse engineering the neural circuits of perception

David Wachsmuth: Integrating Sustainability Research and Policymaking Through Online Scenario Modelling: The Montreal Sustainability Dashboard

Julia Burnier: Microfluidic Systems for nanoparticle synthesis and characterization to understand cancer cell-derived EV uptake

Back to top