The University of Regina benefits from largest investment in discovery science in Canadian history

By Jon Tewksbury Posted: October 11, 2018 10:00 a.m.

(L-R) The Honourable Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness; Dr. Peter Leavitt, Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change and Society; Dr. Thomas Chase, U of R Provost and Vice-President (Academic); and, Dr. David Malloy, U of R Vice-President (Research) U of R Photography

The largest investment in research this year was announced this week by the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science and Sport. More than $558 million in funding through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) means that nearly 4,300 researchers and students throughout Canada will have the means to pursue world-leading research.

At the University of Regina on Wednesday, as part of this historic investment, the Honourable Ralph Goodale, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, on behalf of Minister Duncan, announced more than $4 million in funding in support of 18 U of R science and engineering scholars and researchers through the NSERC Discovery Grant and Scholarship program.

“Congratulations to the U of R for fostering an atmosphere where curiosity and bright minds can flourish so successfully. The investments we are making today in this University will give researchers and students the foundation they need to explore the new avenues of discovery that will benefit all of us,” said Minister Goodale.

NSERC Discovery Grant and Scholarship recipients celebrate with Minister Goodale, Dr. Peter Leavitt, Dr. Thomas Chase, and Dr. David Malloy

The array of research supported by this round of significant NSERC funding ranges from AI to carbon capture and from how our brains work to enhancing oil recovery.

“This is the high quality, high impact work our University of Regina researchers are undertaking thanks to the support of research partners like NSERC,” said Dr. Thomas Chase, U of R Provost and Vice-President (Academic) before the crowd assembled for the October 10 announcement.

The University of Regina is home to 17 research centres and institutes that enhance the teaching and research opportunities available on campus and serve as catalysts for interdisciplinary collaboration and innovation.

“NSERC is an intense national competition,” said Dr. David Malloy, U of R Vice-President (Research). “These Discovery Grants and Scholarships are fundamental because they provide significant funding to our researchers who are exploring diverse fields of inquiry, expanding our knowledge, and developing innovative solutions to real-world problems.”

One of the NSERC Discovery Grant recipients, global pioneer in paleolimnology, Dr. Peter Leavitt, spoke at the announcement. A professor in the Faculty of Science and Canada Research Chair in Environmental Change and Society, Leavitt was recently named Fellow of the prestigious Royal Society of Canada. He received his NSERC support for researching landscape effects of nitrogen on aquatic ecosystems.

“I got here 26 years ago when research was struggling,” said Leavitt, “But in that time, the government has been instrumental in changing how science is practiced in Canada, and now researchers at the University of Regina are putting ourselves and our work forward for the benefit of our communities and our world.”

Leavitt’s work includes the study of global warming and its impact on lakes and their hydrological variability. “I work with mud. The fossils in that mud at the bottom of lakes can tell us about the past and also about the future,” said Leavitt. “We want to understand how droughts occur on the prairies and we want to understand water quality of the past to see how it has changed, because how can we fix the lakes if we don’t know what fixed looks like?”

NSERC funding helps address these issues, notes Leavitt who works directly with Indigenous peoples—respecting their knowledge of the land—in the course of his research. “We must honour the obligations within the treaties to move society forward. We’re trying to understand the role of fresh water in our society, and honouring the treaties to create that reciprocity is essential.”

Minister Goodale summed up the impact of such research, “The knowledge you add at the University of Regina lifts the human condition here and around the world.”