U of T was awarded 21 new Canada Research Chairs on Nov. 12, more than any other university in Canada. The prestigious positions will garner U of T nearly $20 million in funding over the next seven years for leading-edge research. These appointments bring U of T’s total number of Canada Research Chairs to 98.
This round of grants was notable for the number of chairs awarded for the social sciences and humanities. Seven of the 21 chairs announced were from these categories, a full one-third of the appointments—another record. In previous years, the highest proportion of social sciences and humanities chairs awarded at U of T was seven per cent.
The Canada Research Chairs program was created by the federal government in 2000 to boost top-level research at Canadian universities. It gave out 123 new chairs across the country. The federal government’s goal is to create 2,000 of the positions by 2005.
John Haines, a recipient of one of the new chairs and a professor with the faculty of music, will be continuing his research with the help of the program. He was happy to contemplate what he’ll do with his five years worth of funding.
“In the next five years, the major project is a study of late medieval musical notation, from the 13th to the 15th century. There’s still work that remains to be done in this area” he said yesterday, in a cheerful voice.
The sciences also received plenty of attention, with 14 new chairs.
Benoit Bruneau, a researcher at the U of T-affiliated Hospital for Sick Children, will continue his work into the genetics of congenital heart defects. The next five years look bright for him as well.
“The next five years we’ll be continuing to grow the lab, because it’s just starting up,” said Bruneau. “The award will help us move ahead faster, provide resources that are essential to what we’re doing. Without it, the research would be going much more slowly.”
The Canada Research Chairs are administered by the Canada Foundation for Innovation, an arm’s-length corporation created by the federal government. The chairs’ purpose is to encourage top-level research at Canadian universities, but its unofficial job is to halt the “brain drain” to the United States by offering generous salaries and resources at Canadian institutions. This year, the research chairs’ deep pockets have lured 19 Americans north of the border to Canadian universities.
John Haines’ words must sound like music to the Canadian government’s ears: “Toronto has a great reputation—the Centre for Medieval Studies has an international reputation.”
