HALIFAX (CUP)—Dalhousie University is poised to become Canada’s new hotspot for post-doctoral research.
The Halifax school was ranked number one among non-American universities and fourth overall in a survey of over 2,800 post-doctoral students published in The Scientist magazine.
Dr. Carl Breckenridge, Dalhousie’s vice-president of research, considers the university’s ranking a pleasant if unexpected honour. However, he cautions against reading too much into the survey, which measured the attitudes of post-doc students toward their chosen institutions.
“We’re delighted. I was a little surprised when I got the survey but I was very pleased. I would be concerned about the randomness of the survey. The people who responded were the ones who wanted to respond but I assume that’s the same for all the institutions involved,” he said.
Breckenridge credits the school’s research-minded faculty and close working groups for helping Dalhousie stand out from other universities in the survey.
“It probably reflects that post-doc fellows who come to Dalhousie have a particular researcher they want to work with,” said Breckenridge. “We get people who come from all over the world to work with selected researchers. Research groups are small—usually not more than 12 fellows—so fellows get to see their researcher or supervisor and interact with them.
“I think that’s what they’re responding to.”
Another factor in Dalhousie’s strong showing in The Scientist’s poll is the school’s successful involvement in the Canada Research Chairs program—an indicator of its commitment to innovation and investigation.
Dalhousie expects to hold 47 of the chairs, and has filled 22 already, according to administrators.
The Canada Research Chairs programme is funded by the federal government.
