Second round of prestigious CERC program recognizes value of humanities and social sciences

News
November 9, 2012

OTTAWA, November 9, 2012 – The Government of Canada renewed its commitment to research excellence and innovation in Canada yesterday with the announcement of 11 new Canada Excellence Research Chairs at eight universities across the country.

“The Canada Excellence Research Chairs program positions Canada at the forefront of cutting-edge research around the world,” said Graham Carr, president of the Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences.  “Given that today’s societal and economic challenges are global and multi-faceted, we are pleased to see this program is now being leveraged to attract the best in brightest across the broad spectrum of disciplines.”

The eight universities selected are École Polytechnique de Montréal, McGill University, Queen’s University, the University of British Columbia, Université Laval, the University of Calgary, the University of Saskatchewan and the University of Waterloo.
Several of the winning proposals include humanities and social sciences research:

  • Canada Excellence Research Chair in Digital Media Research and Innovation, University of British Columbia
  • Canada Excellence Research Chair in Security and Privacy for the New Digital Economy, University of Waterloo
  • Canada Excellence Research Chair in Integrated Infectious Disease Mitigation, University of Saskatchewan

In Budget 2011, the government committed to broadening the CERC program for the second competition to include disciplines beyond the hard sciences.

The Canada Excellence Research Chairs program awards host universities up to $10 million over seven years to support the chairholders and their teams.

Click here for more information on yesterday’s Canada Excellence Research Chairs announcement.

-30-

The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences is the national voice for Canada’s 85,000 scholars, students and practitioners in the humanities and social sciences.