Six UBC researchers announced as new and renewed Canada Research Chairs

March 13, 2025

The Government of Canada has announced more than $153 million to support 179 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs at 38 institutions across Canada.

Six UBC researchers were announced as new and renewed Canada Research Chairs in this latest round of appointments, representing an investment of $5.1 million.

The Canada Research Chairs Program enables Canadian universities to achieve the highest levels of research excellence and become world-class research centres. Chairholders improve our depth of knowledge and quality of life, strengthen Canada's international competitiveness, and help train the next generation of highly skilled people through student supervision, teaching and the coordination of other researchers' work.

These appointments were announced by the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, as part of the Government of Canada's investment of more than $308 million to advance research and innovation projects. This includes funding for two UBC-led projects through the NSERC PromoScience program.

Read the Government of Canada's announcement

New Chairs at UBC

  • Sarah Hedtrich (School of Biomedical Engineering) Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Human Disease Models
  • Arun John Peter (Cellular and Physiological Sciences) Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Lipid and Organelle Biology
  • Xiaoxiao Li (Electrical and Computer Engineering) Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Canada Research Chair in Responsible Artificial Intelligence
  • Natalia Nolde (Statistics) Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Statics of Extremes and Risk
  • Sadia Shirazi (Art History, Visual Art and Theory) Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in History of South Asian Art, Architecture, and Visual Culture

Renewed Chair at UBC

  • Jacquelyn Cragg (Pharmaceutical Sciences) Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Interdisciplinary Epidemiology and Meta-Research

See the full list of new and renewed chairs


Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) Awards Funding to Newly Appointed UBC Canada Research Chair

The CFI is awarding funding through its John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF), in partnership with the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) Program. The JELF funding allows universities to recruit and retain exceptional researchers by investing in the cutting-edge research infrastructure they need to advance their work. CFI announced an investment of over $4 million to support 17 Canada Research Chairs (CRCs) at 12 universities across the country.

JELF Funding of $300,000 was awarded to UBC Canada Research Chair Arun John Peter.

Read the CFI announcement


First Nations land acknowledegement

We acknowledge that UBC’s two main campuses are situated within the ancestral and unceded territory of the Musqueam people, and in the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Syilx Okanagan Nation and their peoples.



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