Fourteen UBC researchers announced as new and renewed Canada Research Chairs

October 22, 2025

Today, the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry and Minister responsible for Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions, announced an investment of more than $198 million to support 259 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs across Canada.

Fourteen UBC researchers were announced as new and renewed Canada Research Chairs in this latest round of appointments, representing an investment of $11.1 million. 

The Canada Research Chairs Program enables Canadian universities to achieve the highest levels of excellence in research and research training. 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.

The Canada Research Chairs were announced as part of an overall federal investment of more than $690 million to support science and research. Additional funding was received by UBC through the Research Support Fund.

Read the Government of Canada's announcement

NEW UBC CHAIRHOLDERS
  • Purang Abolmaesumi (Electrical and Computer Engineering) Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Biomedical Engineering
  • Heather Gainforth (School of Health and Exercise Sciences, UBCO) Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Research Coproduction and Implementation Science
  • Caroline Lemieux  (Computer Science) Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Software Testing and Analysis
  • Eva Nichols (Chemistry) Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Molecular and Interfacial Electrocatalysts
  • Catherine Poh (Oral Biological and Medical Sciences) Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Oral Cancer Research
  • Julie Prytulak (Earth, Ocean and Atmospheric Sciences) Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Isotope Geochemistry
  • Chiara Saffirio (Dr. Saffirio is no longer at UBC) Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Mathematics of Complex Quantum Systems
  • Xin Tang (Michael Smith Laboratories / Computer Science) Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Computational Cell Biology
RENEWED UBC CHAIRHOLDERS
  • Cash Ahenakew (Educational Studies) Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Indigenous People's Well Being
  • Kristen Hopewell (School of Public Policy and Global Affairs) Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Global Policy
  • Frederik Noack (Land and Food Systems) Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Economic and Environmental Interactions
  • Martino Tran (School of Community and Regional Planning) Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Computational Urban Science and Planning
  • Alison Wylie (Philosophy) Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Philosophy of the Social and Historical Sciences
  • Nozomu Yachie (School of Biomedical Engineering) Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Synthetic Biology

See the full list of new and renewed chairs

UBC Links and Features

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

The CFI announced an investment of almost $11 million to support 43 Canada Research Chairs (CRCs) at 27 universities across the country. 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. 

JELF funding totaling almost $1.3m was awarded to four new Canada Research Chairs at UBC: Drs. Julie Prytula, Catherine Poh, Purang Abolmaesumi and Xin Tang.

See the full list of CRC-JELF awards


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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