UBC to Host National New Media and Animation Research Network

A new $23.2 million Network of Centres of Excellence (NCE) designed to advance Canada’s position as a global leader in new media, animation and games is to be hosted by the University of British Columbia.

The Graphics, Animation and New Media (GRAND) network will be headquartered at the Centre for Digital Media at Great Northern Way Campus (GNWC), a joint academic collaboration between UBC, Simon Fraser University, Emily Carr University of Art + Design and the British Columbia Institute of Technology.

"The proliferation of social networks and new media represents one of the most significant popular adaptations of computer technology,” says Kellogg Booth, GRAND’s scientific director and a professor in UBC’s Department of Computer Science. “This new network will enable research collaborators to address issues and explore opportunities in this fast-growing sector."

GRAND and NeuroDevNet, both to be based at UBC, are among three new networks announced today by the federal government.

"This federal support will help some of UBC's most outstanding researchers collaborate with colleagues across Canada--an opportunity that will accelerate advances in these important areas of research,” says John Hepburn, UBC Vice-President Research and International.

GRAND will offer student learning and research opportunities and comprise 30 projects clustered around five themes: new media challenges and opportunities; games and interactive simulation; animation, graphics and imaging; and cross-cutting themes of social, legal, economic and cultural perspectives and enabling technologies and methodologies. The network will involve 50 investigators along with collaborating researchers and industry partners. 


The network’s investigations will explore social networking, performance augmented by digital technologies, personal identity and data security, virtual museums and galleries, e-learning and e-health services.

Outcomes will include new knowledge and technologies, trained personnel, and economic benefits from commercializing the potential of new media, animation and games. UBC’s Media and Graphics Interdisciplinary Centre will serve as the UBC node in the network.

NeuroDevNet, the second UBC-based NCE announced today, is the first trans-Canada initiative dedicated to studying children’s brain development from both basic research and clinical perspectives. UBC is host and co-host to six additional NCEs.