CFI funding bolsters UBC Science research in physics, new materials

Three UBC Science-led projects have received $13.7 million in infrastructure support through the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), with researchers across the Faculty involved in another four new projects receiving an additional $25 million in funding.

The funding is part of $518 million in research infrastructure investments announced by the Right Honourable Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada, today.

"Canada's researchers and scientists are some of the brightest and most skilled in the world," said the Prime Minister of Canada in making the announcement. "Today’s investments will ensure that they have what they need to help us build a Canada that is healthier, cleaner, and more competitive."

The funding will support 102 projects at 60 universities, colleges and research hospitals across the country, and will help Canada remain at the forefront of exploration and knowledge generation. Nine projects are led by UBC researchers awarded $28.3 million in funding. UBC Science researchers are collaborators on four projects being led by other institutions.

UBC Science led projects

Enabling the search for neutrinoless double-beta decays in Xe-136 with nEXO

Brunner, Thomas and Kruecken, Reiner (Science)
Partnering Institutions: Carleton University, Laurentian University, McGill University, Université de Sherbrooke
Total CFI Award: $6.5m

Momentum-resolved electron-pair spectroscopy (2e-ARPES)

Damascelli, Andrea and Jones, David (Science)
Total CFI Award: $2.6m

HAICU: Hydrogen Antihydrogen Infrastructure at Canadian Universities for Quantum Innovations in Antimatter Science

Fujiwara, Makoto and Momose, Takamasa (Science)
Partnering Institutions: Simon Fraser University, University of Calgary
Total CFI Award: $4.6m

Projects with UBC Science collaborators

Belle II Canadian Research Data Centre

Lead Institution: University of Victoria
UBC lead: Hearty, Chris (Science)
Total CFI award: $2.0m

CCAT-prime Telescope

Lead Institution: University of Waterloo
UBC lead:Scott, Douglas (Science)
Total CFI award: $4.9m

Building a Future of Canadian Neutron Scattering

Lead Institution: McMaster University
UBC lead: Aronson, Meigan and Hallas, Alannah (Science)
Total CFI award: $14.3m

forWater AID: Advanced Infrastructure

Lead Institution: University of Waterloo
UBC lead: Johnson, Mark (Science)
Total CFI award: $3.5m

The investments were made through the CFI's Innovation Fund. This fund supports 40 percent of infrastructure costs across the full spectrum of research, from the most fundamental to applied, to technology development, with the remaining portion coming from partners such as provincial and territorial governments and the institutions themselves. These investments will help Canada remain at the forefront of exploration and knowledge generation, and to support researchers in addressing global challenges and making meaningful contributions to social, health, environmental and economic benefits for Canadians.