$1.35 million in funding and grants for INRS

QUÉBEC CITY, Sept. 13, 2024  – Following an announcement by the Government of Canada, $1,354,502 will be shared among six research projects led by several professors, respectively project leaders and co-leaders, and eighteen members of the student community at the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS).

“I am always extremely proud to see our faculty and student community supported by the highest authorities in our country. As an institution dedicated exclusively to research and training, INRS once again stands out with its projects rooted in current and future issues that are crucial for Canada.” – Luc-Alain Giraldeau, Executive Director, INRS

In total, $502,3 million will be divided among 6,900 projects across Canada. The Honourable Marie-Claude Bibeau, Minister of National Revenue, made the announcement on behalf of the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, and the Honourable Mark Holland, Minister of Health.

Funding from the Canada Foundation for Innovation

Two INRS projects will be funded by the Canada Foundation for Innovation to support the development of special infrastructure and equipment. The research of Professor Maya Saleh and Professor Bienvenu Ndagano will receive a total of $450,000.

The contribution is being allocated by the Government of Canada through the John R. Evans Leaders Fund (JELF) and is intended to help institutions recruit and retain our country’s top researchers.

• Immuno-oncology expert Maya Saleh, a professor based at INRS’s Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie Research Centre, was awarded $299,712 for her research entitled “Unraveling yeloid cell diversity in difficult-to-treat cancers for rational therapeutic targeting.” The requested infrastructure in ultra highplex spatial omics will bring benefits to Canadians in training highly qualified researchers and in the planned translational cancer research that is hoped to identify biomarkers to prevent overtreatment, permit the tailoring of precision medicine, and augment the proportions of patients who benefit from immunotherapy in a durable manner.
  
  
• Professor Bienvenu Ndagano, based at Centre Energie Matériaux Télécommunications, will receive $150,000 to build infrastructure that will support his research in ultrafast quantum imaging. This research area is aligned with Canada’s National Quantum Strategy, which aims to harness the transformative potential of quantum technologies, with benefits across many sectors including research, medicine, and optical sensors. The infrastructure for this project will strengthen INRS’s position as a centre of excellence in quantum research and as a powerhouse in Québec’s quantum industry.

Funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council

Four professors have been awarded funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, totalling nearly $325,000.

• Professor Morgan Mouton, with co-investigator Julia Frotey, will receive $99,403 to explore the materiality and territoriality of digital infrastructure. Specifically, the team will focus on data centres and how they fit into territories from a geographic, economic, social, and political perspective.
• For her research entitled “Pour des pratiques culturellement sécuritaires dans le domaine du développement du langage durant la petite enfance en contexte autochtone,” (Towards culturally safe practices in early childhood language development in an Indigenous context) Professor Mireille de la Sablonnière-Griffin, along with co-investigator Nancy Wiscutie-Crépeau, will be awarded $74,992. The project’s aim is to better understand the issues and needs related to language development during early childhood (0–5 years) in an Indigenous context in Québec, and to identify factors promoting culturally safe practices in that domain.
• Professor Yacine Boujija will receive $74,890 for his research entitled “Une analyse du réseau migratoire interne au Canada : tendances passées, facteurs explicatifs et perspectives” (An analysis of Canada’s internal migration network: past trends, explanatory factors and outlook), which examines intermunicipal, interregional and interprovincial migratory flows to visualize the demographic distribution of Canada in the future.
• Professor Maude Pugliese, a specialist in families and finances, will receive $74,505 to continue her work on parental support for working adolescents. How do mothers and fathers present the realities of employment to their adolescent children who work a job as well as going to school? What relationships to income and financial literacy are likely to develop in such situations? Professor Pugliese will be working alongside co-researchers Magalie Quintal-Marineau, María Eugenia Longo and Xavier St-Denis.

Student scholarships

Students from all four INRS campuses received a total of $581,000 in scholarships to conduct their master’s and doctoral research projects.

The granting agencies are the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

About INRS

INRS is an academic institution dedicated exclusively to research and graduate training in strategic niches in Québec. For 55 years it has contributed to the economic, social and cultural development of Québec. INRS is ranked first in Canada in research intensity. It’s made up of four interdisciplinary research and training centres located in Québec, Montréal, Laval, and Varennes, which focus their activities on the following strategic areas: Eau Terre Environnement, Energie Materiaux Telecommunications, Urbanisation Culture Société, and Armand-Frappier Santé Biotechnologie. Its community includes more than 1,500 student members, postdoctoral fellows, faculty, and staff.

For more information: Julie Robert, Communications and Public Affairs, Institut national de la recherche scientifique, medias@inrs.ca

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