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$2.4 million for Canada Research Chairs at Concordia

Federal funding supports areas of biology, psychology, management and Indigenous visuals arts
May 3, 2018
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Concordia has received funding for three new Canada Research Chairs and one renewal, a total investment of $2.4 million dollars over five years.

Biologist Michael Hallett, artist Nadia Myre and management expert Alex Bitektine are joining the ranks of the country’s more than 1,600 chairholders, while psychology professor Jean-Philippe Gouin is receiving a second mandate.

“With the support of the Canada Research Chair program, Concordia has been able to attract and retain these four exceptional researchers, who enhance our understanding of critical issues through their rigorous investigations,” says Christophe Guy, Concordia’s vice-president of Research and Graduate Studies.

“Funding through the CRC program will allow this cohort of chairholders — Alex, Michael, Nadia and Jean-Philippe — to push the boundaries of their work and make the kind of advances that benefit society in general.”

From entrepreneurial insight to Indigenous art

Photo: David Ward Photo: David Ward

Alex Bitektine, associate professor of management at the John Molson School of Business (JMSB), is the new CRC in Institutions and Strategic Entrepreneurship. He is interested in how corporate organizations affect the micro-level factors that facilitate entrepreneurial action and help entrepreneurs to gain legitimacy in their business activities.

His aim is to impart important insights to policy-makers, entrepreneurs and their stakeholders to improve the quality of decisions essential for economic growth, technological development and job creation.

Photo: David Ward Photo: David Ward

Biology professor Michael Hallett from the Faculty of Arts and Science has spent a large part of his career developing bioinformatics tools that provide a global perspective on the dynamics of breast cancer.

As the CRC in Bioinformatics Algorithms, he will look at how to integrate machine learning with synthetic biology to understand and manipulate fungal organisms, advancing our knowledge and understanding of cancer in general.

Photo: David Ward Photo: David Ward

Nadia Myre is a studio arts professor in Concordia’s Faculty of Fine Arts and an internationally acclaimed artist. She creates innovative developments in Indigenous visual arts and scholarship by bringing together ancestral and contemporary methods of working to facilitate meaningful, intersectional exchanges between Indigenous peoples and colonial settler society.

As the CRC in Indigenous Art Practice, Myre will examine the histories of cross-cultural objects and ideas between European and Indigenous cultures to further critical inquiry into material practices.

Photo: David Ward Photo: David Ward

Jean-Philippe Gouin, a professor of psychology in the Faculty of Arts and Science, has been renewed as the CRC in Chronic Stress and Health. In his work, Gouin examines the psychosocial factors that either increase or decrease stress faced by caregivers and other individuals exposed to chronic stress.

His research will improve the quality of life for Canadians by helping to develop ways to reduce the negative psychological and biological consequences associated with chronic stress.

Concordia currently has 23 active Canada Research Chair holders: nine funded through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), 11 through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and three through the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

 

Find out more about all of Concordia’s research chairs.



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