Canada Research Chair

Department/Unit

VPRI Office

Location

Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada

About the opportunity

About the Canada Research Chairs opportunity

Dalhousie University invites applications from outstanding international leading and early career researchers to express interest in the Canada Research Chairs (CRC) program. The CRC program offers Canadian institutions the opportunity to nominate a diverse cadre of up to nine outstanding researchers for professorships in areas that will further the institution’s strategic research plan and enable them to maximize their contributions as centres of research and research training.

The program provides funding to support Tier 1 and Tier 2 Chairs. Tier 1 CRC candidates receive $200,000 per year over seven years, renewable once. Tier 2 CRC candidates receive $120,000 per year over five years, renewable once.

The CRC submission process requires application to Dalhousie University (see details below). Successful candidates will be invited to submit a nomination application to the Canada Research Chairs Program. For more details, please visit the website.

Dalhousie Strategic Research Clusters

Candidates are required to address how their research advances one or more of Dalhousie’s Strategic Research Clusters in their application:

• : Leading the world in ocean research, Dalhousie scholars advance marine science through research breakthroughs, innovative technology, and global partnerships.
• : Dalhousie research aims to improve health systems, develop better treatments, and shape policy, addressing the biological and social determinants of health, driving improved health outcomes for all.
• : Dalhousie researchers are working to develop clean, carbon-free technologies that will support and enable the transition to a more sustainable future. This effort extends towards the engineering and commercialization of innovative breakthroughs, including long-life batteries for electric mobility, new materials, and alternative fuels
• : Research at Dalhousie in the humanities, social sciences, and arts is helping to illuminate our understanding of the world around us and guide us towards solutions to some of society’s most pressing challenges.
• : Dalhousie researchers are employing cutting-edge methods, like precision agriculture and artificial intelligence, to gain a deep understanding of the mechanisms that drive growth and sustainability to create potential solutions for food challenges on the local and global levels.
• : Dalhousie researchers are using AI to find solutions to pressing local and global challenges, including climate change, health care, food production, and cyber security.

Applicants are also encouraged to consider how their research advances one or more of the following strategic priority areas identified by the Government of Canada as critical to global and national challenges:

• advanced digital technologies (including Artificial Intelligence, quantum and cybersecurity);
• clean technology and resource value chains;
• defence and dual-use technologies;
• democratic and community resilience;
• environment, climate resilience and the Arctic;
• food and water security;
• health and biotechnology; and
• manufacturing and advanced materials.

Chairholders are expected to build meaningful partnerships across sectors and with Indigenous communities, and to ensure that research outcomes translate into practice, policy or commercialization pathways with measurable societal and economic benefit.

Qualifications and Eligibility

The CRC program is intended for outstanding researchers who are prepared to establish and advance an independent research program in Canada. To be eligible, candidates must:

• Tier 1: Be an outstanding researcher acknowledged by their peers as world leaders in their fields, at the associate or full professor level.
• Tier 2: Be an early career researcher within 10 years of their highest degree, poised to become an international leader in their field.

Successful applicants will be appointed to an appropriate academic at Dalhousie University.

Why Dalhousie

Dalhousie is the only East Coast member of Canada’s U15, the country’s leading group of research-intensive universities. With more than 250 million dollars in annual research funding, we are Atlantic Canada’s engine of discovery and innovation. Anchored in Halifax, Nova Scotia, with additional agricultural and medical campuses and academic and clinical programs across the province and beyond, we drive positive change in the communities we serve locally, nationally, and around the world.

Our faculty work within a highly collaborative research community supported by major infrastructure, including Canada’s largest aquatic research facility and advanced platforms accelerating discoveries in health and the physical sciences. Researchers contribute to and benefit from a growing network of centres, institutes, and hubs driving discovery and industry partnership in areas like battery innovation and clean technologies, carbon capture and storage, additive manufacturing, AI and semiconductors, vaccine and immunotherapy development, genomics, cancer treatment, and much more.

We lead Canadian universities with an extensive ecosystem built to support research commercialization. Our researchers own and control their intellectual property. And, from idea to impact, we support researchers at every stage, whether developing and protecting IP, launching a startup, partnering with industry, or advancing social innovation.

Explore more on via our .

How to Apply

To apply, applicants are asked to provide the following three documents:

1. A cover letter that identifies:

• Alignment with one or more of Dalhousie’s Strategic Research Clusters and/or the strategic priority areas (listed above)
• The applicant’s start-up funding, infrastructure and space, and research team requirements
• The applicant’s interest in coming to Dalhousie, including any relevant connections to the university or region

2. A full curriculum vitae (please include details of research and teaching, scholarly record, funding, collaborations/partnerships with industry government, not-for-profit, and/or community, and leadership experience.

3. A Research Statement, submitted as a single PDF, including the following:

• A five-page (maximum) research statement that includes: An overview of the applicant’s research proposal, including knowledge mobilization and innovation activities How the proposed research embeds equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility (EDIA) considerations at each stage of the research process Potential to collaborate with other researchers at Dalhousie, Nova Scotia and/or Atlantic Canada, and Canada Social and economic benefits for Canada that will result from the research program, including potential industry, government, not-for-profit, and/or community partnerships Contribution and fit to the research ecosystem in Canada and internationally
• A one-page (maximum) statement that describes the applicant’s past experience with attracting and mentoring a diverse group of students, trainees and research personnel, and establishing an equitable and inclusive research environment.
• A one-page (maximum), if applicable: demonstrate how the proposed research program will value Indigenous ways of knowing, how it will extend research knowledge in the field that is significant for Indigenous Peoples and communities and contribute to decolonization.

Application materials must be submitted via PeopleAdmin. Review of applications will continue until nominations are filled. Any general inquiries regarding this posting may be directed to .

Championing is integral to Dalhousie’s vision, mission, actions, and culture, and influences how we interact with one another on a daily basis. Our work in this area requires both acknowledging historical injustice and addressing ongoing systemic inequalities within our campus community and beyond.

Dalhousie University commits to achieving inclusive excellence through continually championing equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility. The university encourages applications from Indigenous Peoples of Turtle Island (especially Mi’kmaq), persons of Black/African descent (especially African Nova Scotians), and members of other racialized groups, persons with disabilities, women, persons identifying as members of 2SLGBTQIA+ communities, and all candidates who would contribute to the diversity of our community. In accordance with our Employment Equity Policy, preference will be given in hiring processes to candidates who self-identify as members of one or more of the equity-deserving groups listed above.