McGill receives multimillion-dollar infrastructure funding

$61 million in grants from Canada Foundation for Innovation matched by provincial government

Thriving research initiatives and projects have been given a big boost at McGill, thanks to a new $61-million infrastructure infusion the University has received from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) to bolster its research capacities. The CFI - an independent organization established by the federal government in 1997 to help renew research infrastructure - yesterday announced it is awarding $354.3-million from its Institutional Innovations Program to 59 Canadian universities, colleges, hospitals and research centres.

Quebec Government Doubles CFI Funds

What makes McGill’s CFI award even more substantial, is that the Quebec government will be matching the federal funding. This brings McGill’s total new research infrastructure funding to nearly $150 million, considering the University will be providing the equivalent of 20 percent of the CFI awards through its industrial partnerships and internal fundraising.

"McGill is extremely grateful to the federal and provincial governments, as well as our industrial partners, for providing us with the infrastructure funding that will enable the University to remain on the cutting edge of research," says McGill Principal Bernard Shapiro. "This new funding is encouraging not just for McGill, but for Quebec and Canada, since these new research projects will have a cross-country impact."

McGill Research has a Bright Future

Of the 30 research proposals McGill submitted for CFI funding -- many of which are in partnerships with other Quebec universities and institutions -- no less than 22 were approved by the federal agency. "We’re delighted by the ingenuity, imagination and scope of the projects McGill researchers presented," Principal Shapiro says. "It shows that McGill is up to the challenges posed by the increasingly competitive field of research."

Hard Work and Ingenuity Pays Off

"McGill is absolutely thrilled to be receiving these grants from the CFI, which represent 17 percent of the CFI’s allocation across Canada," says Pierre Bélanger, McGill Dean and Vice-Principal (Research). "We worked very hard at developing our projects and it paid off. This is a good year for research not only for McGill, but for other Quebec universities, since Quebec institutions have obtained one-third of the CFI’s total funding."

McGill’s CFI grants will be divided among the following faculties:

• Agriculture and Environmental Sciences: $8.3-million;
• Medicine: $37.1-million, which includes $15.8-million to the University’s affiliated hospitals and $15.5 to McGill’s Montreal Neurological Institute (MNI);
• Sciences: $7.8-million;
• Engineering: $5.1-million;
• Music: $2.6-million.

Many of McGill’s 22 CFI projects are in partnerships with other Quebec Universities and institutions. The following is a complete list of projects, along with a breakdown of funding (millions rounded off):

• $11.6-million for the MNI to create a Montreal Consortium for Brain Imaging Research; in partnership with the Université de Laval, the Université du Québec à Chicoutimi, the Université de Montréal, Concordia University and five additional neuroscience institutes;
• $11.3-million for McGill to establish a Quebec Integrated Health Research Network; in collaboration with the Université de Montréal, the Université de Laval and the Université de Sherbrooke;
• $4-million for a high performance computational simulation and visualization; a consortium project that includes l’Université du Québec à Montréal, Laval and McGill Universities;
• $3.9 million for the creation of the Brain Tumour Initiative at the Montreal Neurological Institute;
• $3.7-million for the Tools for Nanoscience and Technology;
• $3.2-million for the Montreal network of Pharmaco-Proteomics and Structural Genomics;
• $3.3-million for studies on plant productivity;
• $3-million for the Montreal Centre for Experimental Therapeutics in Cancer;
• $2.63-million for the Quebec Regional High Field Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Facility;
• $2.6 million for the creation of the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research in Music, Media and Technology;
• $2.1 million for the creation of a Montreal research centre for the development of disease-resistant poultry;
• $1.5-million for the Multicentre Pain Research Initiative;
• $1.5-million for the development of an integrated and cutting edge agri-food processing technologies;
• $1.5-million for the Montreal Centre for Advanced Bone and Periodontal Research Centre;
• $1-million for the to study ways to alleviate environmental degradation from agriculture and athropogenic contamination;
• $825,289 for the upgrade of McGill’s Atmospheric Remote Sensing Facilities;
• $724,800 for experimental facilities for research in multimedia communications systems technology;
• $694,675 to establish a network for the study of language, mind and brain at the MNI;
• $384,960 to create research facilities for non-intrusive, near-field, subsurface sensing and imaging of geo-structures and civil infrastructure.

For more information or a complete list of the CFI grants, please consult the CFI web site.