Canada invests $27.7 million in Arctic Research Infrastructure and Projects

Last month the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) announced a $27.7 million investment that will provide Canadian and international researchers with a world-class facility to undertake environmental and marine sciences projects in the Arctic (http://www.innovation.ca/).

The funds, awarded to a consortium of 15 universities led by the Université Laval, will be used to retrofit an existing Canadian Coastguard icebreaker with state-of-the-art research equipment to study the environmental, social, and economic impacts of global warming on Canada northern regions.
This ship is one of nine large-scale international research projects funded under the CFIs International Joint Ventures Fund, which is aimed at creating infrastructure in Canada that would support internationally outstanding research being undertaken in Canada, and to enable Canadian researchers to collaborate with the best in the world.
The new icebreakers first international research mission will be to study the ecosystem impacts of melting ice in the Western Arctic. Funding of almost $10 million for this multi-year, multi-university project was announced at the same time by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. The vessel will sail in August and spend the winter in the Beaufort Sea.
The CFI is an independent, not-for-profit corporation established by the Government of Canada in 1997 to strengthen the capacity for innovation in Canadian universities, colleges, research hospitals, and other non-profit institutions.
For more information: ,Douglas Lauriault ,Canada Foundation for Innovation,[phone]

Keywords

• arctic

Countries

Canada