Research stories
Our investments support research that benefits Canadians
In CFI-funded labs and facilities across the country, researchers in all stages of their careers are making discoveries, supporting a robust innovation ecosystem and helping solve some of the world’s most pressing challenges.
podcast
New Brunswick
Meet Acadian researcher Céline Surette, for whom interdisciplinarity is second nature
Céline Surette embodies both the chemistry of living things and interdisciplinarity to serve the real needs and questions of communities. And to achieve this, and ensure that critical thinking triumphs, she'll pull out all the stops.
video
The Canada Foundation for Innovation has supported cutting-edge research in Canada for 25 years. In these videos, researchers reflect on how CFI funding has advanced their work and how future generations will benefit. They tell passionate stories of curiosity, commitment and innovation.
All stories
article
Nova Scotia
Meet Canada’s greenhouse gas detectives
With a few creative hacks, the Flux Lab has transformed a lab bench gas analyzer into a mobile tool they’re using to measure emissions from pipeline leaks, landfills and melting permafrost in the field
article
Quebec
Advocating for ethical fashion
What are your daily needs? To breathe clean air, drink clean water, eat produce grown in healthy soil. Covering our bodies to protect ourselves is also not a luxury, but the clothing industry diminishes the quality of the first three vital ingredients.
article
Saskatchewan
Understanding the importance of where we live
Historians are merging Indigenous research methods with digital historical data to rethink how we view the places we live and how those change over time
article
Ontario
Taking aim at online hate and fake news
Dangerous disinformation campaigns on social media are on the rise. So are targeted personal attacks. The Digital Society Lab is using AI-powered countermeasures to push back.
article
British Columbia
Transforming dry data into Instagrammable art
Researchers are blending science, art and augmented reality to bring data to life, make complex information more evocative — and create plenty of buzz
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Newfoundland and Labrador
Archaeology’s high-tech race to save North Atlantic heritage
Climate change is threatening millennia of history in Newfoundland and Labrador. New LiDAR-equipped drones and other technology is helping archaeologists triage the sites at greatest risk and document crucial heritage before it disappears.
podcast
Quebec
Science (sea) star
Ocean science research is at a pivotal moment according to Guillaume St-Onge, Director of the Institut des sciences de la mer de Rimouski at Université du Québec à Rimouski
article
New Brunswick
Tackling the many dimensions of New Brunswick’s housing crisis
How one social science lab — with a few well-placed couches — is bringing stakeholders together to address the intersecting issues of housing affordability, mental health and food security
article
Ontario
Finding hope and deep learning in the drama classroom
Can the unique “messiness” of theatre empower young people to create radical change in the face of crises like the climate emergency? Absolutely, according to insights from multi-country research that merges ethnography, pedagogy and playwriting.
article
British Columbia
Choosing the right route to lower traffic emissions
By profiling tailpipe emissions and creating community-specific transportation models, researchers will help cities reach their net-zero mobility goals faster — even in sub-zero temperatures
podcast
Ontario
Reinforcing the reliability of our vulnerable electricity grid
York University’s Pirathayini Srikantha studies power grid systems with the aim of keeping Canada’s infrastructure safe from fluctuations and hackers. Find out why she’s passionate about power.
article
Ontario
Packaging with potential
Developing efficient and sustainable packaging is a pressing concern for food processors, but a new research centre will help them find solutions