International research partnerships formed with Canada Research Chairs

Ottawa, ON – Eight research partnerships have been formed between university scholars in Canada and their peers in the developing world. The teams will undertake research projects that address important topics including health, environmental sustainability, resource management and information communications technology.

The International Research Chairs Initiative (IRCI) was launched by the International Development Research Centre, in collaboration with the Canada Research Chairs Program in December 2007. It solicited applications for joint research between Canada Research Chairs and their counterparts at universities in the developing world. Eight teams were selected to receive up to $1 million over five years, each to address a key development challenge.

“The partnership between IDRC and the Canada Research Chairs Program is a distinctly Canadian international initiative that brings the power of science and technology to bear on problems in the developing world, while creating unique research opportunities for Canadians,” said David Malone, IDRC president.

Funding for this initiative is provided by IDRC while the administration of the peer-review process is being overseen by the chairs program.

The eight successful teams, which were selected among 104 applications through a rigorous peer-review process, are as follows:

1. Battling pollution in coastal areas:
• Adalto Bianchini, IDRC Research Chair in Environmental Health and Management Federal University of Rio Grande, Brazil
• Christopher Wood, Canada Research Chair in Environment and Health, McMaster University

2. Helping fishing communities manage their resources:
• Alpina Begossi, DRC Research Chair in Community-Based Resource Management State University of Campinas, Brazil
• Fikret Berkes, Canada Research Chair in Community-Based Resource Management, the University of Manitoba

3. Tackling mine waste for better health:
• Rachid Hakkou, IDRC Research Chair in Management and Stabilization of
Mining and Industrial Waste, Université Cadi Ayyad, Morocco.
• Mostafa Benzaazoua, Canada Research Chair on Integrated Management of Mine Waste, Université du Québec en Abitibi-Témiscamingue

4. Getting ahead of the curve in wireless communication:
• Ranjan K Mallik, IDRC Research Chair in Wireless Communications Indian Institute of Technology Delhi, India
• Robert Schober, Canada Research Chair in Wireless Communications, University of British Columbia

5. Breaking the barriers to Internet access:
• Xiaoyan Zhu, IDRC Research Chair in Information Technology, Tsinghua University, China
• Ming Li, Canada Research Chair in Bioinformatics University of Waterloo

6. Controlling infectious diseases with models and math:
• Yiming Shao, IDRC Research Chair in Modeling and Management of Communicable Diseases National Centre for AIDS/STD Control and Prevention, China
• Jianhong Wu, Canada Research Chair in Industrial and Applied Mathematics, York University

7. Turning health research into policy:
• Nelson Sewankambo, IDRC Research Chair in Evidence-Informed Health Policies and Systems, Makerere University, Uganda
• John Lavis, Canada Research Chair in Knowledge Transfer and Exchange, McMaster University

8. Improving child nutrition:
• Anna Lartey, IDRC Research Chair in Nutrition for Health and Socio-economic Development in Sub-Saharan Africa, University of Ghana, Ghana
• Grace Marquis, Canada Research Chair in Social and Environmental Aspects of Nutrition McGill University.