U of G to promote global research and begin important structural improvements
In the past week, the University of Guelph has received over $110 million in grants for research and improved infrastructure.
The grants received are almost all from the federal government, with a small portion of one grant coming from the provincial side.
The largest grant is a $76.6 million investment in U of G’s Food From Thought project. The money comes from the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF), which aims to progress world-changing research in Canada.
Food From Thought is looking at ways to make food production more sustainable within the growing global population while maintaining healthy ecosystems. According to the University’s press release, researchers will work on “expanding use of DNA barcoding technology developed at U of G to identify food fraud, food-borne ailments and invasive pests, and to improve environmental impact assessments,” as well as addressing pestiside use, climate change, and livestock infectious diseases.
MP Lloyd Longfield, who was present on campus to help announce the successful grant application, said, “The University of Guelph has a long history of collaborating across Canada and globally to contribute to understanding complex challenges. The global food supply will require the University’s unique leadership skills that bring together agricultural expertise, big data, environmental science, business and civil society. Today’s funding announcement will give Canada a huge step forward to become a global leader in food.”
Food From Thought has partnered with institutions around the world, as well as companies like IBM. The project includes input and collaboration from all seven colleges on campus and has the potential to unify U of G’s numerous educational directions under one banner.
The second largest grant is a joint funding from the federal government, provincial government, and the University aimed at improving U of G’s infrastructure to further its research potential. $66.6 million will be put towards six different infrastructure projects across campus. $26.7 million is coming from the federal government’s Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund (SIF). The province of Ontario added $4.7 million to this project and the remaining $35.7 million is being covered by the University.
These projects will include new facilities and enhancements to existing facilities. If everything goes according to plan, U of G will have a bio-carbon innovation and commercialization centre housed in the Bioproducts Discovery and Development Centre (BDDC). The new centre will aim to make plastic materials from green composites and study their use in sustainable manufacturing.
Other improvements funded by this project are a biosafety level two production animal research isolation unit, allowing researchers to identify and prevent infectious diseases. The infrastructure building will also aim to create a food innovation centre to accelerate research and innovation,The third and final large grant that the U of G acquired this week was not one project, but a collection of research projects spread throughout the fields of social science and humanities. In total, the research grants come to about $5 million.
Image by Mariah Bridgeman.