Backgrounder
November 6, 2009
Projects Funded In Peterborough
Today, through the Ontario Research Fund–Research Infrastructure program, Ontario is investing $190,510 at Trent University to support three research projects and 20 researchers. This investment is part of a broader $268-million province-wide investment that will support 214 projects and more than 3,300 researchers in 14 cities, and help to create and preserve more than 1,300 construction jobs over the next four years across the province.
Understanding Environmental Pollutants: Sources and Consequences
Managing pollutants and nutrients to preserve ecosystem balance
Lead Researcher: Aherne, Julian
Provincial Funding: $86,000
Researchers Affected: 10
Sustainable resource use is vital to Canada's economic development, environment and quality of life. The potential scale and consequences of pollution threaten our ability to maintain or enhance competitiveness. Using environmental modelling (an emerging interdisciplinary field aimed at improving our ability to understand pollutants and their interaction with the environment), Dr. Julian Aherne will develop methods to assess the transport and impact of pollutants in Canada. The research findings will contribute to international efforts to understand and manage pollutants and nutrients and preserve ecosystem balance.
To date, Dr. Aherne has received $75,000 in funding from the Ministry of Research and Innovation.
A Cognitive Science Laboratory for Studying Reading as an Embodied Process
Facilitating learning through improved technology interface design
Lead Researcher: Chan-Reynolds, Michael
Provincial Funding: $58,036
Researchers Affected: 1
Dr. Michael Chan-Reynolds is fascinated by language and how it will shape the future of digital media and information technologies. At a new lab for language comprehension at Trent University, he is investigating how the body and environment determine how we use and understand language – and he is doing it in natural settings so that the findings can be directly applied to the real world. It is an important area of research that could have a profound impact on education, industry and emerging technology.
Equipment for A High-Throughput Analysis of the Evolution of Range Limits
Combating invasive species
Lead Researcher: Dorken, Marcel
Provincial Funding: $46,474
Researchers Affected: 9
Plants are on the move. Massive range expansions by invasive species, and range shifts by native species in response to changing climatic conditions, are causing plants to pop up in new places. In the case of invasive plants, this expansion is threatening Ontario’s ecological, agricultural and recreational systems – and fighting them is costing millions of dollars a year. For native plants, a key question is whether they can keep up with climate change. At Trent University, Drs. Marcel Dorken and Joanna Freeland are investigating why some plants are so successful at adapting to changing environmental conditions and others are not. What they discover will help inform authorities on how to best manage both invasive and native species.
The Ontario Innovation Agenda
Research at Trent University is an example of Ontario leading the world in the quest for knowledge and discovery. Support for this kind of work is part of Ontario’s Innovation Agenda, the province’s $3.2-billion strategy to make innovation a driving force of Ontario’s economy. By targeting investments toward areas where Ontario already is, or is poised to become a global leader, and by building on our greatest strength – the talent and ingenuity of our people – Ontario is harnessing innovation to ensure ours is one of the winning economies of the 21st century.
Support from the Ontario Research Fund–Research Infrastructure program
Part of Ontario’s Innovation Agenda, the Ontario Research Fund (ORF) is key to the province’s plan to move world-class research from the lab to the global marketplace. The role of the ORF is to help ensure that Ontario researchers have the tools they need to lead the world, or lead international collaborations, in their respective fields.
