Congratulations to our 2023/24 funding recipients. Thank you for helping to uncover the best solutions to Nova Scotia’s biggest challenges.
Project: Accelerating Innovation: ACENET
Dr. Jennifer Bain
Dalhousie University
RNS Funding Contribution: $877,973
Key Words: digital research infrastructure, supercomputing, AI and machine learning, skills development, high performance computing, research data management
https://ace-net.ca/
Project: Dementia Community Investment (DCI) project
Dr. Tanya Brann-Barrett
Cape Breton University (CBU), Centre of Excellence for Healthy Aging
RNS Funding Contribution: $45,000.00
Project: The Acadian Phenocam Network: tracking climate change impacts to forest growth and phenology
Dr. Loïc D’Orangeville & Dr. Lynsay Spafford
University of New Brunswick
RNS Funding Contribution: $768,332
Total Project Value: $1,090,832
Funding Partners: Forestry Innovation Transition Trust (FITT)
Key Words: climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation, Netukulimk, ecological forestry, woody biomass, phenology
Project: Moving Beyond Disability Management
Eric Damecour
Saint Mary’s University
RNS Funding Contribution: $7,500
Total Project Value: $15,000
Funding Partners: Mitacs, Mental Health Research Canada (MHRC)
Key Words: mental health, disability, disability supports, occupational health
Project: The Social Implications of Agri-Genomics: Ensuring a Just Transition to Climate-Resilient Agricultural and Food Systems in Canada
Dr. Claver Diallo
Dalhousie University
RNS Funding Contribution: $195,518.00
Total Project Value: $195,518.00
Key Words: Genome Canada, agri-genomics, Just Transition Planning, climate resilient food systems in Canada, equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI), agro-biodiversity, quantitative modelling of food supply chains
Project: Emerging Zoonotic Infections in Nova Scotia Serosurvey II: How Many Humans Have Been Infected?
Dr. Glenn Patriquin, Dr. Todd Hatchette & Dr. David Haldane
Nova Scotia Health
RNS Funding Contribution: $60,937.70
Total Project Value: $60,937.70
Key Words: serosurvey, zoonotic, tick-borne, Borrelia, Lyme, Anaplasma
Project: Behavioural and neuropharmacological investigation of psilocybin as an innovative therapeutic agent for the treatment of mental health disorders
Dr. Nicoletta Faraone & Dr. Suzie Currie
Acadia University
RNS Funding Contribution: $359,140
Total Project Value: $359,140
Key Words: psilocybin, Drosophila, isogenic fish, stress, behaviour, neurogenesis
Project: 3Anne (3N): Triploid mussel genomics program
Dr. Ramon Filgueira
Dalhousie University
RNS Funding Contribution: $197,750.00
Total Project Value: $3,424,281.00
Funding Partners: Genome Canada
Key Words: bivalve, triploid, aquaculture, genomics, ecophysiology, climate change
https://genomeatlantic.ca/atlantic-aqua-farms-awarded-3-4-million-to-increase-mussel-production/
Project: Books By Heart: Can communal bibliotherapy on a cardiac inpatient unit reduce adverse outcomes at one year by bolstering patients’ self-efficacy and reducing anxiety and depression?
Dr. Gabrielle Horne
University of King’s College
RNS Funding Contribution: $190,470
Key Words: depression, heart attack, bibliotherapy, cardiac inpatient, anxiety
Project: Ocean Tracking Network
Dr. Sara Iverson
Dalhousie University
RNS Funding Contribution: $1,200,000
Total Project Value: $67,736,095
Funding Partners: Canada Foundation for Innovation
Key Words: movement ecology, fisheries management, oceanography, animal tracking, climate change, ocean technology
https://oceantrackingnetwork.org/
Project: Growing Multidisciplinary Interest in the Oldest Old
Dr. Janice Keefe
Mount Saint Vincent University (MSVU), Nova Scotia Centre for Aging
RNS Funding Contribution: $25,000
Funding Partners: Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR)
Key Words: aging, CIHR
Project: Strengthening global and regional health security through surveillance of emerging Poxviruses in humans, domestic and peri-domestic animals, and wildlife
Dr. David Kelvin
Dalhousie University
RNS Funding Contribution: $250,000
Total Project Value: $850,000
Funding Partners: Canadian Institutes of Health Research, African Institute of Mathematical Sciences
Key Words: ecological, zoonotic, interventions and risk management, public health, monkeypox virus, zoonotic viruses, wastewater
https://researchns.ca/2023/06/19/research-nova-scotia-invests-250k-in-dalhousie-university-research-team-for-emerging-poxvirus-surveillance/
Project: Opportunities for change: Exploring Nova Scotians’ quality of life and wellbeing
Dr. Megan MacGillivray
St. Francis Xavier University (StFX)
RNS Funding Contribution: $22,480.60
Total Project Value: $22,480.60
Funding Partners: Engage Nova Scotia
Project: Understanding the economic and environmental costs and benefits of buffering forested wetlands
Jennifer McNeil
Mersey Tobeatic Research Institute
RNS Funding Contribution: $226,640
Total Project Value: $555,692
Funding Partners: Forestry Innovation Transition Trust (FITT)
Key Words: forested, wetlands, buffers, management, impacts, comparison
Project: The Community Mobile Media Lab
Solomon Nagler
Nova Scotia College of Art and Design (NSCAD University)
RNS Funding Contribution: $220,000
Total Project Value: $295,000
Key Words: participatory action research, community storytelling and media production, motion picture training and research, underrepresented communities, reconciliation through mentorship and training, film industries
Project: Improving Nova Scotian dental care by developing a new light source for dental curing lights
Dr. Richard Price
Dalhousie University
RNS Funding Contribution: $98,154.56
Total Project Value: $173,754.56
Key Words: improving oral health, research excellence, innovation, curing lights, dental restorations, collaboration with industry
Project: Developing a Forest Soil Health Assessment and Extension Program for Private Woodland Owners in Nova Scotia
Debbie Reeves & Dr. Kevin Keys
Murray A. Reeves Forestry Ltd.
RNS Funding Contribution: $572,849
Total Project Value: $981,299
Funding Partners: Forestry Innovation Transition Trust (FITT)
Key Words: forest soil health, sustainable management, climate change resilience, woodland owner engagement, knowledge and capacity building, forest extension
Project: Coastal Vulnerability along the Northumberland Strait, Cumberland County and Statistical Methods and Data Sources to Calculate Return Periods of Water Levels
Dr. Tim Webster & Dr. Orla Murphy
Nova Scotia Community College, Dalhousie University
RNS Funding Contribution: $165,222
Key Words: coastal planning, climate change, Atlantic Climate Research Collaboration, coastal flood vulnerability
https://researchns.ca/2023/09/05/research-nova-scotia-and-canssi-atlantic-announcing-over-273000-in-climate-change-funding/
Project: Maximizing positive outcomes for biodiversity, recreation, and carbon market valuation through Nova Scotia’s transition to ecological forestry: A five-year interdisciplinary program for research and knowledge exchange
Dr. Alana Westwood
Dalhousie University
RNS Funding Contribution: $1,574,720
Total Project Value: $1,574,720
Funding Partners: Forestry Innovation Transition Trust (FITT)
Key Words: forestry research program, forestry, research agenda, value carbon, ecological forestry, habitat connectivity, carbon sequestration, valuation, environmental studies
https://researchns.ca/2023/05/09/dalhousie-forestry-research-team-receives-1-57-million-to-study-nova-scotian-forests/
Project: Crowdsourced Marine Weather for Gulf Stream & Climate Change Adaptation in Nova Scotia
SailTimer Inc.
SailTimer Inc.
RNS Funding Contribution: $130,000
Total Project Value: $130,000
Key Words: reducing greenhouse gas emissions, Gulf Stream, rising ocean temperature & climate change in Nova Scotia, ship weather routing, crowdsourced marine weather, wind, waves/swell and current, motion sensors in marine electronics and smartphones