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UBC receives funding for research on clean water

Vancouver – The Networks of Centres of Excellence will provide $1.6 million over four years to a UBC-led clean water research program as part of $92 million in new funding to help researchers solve current issues and transfer knowledge to practice for end-users.

This $92-million funding is the result of the most recent Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE) program and NCE Knowledge Mobilization Initiative (NCE-KM) competitions, the NCE said on its website.

The networks will address challenges in various areas, including studying the impact of climate change on Canada’s Arctic, improving the quality of water for Indigenous and non-urban communities, preventing youth homelessness, and improving children’s pain management. Successful networks are awarded four or five-year non-renewable grants.

Over the next several years, funding for the NCE program will be gradually transferred to the New Frontiers in Research Fund, which will support international, interdisciplinary, fast-breaking and high-risk research.

The funding will support the RESEAU Centre for Mobilizing Innovation, which is led by the University of British Columbia and uses a “community circle” model in working with Indigenous and rural communities to improve the quality of drinking water.

Many Indigenous and non-urban communities face challenges in providing clean drinking water for their members due to smaller tax bases, remote locations, lack of trained operators and other factors, said UBC chemical and biological engineering professor Madjid Mohseni, who will serve as the network’s scientific director, on the univeristy’s website.

Learn more about the Indigenous And Non-urban Water Health Network – RES’EAU-WaterNETndigenous And Non-urban Water Health Network – RES’EAU-WaterNET.