���˴�Ƭ-�����ۺ���-���޳�������

Queen’s has secured 14 awards – eight doctoral students and six postdoctoral researchers – from the Canada Impact+ Research Training Awards to support priority research areas in artificial intelligence, quantum technologies, clean energy, and cancer therapeutics. These awards represent $1.8 million in funding for Queen’s.  

The announcement, made by the Honourable Mélanie Joly, Minister of Industry, represents a milestone for Canada's broader effort to recruit world-leading researchers. Across the country, a total of 659 training awards, of which 14 have gone to Queen's, have been offered to nominees from 72 countries, representing a commitment of $84.3 million over three years, the first phase of a $133.6 million total investment. Research areas identified as national priorities under the initiative include advanced digital technologies, health and biotechnology, clean technology, environment and climate resilience, and defence and dual-use technologies. Doctoral scholarships are valued at $40,000 per year for three years, and postdoctoral research awards at $70,000 per year for two years.

“Queen’s champions the recruitment of outstanding talent through the Canada Impact+ Research program,” says Nancy Ross, Vice-Principal (Research). “We look forward to welcoming these ambitious early-career researchers into our community and supporting their research pursuits. Congratulations to the Impact+ doctoral and postdoctoral recipients.”

Queen’s recipients of the Research Talent Awards

Negin Rahimiyazdi (Supervisor: Bahman Gharesifard): NSERC Doctoral – Model collapse in generative AI

Sabbir Ahmed (Supervisor: Salimur Choudhury): NSERC Doctoral – Quantum machine learning for decision making

Quynh Ho (Supervisor: Cao Thang Dinh): NSERC Doctoral – Selective and stable catalysts for carbon dioxide conversion

Baoyan Liu (Supervisor: Graeme Howe): NSERC Doctoral – Designer biocatalysts for nylon recycling: AI-driven enzyme engineering to transform plastic waste

Zelalem Demeke (Supervisor: Heather Aldersey): CIHR Doctoral – Improving early powered mobility services in childhood disability

Seyedeh Sepideh Javadi (Supervisor: Saeed Gazor): NSERC Doctoral – AI-driven signal processing for sustainable and intelligent wireless networks

Kamaraja Siddartha Chaganti (Supervisor: Bhavin Shastri): NSERC Doctoral – Development and scaling up of photonic ising machines

Abdul Rauf Alhassan (Supervisor: Elijah Bisung): SSHRC Doctoral – Climate shocks, household resource securities, and social protection

Abhinav Sharma (Supervisor: Mark Daymond): NSERC Postdoctoral – Effects of irradiation on fatigue

Mohammad Amin Dabbagh Ohadi (Supervisor: Douglas Cook): CIHR Postdoctoral – Optimizing self-amplifying RNA therapeutics for glioblastoma

Eun Ju Son (Supervisor: Sari van Anders): SSHRC Postdoctoral – Ensuring democratic resilience amidst racialized anti-feminist backlash

Andre Guerra (Supervisor: Kevin Stamplecoskie): NSERC Postdoctoral – Machine-learning cancer drug design: force field development for N-heterocyclic carbene functionalized gold nanoclusters

Zeeshan Manzoor Bhat (Supervisor: Amir Fam): NSERC Postdoctoral – Next generation climate-resilient and energy-efficient housing

Paramesh Jangili (Supervisor: P. Andrew Evans): NSERC Postdoctoral – High-payload antibody–dendrimer conjugates for targeted inhibition of cancer metastasis

The Canada Impact+ Research Training Awards are one stream of the , a $1.7 billion strategy announced in Budget 2025 that aims to attract more than 1,000 international researchers, including Francophone researchers, to Canada. The initiative also includes the , the , and the . The awards are administered by Canada's three federal research funding agencies: the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC). Queen’s has been actively recruiting for these opportunities since late-2025.  

To learn more about ���˴�Ƭ's involvement in the Canada Global Impact+ Research Talent Initiative and the university's strategic research priority areas, visit the Vice-Principal Research Portfolio website.