Two APSC members among 2018 Banting Fellows and Vanier Scholars

Two members of the APSC community have received prestigious research funding awards for postdoctoral fellows and graduate students in Canada.

Francine Darroch, a postdoctoral fellow in the UBC School of Nursing, will receive $70,000 per year for two years under the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship program. The funds will support a research project titled “Making a Move: Examining the Role of Fathers in Mother's Well-Being on the Downtown Eastside.”

Open to applicants in the areas of health, the natural sciences and engineering, and the social sciences and humanities, the Banting Fellowship aims to attract and retain top-tier national and international postdoctoral talent who will contribute to economic, social and research-based growth in Canada. Out of the 70 Banting Postdoctoral Fellows named this year, nine are at UBC. 

Abhishek Dutta, a doctoral student in the UBC Department of Civil Engineering, will receive $50,000 per year for three years under the Vanier Canada Graduate Scholarship program. The funds will support a research project titled “Addressing Global Energy Shortage: Biofuel Harvesting from Wastewater.”

The Vanier program seeks to support world-class doctoral students who have excelled academically and demonstrated research and leadership potential in health research, the natural sciences and engineering, and the social sciences and humanities. In 2018, the program selected 167 scholars, 21 of whom are at UBC.

The Banting and Vanier programs are jointly administered by CIHR, NSERC and SSHRC and represent a total research investment of $34.9 million. The awards were announced on September 6 by the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, at the University of Alberta.