UBC’s Quantum Matter Institute (QMI) has received $66.5 million in funding from the Canadian federal government, the largest government investment that the university has ever received for a single program.
The QMI received the funding as a result of its success in the Canadian First Research Excellence Fund’s (CFREF) inaugural competition, which took place in February. The CFREF was an initiative developed by the Government of Canada in 2014 to provide funding for Canadian post-secondary institutions.
Andrea Damascelli, the Director of the QMI, said that this sum of government investment would go toward a number of different initiatives. These include research, partnerships, the hiring of new staff, conferences, as well as the creation of fellowship programs. This is unlike previous funding that the QMI has received, which has primarily served the purpose of infrastructure development.
Damascelli also said that with this new seven-year funding, the QMI would have an opportunity to become a world leader in quantum mechanics research.
“This is the kind of funding that was really meant to provide resources to our institute, to [allow us to] compete at an international level, to gain agility, to gain expertise, long term,” said Damscelli.
The CFREF inaugural competition featured a $350 million fund that was open to all eligible Canadian post-secondary institutions. The application process required institutions to submit research proposals for review. Of the estimated 60 proposals that the Government of Canada received, UBC, along with four other universities, became the five recipients that were each entitled to a portion of this investment.
Damascelli attributes the QMI’s success in obtaining this fund to the founding of the QMI itself as well as the institute’s partnership with the prestigious Max Planck Society in Germany.
“[UBC was successful] because we already had an institute that was recognized worldwide … as the Quantum Matter Institute, and recognized because of the important international partnership that we had [with] Max Planck Society in particular,” said Damascelli.
Damascelli said that the key individuals who made this funding possible include George Sawatzky, the founder of the QMI, and Bernhard Keimer, who forged the UBC’s partnership with the Max Planck Society.
“Without these people that supported us all along, we would have not have been ready today,” said Damascelli.