On the cusp of 40 years, CIFAR looks to be even bolder, asking scientists: what is the future of being human?
2020
Alan Bernstein becomes a trusted voice during the COVID-19 pandemic
A recognized leader in health research and a celebrated scientist, Dr. Alan Bernstein calls for the creation of the federal Vaccine Task Force which provides scientific advice on which vaccines to buy for Canadians, provides an important voice on COVID-19 related topics including manufacturing vaccines in Canada, and advocates for international equity for vaccines in low- and middle-income countries. He appears in more than 1,000 media stories nationally and internationally and testifies before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Health.
2020
CIFAR donors and researchers rally to fight COVID-19
CIFAR announces the COVID-19 Action Fund. With the support of Manulife, Max Bell Foundation, and many individual donors, CIFAR takes immediate action to bring together world-leading experts to collaborate on numerous COVID-19 scientific efforts — from quick response research grants for health and well-being or AI and COVID-19, to the Expert Advisory Group on Society, Technology and Ethics in a Pandemic (STEP).
With the help of the COVID-19 Action Fund, researchers across CIFAR’s programs came together to take action, pivoting their work towards fighting, and understanding the many potential consequences of, the pandemic. To name a few: CIFAR Fellows and Canada CIFAR AI Chairs investigated how COVID-19 affected world happiness, while members in the Humans & the Microbiome program studied how the virus altered our microbiome. Read more about the many groundbreaking COVID-19 research conducted by our CIFAR community.
2020
CIFAR launches first Action Plan on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion
CIFAR’s board of directors commits to an action plan that commits the organization to take deliberate action to create a model for international research excellence and collaboration that embraces equitable, diverse and inclusive practices.
2020
In support of prosperity
The Max Bell Foundation becomes the first donor to support CIFAR's new Innovation, Equity & the Future of Prosperity program, which takes a multidisciplinary and cross-national look at how, why, and when the benefits of innovation aren't always broadly shared.
CIFAR Global Call for Ideas
The Future
of Being Human
2021
The most important question of our time: CIFAR launches third Global Call for Ideas
The Future of Being Human is the first thematic Global Call in CIFAR's history, challenging researchers to propose bold ideas that explore the long-term intersection of humans, science and technology, social and cultural systems, and our environment. CIFAR receives 99 proposals from more than a dozen countries around the world. Read more on why the future of being human is the most important question of our time.
2022
CIFAR at 40 | The Next 40
As we celebrate our 40 years of impact, learn about the transformative work being conducted by our research community.
Stay tuned — CIFAR's new programs coming out of our Global Call for Ideas will be announced March 2023.
