Fellows & Advisors
ROLES
CIFAR fellows, scholars, and advisors advance knowledge across disciplines.
Researchers are invited to participate in CIFAR programs for their excellence in research and communication, as well as for how their expertise fits into the goals of a program.
Preeminent scholars in their field are selected for their professional reputation and their capacity to provide guidance and advice to CIFAR and their research programs. Each program has approximately 6-8 advisors working as a committee.
An outstanding researcher who is internationally recognized for conducting innovative studies that lead to high-impact advances in their fields. A fellow joins a program at the invitation of the program co-directors and advisors to provide research expertise to the program’s themes and goals. They receive annual unrestricted research support.
Outstanding, internationally recognized researchers who join a program at the invitation of the program co-directors and advisors to provide research expertise to the program’s themes and goals.
A fellow who has a strong vision for the program and the ability to motivate and lead a multidisciplinary group of scholars to make progress toward the program’s transformative knowledge creation may be invited to serve as a program co-director.
Co-directors have demonstrated intellectual leadership and a willingness and openness to extend dialogue across traditional disciplinary boundaries. In some instances, a program may choose to appoint an associate director as a leadership opportunity for emerging scholars.
Outstanding early-career researchers, recognized as rising stars in their field for their potential as future research leaders. Representing a wide range of disciplines and countries, they are selected to participate for two years in one of CIFAR’s research programs and receive unrestricted research support.
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A.J. Marian Walhout
Fellow
Genetic Networks
University of Massachusetts
United States
Aapo Johannes Hyvärinen
Fellow
Learning in Machines & Brains
University of Helsinki
Finland
Aaron Courville
Fellow
Canada CIFAR AI Chair
Learning in Machines & Brains
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Mila
Université de Montréal
Université de Montréal
Canada
Adrian M. Owen
Program Co-Director
Koerner Fellow
Brain, Mind & Consciousness
Western University
Canada
Aephraim M. Steinberg
Program Co-Director
Quantum Information Science
University of Toronto
Canada
Alán Aspuru-Guzik
Canada CIFAR AI Chair
Lebovic Fellow
Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Vector Institute
Canada
Aldo Geuna
Fellow
Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
Collegio Carlo Alberto
University of Torino
University of Torino
Italy
Aleksandra Vojvodic
Fellow
Bio-inspired Solar Energy
University of Pennsylvania
United States
Alexandre Blais
Fellow
Quantum Information Science
Université de Sherbrooke
Canada
Allan Macdonald
Advisor
Quantum Materials
University of Texas at Austin
United States
Allison Harell
Fellow
Boundaries Membership & Belonging
Université du Québec à Montréal
Canada
Alona Fyshe
Fellow
Canada CIFAR AI Chair
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2016-2018
Learning in Machines & Brains
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Amii
University of Alberta
University of Alberta
Canada
Ami Citri
Fellow
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2016-2018
Child & Brain Development
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Israel
Amir Yacoby
Advisor
Quantum Materials
Harvard University
United States
Andrea Damascelli
Fellow
Quantum Materials
University of British Columbia
Canada
Andreas Wimmer
Fellow
Boundaries Membership & Belonging
Columbia University
United States
Andrew Fraser
Fellow
Genetic Networks
University of Toronto
Canada
Andrew Schrank
Fellow
Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
Brown University
United States
Anil K. Seth
Program Co-Director
Brain, Mind & Consciousness
University of Sussex
United Kingdom
Aniruddh Patel
Fellow
Brain, Mind & Consciousness
Tufts University
United States
Anna Goldenberg
Canada CIFAR AI Chair
Lebovic Fellow
Child & Brain Development
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Hospital for Sick Children
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
University of Toronto
Vector Institute
Canada
Anne E. Wilson
Fellow
Successful Societies
Wilfrid Laurier University
Canada
Aravinda Chakravarti
Fellow
Genetic Networks
New York University School of Medicine
United States
Arthur B. McDonald
Associate Fellow
Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Queen's University
Canada
Arturo Casadevall
Advisory Committee Chair
Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities
Johns Hopkins University
United States
Atsushi Iriki
Fellow
Brain, Mind & Consciousness
RIKEN
Japan
Audrey Macklin
Fellow
Boundaries Membership & Belonging
University of Toronto
Canada
Avner Greif
Fellow
Institutions, Organizations & Growth
Stanford University
United States
Axel Cleeremans
Fellow
Brain, Mind & Consciousness
Université Libre de Bruxelles
Belgium
Ayelet Shachar
Advisor
Boundaries Membership & Belonging
Max Planck Institute Study of Religious & Ethnic Diversity
Germany
B. Brett Finlay
Program Co-Director
Humans & the Microbiome
University of British Columbia
Canada
Barbara Sherwood Lollar
Program Co-Director
Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
University of Toronto
Canada
Barth Netterfield
Fellow
Gravity & the Extreme Universe
University of Toronto
Canada
Ben Lanyon
Fellow
Quantum Information Science
University of Innsbruck
Austria
Bénédicte Ménez
Advisor
Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
Paris Diderot University
France
Bernhard Schölkopf
Fellow
Learning in Machines & Brains
ETH Zürich
Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems
Germany
Blake Richards
Fellow
Canada CIFAR AI Chair
Learning in Machines & Brains
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
Pan-Canadian AI Strategy
McGill University
Mila
Mila
Canada
Brenda Andrews
Fellow
Genetic Networks
University of Toronto
Canada
Brian Dias
Fellow
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2017-2019
Child & Brain Development
University of Southern California
United States
Brian Kobilka
Advisor
Molecular Architecture of Life
Stanford University
United States
Bruce D. Gaulin
Fellow
Quantum Materials
McMaster University
Canada
Bruce Klein
Fellow
Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities
University of Wisconsin-Madison
United States
Bryan Kolb
Associate Fellow
Child & Brain Development
University of Lethbridge
Canada
Candice Odgers
Program Co-Director
Child & Brain Development
University of California Irvine
United States
Carolina Tropini
Fellow
CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar 2019-2021
Humans & the Microbiome
University of British Columbia
Canada
Catherine Dauvergne
Advisor
Boundaries Membership & Belonging
University of British Columbia
Canada
Catherine L. Drennan
Fellow
Bio-inspired Solar Energy
Howard Hughes Medical Institute
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
United States
Catherine Tallon-Baudry
Fellow
Brain, Mind & Consciousness
École normale supérieure
France
Chad Myers
Fellow
Genetic Networks
University of Minnesota
United States
Charles A. Nelson
Fellow
Child & Brain Development
Harvard University
United States
Charles M. Boone
Program Co-Director
Fellow
Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities
Genetic Networks
Genetic Networks
University of Toronto
Canada
Chelsea Finn
Fellow
Learning in Machines & Brains
Stanford University
United States
Chris Ballentine
Fellow
Earth 4D: Subsurface Science & Exploration
University of Oxford
United Kingdom
Christina A. Cuomo
Fellow
Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities
Broad Institute
United States
Christopher J. Chang
Fellow
Bio-inspired Solar Energy
University of California Berkeley
United States
Christopher K. I. Williams
Advisor
Learning in Machines & Brains
University of Edinburgh
United Kingdom
Christopher Manning
Fellow
Learning in Machines & Brains
Stanford University
United States
Claudia Felser
Fellow
Quantum Materials
Max Planck Institute for Chemical Physics of Solids
Germany
Curtis P. Berlinguette
Program Co-Director
Bio-inspired Solar Energy
University of British Columbia
Canada
Dame Carol Robinson
Fellow
Molecular Architecture of Life
University of Oxford
United Kingdom
Dan Breznitz
Program Co-Director
Innovation, Equity, & The Future of Prosperity
University of Toronto
Canada
Daniel Ansari
Fellow
Child & Brain Development
Western University
Canada
Daniel Belsky
Fellow
Child & Brain Development
Columbia University
United States
Daniel Dennett
Advisor
Brain, Mind & Consciousness
Tufts University
United States
Daniel Diermeier
Fellow
Institutions, Organizations & Growth
University of Chicago
United States
Daniel Figeys
Fellow
Molecular Architecture of Life
University of Ottawa
Canada
Daniel Trefler
Fellow
Institutions, Organizations & Growth
University of Toronto
Canada
Daniela Kaufer
Associate Fellow
Child & Brain Development
University of California Berkeley
United States
Daron Acemoglu
Fellow
Institutions, Organizations & Growth
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
United States
David B. Grusky
Fellow
Successful Societies
Stanford University
United States
David Bacon
Associate Fellow
Quantum Information Science
Google
United States
David Botstein
Advisory Committee Chair
Genetic Networks
Calico
United States
David Denning
Advisor
Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities
University of Manchester
United Kingdom
David Forrest Clayton
Associate Fellow
Child & Brain Development
Queen Mary University of London
United Kingdom
David Gosset
Fellow
Quantum Information Science
University of Waterloo
Canada
David K. Menon
Advisor
Brain, Mind & Consciousness
Cambridge University
United Kingdom
David S. Blehert
Fellow
Fungal Kingdom: Threats & Opportunities
National Wildlife Health Center
U.S. Geological Survey
U.S. Geological Survey
United States
David Sherry
Advisor
Brain, Mind & Consciousness
Western University
Canada
David Spergel
Associate Fellow
Gravity & the Extreme Universe
Princeton University
United States
David Stuart
Advisory Committee Chair
Molecular Architecture of Life
Oxford University
United Kingdom
Support Us
CIFAR is a registered charitable organization supported by the governments of Canada, Alberta and Quebec, as well as foundations, individuals, corporations and Canadian and international partner organizations.