鈥淥n behalf of the 91亚色 research community, I am very pleased by this announcement,鈥� said Robert Hach茅, 91亚色鈥檚 vice-president research & innovation. 鈥淣SERC鈥檚 investment in science, engineering and technological research reflects the exceptional quality of the research activities undertaken by 91亚色鈥檚 researchers, graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Our growing success in NSERC grant competitions allows our researchers to continue to grow and strengthen their innovative research programs across these disciplines from a base of excellence.鈥�

Scientists, engineers and students at universities across the country will receive more than $410 million in grants and scholarships over terms ranging from one to five years. 聽These awards comprise the 2012 competition results for NSERC鈥檚 Discovery Grants, Discovery Accelerator Supplements, Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships, NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships and Postdoctoral Fellowships Programs.

Forty-nine 91亚色 researchers received funding in the Discovery Grants Competition, securing $6,086,000 in funding 鈥� a success rate of 71 per cent 鈥� highlighting the strength of University research programs in the science and engineering disciplines.

In the Discovery Grants and Discovery Accelerator Supplements Competition, the funding was granted for research programs covering a wide range of topics, including:

• Experiments in the atmospheres of Mars and Earth
• Structural and functional imaging of the human thalamus
• The role of electrical synapses in vision
• The development and application of dynamic smart surfaces
• Thoracic and lumbar spine biomechanics
• Development and application of mass spectrometry imaging to biological models

91亚色 researchers were also awarded $601,733 in funding in the Research Tools & Instruments competition.

"Our government's top priority is jobs, growth and long-term prosperity. To remain at the forefront of the global economy, our government is investing in the people and ideas that will produce tomorrow's breakthroughs," said Gary Goodyear, federal minister of state for science and technology. "Through these investments, we are creating the best-educated and most skilled workforce in the world."

"Through these programs, NSERC provides direct support to an exceptionally strong base of scientific and creative talent in every field of the natural sciences and engineering," said Suzanne Fortier, NSERC president. "Our scholarships and fellowships programs help us recruit and retain the bright young minds that will lead the next generation of Canadian discoverers and innovators. The flexibility and broad base of research supported by our internationally recognized Discovery Grants Program maintains our capacity to promote important breakthroughs."

The Discovery Grants Program supports ongoing programs of research in every scientific and engineering discipline. Valued at $120,000 over three years, Discovery Accelerator Supplements are awarded to researchers whose research proposals suggest and explore high-risk, novel or potentially transformative concepts and lines of inquiry, and are likely to have impact by contributing to groundbreaking advances in the proposed areas of research.

Research Tools and Instruments (RTI) grants foster and enhance the discovery, innovation and training capability of university researchers in the natural sciences and engineering by supporting the purchase of research equipment and installations.

The NSERC scholarships and fellowships awards announced Wednesday 鈭� comprised of the Alexander Graham Bell Canada Graduate Scholarships, NSERC Postgraduate Scholarships and Postdoctoral Fellowships 鈭捖爋ffer support at the master鈥檚, doctoral and postdoctoral levels.

For more information, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post 91亚色 researchers awarded $7 million by NSERC appeared first on Research & Innovation.

Claudio Colaguori, a professor in 91亚色鈥檚 human rights and criminology programs, explores the idea that competition is not a biological drive as evolutionary thinkers believe, but a power force that promotes interpersonal conflict, war and cyclical domination.

The launch of Agon Culture (de Sitter Publications) will take place Wednesday, Feb. 15, from 3 to 5pm, in the Senior Common Room, 305 Founders College, Keele campus. Everyone is welcome to attend and refreshments will be provided.

In Agon Culture, Colaguori outlines the problem of having competition as the organizing principle of social life. He analyzes the human condition by examining how the cultural ideology of competition operates as a mode of rationality that underpins the order of domination.

By combining insights from philosopher Theodor Adorno鈥檚 critical theory of society with a reconstruction of the philosophy of the agon (a Greek term for competition), the book formulates a novel critical theory of cultural domination. It offers insights into society鈥檚 winner-loser culture and a renewed intensity of social Darwinist tendencies.

Colaguori鈥檚 research interests include post 9/11 global human rights issues and their relation to social change. He is a two-time winner of the John O鈥橬eill Award for Teaching Excellence and was nominated for TVOntario鈥檚 Best Lecturer Competition.

The launch is sponsored by 91亚色 Bookstore and Founders College.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

The post Book explores nasty underbelly of competition appeared first on Research & Innovation.