Dagoberto Torres García, a biotechnology student at Instituto Tecnológico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey in Mexico, is spending the summer in Quebec putting his knowledge and expertise in DNA extraction and PCR testing to help identify which insects are carrying a bacterium responsible for spreading a new, harmful disease affecting strawberry fields in Quebec, in Canada, and around the world.

As more and more species are placed at serious risk of extinction, wildlife conservation’s critical importance is growing. The study of animal behaviour is essential in helping us create optimal species-specific environments where animals, especially those that are endangered, can live happy and healthy lives while also shedding a light on human behaviour. As zoos and other conservation spaces work to create habitats that enrich animal welfare, monitoring the health and well-being of their animal residents is imperative in being able to achieve this.  

As the nation with the longest coastline in the world, Canada’s environment, economy, and overall health are deeply influenced by the ocean — perhaps more than many Canadians realize. This idea led Dr. Glithero and her team to measure Canadians’ understanding of the impact of the ocean on their lives, and in turn the impact their daily activities have on marine ecosystems.

Former Mitacs postdoctoral researcher Dr. Ulrich Legrand understands that the world is facing major challenges due to climate change. He also knows that decision-makers are looking for solutions to the global crisis while driving economic growth

“Governments and businesses agree that reducing emissions is the right thing to do to protect the environment, but at the same time, they want to see a financial benefit,” Dr. Legrand says. And he has developed a first-of-its-kind technology that does just that.

With the goal of reducing the risk of arsenic contamination in drinking water, American chemical engineering student Andrea Green is helping a University of Victoria (UVic) lab create a rapid, low-cost, and reliable detection test using a cellphone — all from the comfort of her home in Atlanta, Georgia.

Border closures and international travel restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic aren’t stopping some of the world’s top talent from collaborating with Canadian researchers this summer. Relying on video calls and other advanced technology tools, Hina Tomar, an undergraduate student at Aligarh Muslim University’s Zakir Husain College of Engineering and Technology, in India, is one of over 1,000 students from 12 countries working remotely on leading-edge research with universities in Canada during the summer of 2021.

Founded by a pair of Dalhousie University alumni of the materials engineering program, Nova Scotia-based Graphite Innovation and Technologies (GIT) is providing opportunities for Dalhousie graduate students to put their research experience into practice through Mitacs internships.  

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit, food insecurity issues were only exacerbated for Nisga’a members living on Coastal Ts’msyen Territories in northwestern BC, Prince Rupert, and Port Edward communities.

Even before the crisis, there were pressing challenges in addressing food security. For the past three years, the North Coast Innovation Lab, a place-based initiative by Ecotrust Canada, and the Gitmaxmak’ay Nisga’a Society, a social enterprise that supports members of the Nisga’a Nation living in Prince Rupert, collaborated on a Mitacs-funded project.

Researchers from the University of Winnipeg (UWinnipeg) and the University of Saskatchewan (USask) have taken on an ambitious challenge: build the ground for the next revolution in global farming and food production. With support from George Weston Limited and Mitacs, the team is filling a gap within the digital agriculture field by building a robotic system to create an open dataset of Canadian prairie crop plants and weeds.