July 18, 2025

NSERC has shared its revised eligibility requirements for grant holders, which have been updated with the intent of simplification and harmonization with other tri-agency definitions and processes. The new requirements be implemented August 1st, 2025 and will not be applied retroactively. Among the changes, NSERC shared that it has replaced references to “faculty” with “individual,” and removed references to “academic” appointments in order to broaden accessibility and ensure that researchers with different backgrounds or appointment types—such as Indigenous scholars—can access funding. The research council has also altered select rules around contract duration, the role of collaborators, and research field requirements to better align with the definitions and processes used by CIHR and/or SSHRC.

The Government of Manitoba has announced several investments to support health care and science training in the Westman region. Through a contribution of up to $52M, MB will support the creation of 10 new doctor training seats, renovations to Brandon University’s John R Brodie Science Centre to ensure students have access to cutting-edge science facilities, and the creation of learning spaces in the Brandon Regional Health Centre’s library. The 10 training seats will be delivered through a satellite program operated by the University of Manitoba Max Rady College of Medicine. “We know that when students train in rural communities, they’re more likely to stay and build their careers there,” said MB Minister Uzoma Asagwara. “This is an important step in strengthening rural health care and keeping more physicians in the region.”

QS has released the Best Student Cities 2026 ranking and four Canadian cities have appeared in the top 100. BlogTO explains that the ranking scores cities around the world according to six factors: affordability, desirability, employer activity, student mix, student view, and university rankings. The Canadian cities that made the top 100 are Montréal (tied for #18 with Kyoto), Toronto (#22), Vancouver (tied for #29 with Prague), and Ottawa (tied for #80 with Atlanta). BlogTO notes that while many Canadian cities scored well on student view and mix, they often scored poorly on affordability.

McGill University’s Desautels Faculty of Management will begin offering its Master of Management in Finance program in Luxembourg next winter, thanks to a partnership with Luxembourg’s Ministry of Finance, the Luxembourg Bankers’ Association, and the Association of the Luxembourg Fund Industry. The program—which is the same as the full-time program offered in Montréal—will be delivered part-time over the course of 20 or 24 months. It will use a blended format with online and in-person sessions tailored to the working professionals. Students will learn academic theory and get hands-on experience managing Desautels Capital Management funds.

Diverse viewpoints and perspectives are deeply beneficial to fostering a scientific understanding, write Thomas Merritt (Laurentian University) and Allie Hutchings (Laurentian). Merrit and Hutchings reflect on biology research projects that they have taken part in, where collaborative work led to the discovery of unexpected biological complexity. They argue that in today’s social and political climate, research with this kind of diversity-innovation connection is under attack. Limiting this kind of research, they assert, will narrow perspectives and cripple advances as “diverse groups of researchers conduct more creative, innovative and impactful science.” Merrit and Hutchings conclude by calling for diversity within research to be more broadly appreciated.

Red River College Polytechnic will be delivering a Health Care Aide program in the Central Plains region through a partnership with Prairie Mountain Health, Southern Health-Santé Sud, and Norfolk Treherne Community Development Corporation. This program will offer students in Treherne hands-on experience and classroom instruction that will prepare them to provide care in various settings. As a dual credit offering, this program will enable Grade 12 students to begin training for their careers while still in high school. The program will begin in 2026.

The Government of British Columbia has announced that it is fast-tracking the recruitment of international doctors in order to bolster its health sector. The province recently conducted a coordinated recruitment campaign in the US, which yielded over 700 job applications from health professionals. This was made possible by the College of Physicians and Surgeons of BC’s recent bylaw changes, which reduced the steps to full licensure in BC for US-trained and internationally-trained doctors. This includes permitting select US-trained doctors to become fully licensed in BC without further assessment, examination, or training, and waiving the requirement for internationally-trained doctors to hold the Licentiate of the Medical Council of Canada.

Postsecondary leaders must develop new approaches to navigate disruption and uncertainty, writes Daniel Atlin (University of Guelph). Drawing on research interviews with senior leaders in Canada and abroad, Atlin argues that leaders should embrace “sense-making”—understanding and interpreting the situations people find themselves in—to guide their institutions. Toward this end, he outlines four strategies: exploration and map-making to gather and adapt data, storytelling to unite communities, invention and improvisation to respond in real time, and adaptation through collaboration. “By recognizing the messiness of their organizations and using sense-making skills, leaders in social-purpose organizations have better odds of surviving the perils and challenges of massive disruption and unprecedented change,” concludes Atlin.

Astronomy researchers in Canada celebrated the opening of the NSF–DOE Vera C Rubin Observatory in Chile this summer. The first-of-its-kind observatory is equipped with an 8.5-metre mirror and the largest digital camera ever built, and will create a time-lapse record of the southern hemisphere’s skies over the course of the next decade. Researchers from institutions such as Bishop’s University, the University of Toronto, and the University of Waterloo are supporting the development of the software and computing infrastructure that will process the observatory’s raw images. In exchange for this support, Bishop’s says that Canadian researchers and students will have early access to observatory data. “The telescope and camera are so sensitive that, in theory, it could detect the faint glow of a candle at the distance of the Moon,” explained Bishop’s Professor Dr John Ruan.

Brock University’s Cool Climate Oenology and Viticulture Institute (CCOVI) recently announced that it is expanding access to the Canadian Wine Library for scholars, media members, and other special interest groups. The library is a non-profit, revolving collection of domestic and VQA wines; Brock holds the wine in trust and has administered the library since 2008. CCOVI Manager of Professional Studies and Outreach Barb Tatarnic said that the collection will serve several benefits, including helping to demonstrate how Canadian wines improve with age and inform consumers on what they can expect from Canadian wines. “To have a place for wines to be properly stored and made available for private and public tastings and educational purposes is so important to our industry,” said Inniskillin Head Winemaker Nicholas Gizuk.