News & Events

Network Researchers Awarded Canada Research Chair Honours

June 26, 2021 – London, Ontario - Two Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network researchers, a University of Western Ontario audiologist and a University of Alberta educator have been honoured with Canada Research Chair designations.

Richard Seewald, The University of Western Ontario, professor in the School of Communication Sciences & Disorders and researcher at the National Centre for Audiology has been awarded the Canada Research Chair in Childhood Hearing. He will receive $1.4 million in funding over the next seven years for research into Infant Hearing Loss.

Judy Lupart, University of Alberta, professor in the Faculty of Education has been awarded the Canada Research Chair in Special Education. She will study four factors: the learning progress of children from diverse economic, language and educational levels; their home and school learning environments; teachers’ and parents’ impact on student learning progress; and the implementation of a theory- and research-based model of inclusion to achieve customized, student-centered learning.

'I am delighted with this recognition of the excellence of our researchers. Such awards are a particularly effective way of helping talented researchers to become more productive,' says Dr. Donald Jamieson, Scientific Director of the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network. 'In Canadian universities today, it has become a challenge to find adequate time for a professor to maintain a significant research program. The awards ensure that Canada Research Chairs will have more time to do their research, and the term of the award allows very substantial, multi-year research programs to be carried out that in the end will benefit Canada’s children.'

The Canada Research Chairs Program, part of an overall Government of Canada plan to encourage Canada's innovation, promotes leading-edge research and innovation in universities; provides exciting opportunities for Canadian researchers; and attracts the best research minds in the world to Canadian universities. Two thousand Chairs will be established in Canada by 2005.

'These Canada Research Chairs will enable Canadian universities to achieve the highest levels of research excellence and become world-class leaders in the global knowledge-based economy,' says Industry Minister Allan Rock. 'Not only will we attract and retain excellent researchers, but Canadian students will be able to work alongside the best and the brightest Canada and the world have to offer.'

The Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network brings more than 90 leading scientists, clinicians and educators together with public and private partners. The Network’s mandate is to generate, integrate and disseminate bias-free scientific research and knowledge that is focused on improving and sustaining children’s language and literacy development in Canada.

The Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network is one of 22 Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE), Canada's national flagship science and technology program. The NCE program is administered and funded by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC), the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), in partnership with Industry Canada. The goal of the federal NCE program is to mobilize Canada's research talent in universities, industry and government to improve the quality of life for Canadians, create new economy jobs and stimulate growth.

- 30 -

For more information, please contact Richard Seewald at (519) 661-2111 ext. 88258, Judy Lupart (403) 220-6280 or Jill Wright, Communications Officer, at (519) 850-2524. Information on the Canada Research Chairs Program can be found on the Web at http://www.chairs.gc.ca. For further details about the Canadian Language and Literacy Research Network, visit www.cllrnet.ca.

Privacy Policy

LAST MODIFIED: November 04 2004 20:45:35