43°39′34″N79°23′31″W / 43.6595629°N 79.3919866°W / 43.6595629; -79.3919866
The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR) is a Canadian-based global research organization that brings together teams of top researchers from around the world to address important and complex questions. It was founded in 1982 and is supported by individuals, foundations and corporations, as well as funding from the Government of Canada and the provinces of Alberta and Quebec.
Operations
CIFAR staff supports more than 400 researchers from 21 countries and more than 140 institutions.[1] Approximately half of the researchers are based in Canada and half are located abroad. The President and CEO is directly responsible to the Chair and the Board of Directors, who are responsible for funding allocation and approval of research programs. In November 2022, Stephen Toope became president and CEO.[2] Irfhan Rawji is the chair of CIFAR's Board of Directors. Jacqueline Koerner and Anne McLellan serve as co-vice chairs.[3] CIFAR receives funding from a blend of governments, partnerships (research organizations and universities), private sector (corporations, foundations and individuals) and investment income. CIFAR's annual budget in 2018 was $30M.[4] In 2017, CIFAR was asked by the Government of Canada to develop and lead the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy.[5]
Research programs
As of 2023, CIFAR supports research in 15 major multidisciplinary areas:[6]
Molecular Architecture of Life (established 2014, closing 2020)
History
20th century
CIFAR was founded in 1982. The original idea for an institute for advanced studies came from John Leyerle, a professor of English and dean of the School of Graduate Studies at the University of Toronto who began rallying support for the concept in 1978.[7] The centre would serve to "foster basic, conceptual research of high quality at an advanced level across the full spectrum of knowledge in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences and life sciences."[8]Fraser Mustard, a medical doctor and researcher in early childhood development, was appointed as founding president of CIFAR in January 1982. The first 25 years of its history is covered in the book A Generation of Excellence by Craig Brown.[9]
CIFAR fellows published several papers in 1994, including "Why are some people healthy and others not",[10] that argued policies driven by population health could address health disparities. They named 10 determinants of health, listing socio-economic status as the most influential. The government adopted the term population health and renamed a branch of the Public Health Agency of Canada "Population and Public Health."[11]
21st century
In 2004, Geoffrey Hinton began leading CIFAR's Neural Computation & Adaptive Perception program. Its members included Yoshua Bengio and Yann LeCun, among other neuroscientists, computer scientists, biologists, electrical engineers, physicists, and psychologists. Together, they confirmed Hinton's conviction about the power of neural networks when they created computing systems that mimicked human intelligence. Today, the three are widely acknowledged as the pioneers of deep learning. In 2019, the Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) named Hinton, Bengio and LeCun as recipients of the 2018 ACM A.M. Turing Award for conceptual and engineering breakthroughs that have made deep neural networks a critical component of computing.[12]
In 2017, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada (ISED) renewed and enhanced its funding for CIFAR, investing $35 million over five years. The government also announced that CIFAR will administer a $125 million Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy for research and talent.[14] In 2022, CIFAR announced the second phase of the Pan-Canadian Artificial Intelligence Strategy, which includes up to $208 million in federal support to CIFAR over ten years.[15]
^Brown, Craig. A Generation of Excellence. The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, 2007. Published by the University of Toronto Press. ISBN978-0-8020-9232-8
^Brown, Craig. A Generation of Excellence. The Canadian Institute for Advanced Research, 2007. Published by the University of Toronto Press. ISBN978-0-8020-9232-8
^Kirk, M, Tomm-Bonde, L, Schreiber, R. "Public health reform and health promotion in Canada." Global Health Promotion, vol. 21, no. 2 15-22 (June, 2014).
