BC unveils permanent research chairs program

The British Columbia government has unveiled details of its new $45-million Leading Edge Endowment Fund (LEEF) along with its first chair for spinal cord research. The public-private matching fund will create 20 permanent medical, social , environmental and technological research chairs, with each eligible for a total endowment of up to $4.5 million. The chair in spinal cord research receives $2.25 million in government funding, matched by the Rick Hanson Man in Motion Foundation. It will support the recently launched International Collaboration on Repair Discoveries centre and will be held by Dr John Steeves. LEEF will be administered by an 11-member independent society comprised of members of the academic, business and government sectors. The three government members are premier Gordon Campbell, Shirley Bond, minister of advanced education, and Rick Thorpe, minister of competition, science and enterprise. The chair program is designed to attract world-class faculty to the province’s institutions, strengthen BC’s research and innovation capacity, and brand it as a leader in the knowledge-based economy….