USask’s Vice President Research says the university may not be the glamorous place, but we are the Saskatchewan Prairie place that gets things done at the end of the day. Baljit Singh explains that some may consider the University of Saskatchewan a small institute in the middle of the Prairies, but there is a lot of global research happening within its walls and beyond.

He says when visitors tour the university, they are typically stunned at what is available, and he points to four projects and facilities which recently received over a quarter of the federal funding available for all of Canada’s universities for research infrastructure. There were 19 projects awarded a total of around $628-million, and nearly $170 million of that went to four USask endeavours. Singh says all four have global reach, with humanitarian research on things like sustainable water management, monitoring space weather, and vaccine development. They are the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization, Canadian Light Source synchrotron, SuperDarn, which is a series of radars that study the atmosphere to predict things like climate change, and Global Water Futures Observatories, which looks at water modelling to support the development of solutions for the impending water crisis.

Singh adds that these facilities provide the tools needed for USask’s researchers, and also scientists from across Canada and the globe. He believes it is a benefit for the province, because these projects and others can entice students to study at the university, and many of them will make their home in Saskatchewan, supporting economic enterprise, as well as doing research that benefits the world.