A new funding agreement aims to increase student mobility and research collaborations between Latin America and a group of Canadian universities, including Memorial.
The Mitacs Globalink Research Award is available to members of the Canada and Latin America Research & Exchange Opportunities (CALAREO) Consortium.
Memorial is part of CALAREO, which also includes Lakehead University, Vancouver Island University, University of Lethbridge, Carleton University and École de technologie supérieure.
Faculty and student mobility
The consortium was formed last year to support faculty and student mobility with Latin America, including exchange programs, scholarships and research collaboration.
The CALAREO secretariat is hosted at Lakehead University, who signed the three-year agreement on behalf of the consortium.
“We are excited by the possibilities for research partnerships that the signing of the funding agreement brings and look forward to working through the details as individual arrangements proceed,” said Dr. Neil Bose, vice-president (research), at Memorial.
Award specifics
The Mitacs-CALAREO Globalink Research Award program will fund short-term research projects for advanced undergraduate, master’s and PhD students, as well as post-doctoral fellows, lasting 3-6 months.
Under the agreement, up to 25 Canadian students per year will receive $6,000 and travel to Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Mexico to perform their research. As many as 20 students per year will also receive $6,000 and travel from those countries to one of the universities that make up the consortium.
The agreement represents a funding commitment of $810,000 for student research over three years.
‘Excellent opportunities’
“Lakehead University is very pleased to be signing this agreement for internship funding with Mitacs on behalf of the CALAREO Consortium,” said Dr. Andrew Dean, Lakehead University’s vice-president, research and innovation.
“The Globalink research award program is a highly innovative program at Mitacs and provides excellent opportunities for students to expand their horizons through exciting international research opportunities. Having a dedicated number of awards for the CALAREO institutions will greatly increase our opportunities for exchange with research institutions in Latin America.”
“The CALAREO consortium creates opportunity for research exchange between six Canadian universities and several Latin American countries,” said Dr. Alejandro Adem, chief executive officer and scientific director, Mitacs.
“Within this agreement, Mitacs’s Globalink program enables bilateral research exchange and student mobility with unique, global research networks. As Mitacs celebrates its 20th anniversary, I am very proud of the development of this new innovation ecosystem.”
Mitacs is a national, not-for-profit organization that has designed and delivered research and training programs in Canada for 20 years. Working with 60 universities, 4,000 companies, and both federal and provincial governments, the organization builds partnerships that support industrial and social innovation in Canada.
