"Canada Impact+ Research Chair in Environment, Climate Resilience and the Arctic"

COMPETITION: #25-15
Posted: January 20, 2026

The Faculty of Science at the University of New Brunswick (UNB) invites applications from world-leading researchers for a Canada Impact+ Research Chair focused on environment, climate resilience and the Arctic. The successful Impact+ Chair will receive long-term funding and support to lead bold, transformative research, build exceptional teams, and collaborate across sectors and borders. The Chairholder is expected to translate discoveries into real-world applications and benefits, and to train the next generation of highly qualified personnel.

This program provides an opportunity to nominate an internationally renowned scientist as a chairholder in areas of strategic importance to Canada. The nominee must have an active recent track record of exceptional research accomplishments and significant interest in making new contributions to Canada.
Impact+ Chairs are valued at up to $8 million or $4 million over eight years, with a possibility of a four-year 50% funded extension to support their research programs and teams. Successful awardees may also apply for up to $6 million for research infrastructure from the Canada Impact+ Research Infrastructure Fund. Full program details can be found on the program’s website: https://www.canada.ca/en/impact-plus-chairs/program-details/competition/2026/apply.html

Eligibility
Applicants must be full Professors or Associate Professors expected to be promoted to full Professor within one to two years of the nomination. Alternatively, if they come from outside the academic sector, applicants must possess the qualifications necessary to be appointed at these levels. The successful applicant will hold a PhD, per UNB requirements, and possess a research record demonstrating extensive world-class contributions. Only candidates who are internationally based (both working and residing outside of Canada) are eligible to be nominated.

The Impact+ program utilizes a two-stage process. First, applicants directly to UNB. UNB will then support the nominee identified through this search as they prepare a nomination package for submission to the Impact+ Chairs program. UNB expects to submit the nomination in June 2026. UNB will provide substantial support in the preparation and development of the program application, including budget planning, proposal development, and editing. If successful, the Impact+ Chair awardee will receive substantial support for their research programs and for grant administration.

The successful Impact+ Chair awardee will be appointed to a faculty position (Associate Professor or Full Professor) in an appropriate academic department within the Faculty of Science, as early as Winter 2027.

Research Alignment
The Faculty of Science at UNB welcomes applications from outstanding, established researchers in the Government of Canada’s identified strategic priority area “environment, climate resilience and the Arctic.” The nominee’s expertise may be in areas including, but not limited to: biology, chemistry, earth sciences, mathematics, physics, or statistics.

The Canada Impact+ Chair will spearhead the organization of multi-disciplinary research in the Arctic and will create an institute specializing in climate change. This institute will investigate the effects of climate change on Earth’s systems with an eye toward predicting the severity and timeline of the changes.

This chair will enable and catalyze UNB research spanning many of the Earth’s spheres of matter: lithosphere (Earth’s crust), hydrosphere (lakes, oceans, water vapour) cryosphere (glaciers, ice sheets, sea ice, and permafrost), biosphere (biological life), and the different levels of the atmosphere (troposphere, stratosphere, and ionosphere). An increasing body of evidence, enabled by fundamental research, indicates that these spheres are intrinsically coupled through physical, geophysical, chemical, and biological processes.

UNB has a critical mass of researchers involved in this diverse research spread over three Faculties: Science, Forestry and Environmental Management (ForEM), and Engineering. UNB also has a strong Arctic research presence. Three departments in the Faculty of Science (Biology, Earth Science, and Physics) conduct active Arctic research. This includes continuously monitoring the Arctic environment and fieldwork that collects samples for analysis (Biology, Earth Science, and Civil Engineering), Arctic paleoceanography, glacial, and glaciated terrains (Earth Sciences), remote sensing of the Arctic environment (ForEM and Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering), and northern ocean mapping expeditions (Geodesy and Geomatics Engineering). The Physics department also operates the largest arctic ionosphere monitoring network in the world (The Canadian High Arctic Ionospheric Network) and is involved in the Polar Environment Research Laboratory (PEARL) at Eureka, NU.

How To Apply
To apply, applicants should submit a single PDF that includes:

1. A two-page cover letter that identifies:
   1. The applicant’s estimated start-up funding, infrastructure, and space requirements (e.g., for equipment and personnel).
   2. If the applicant’s research falls under one of the areas identified in the Government of Canada’s Sensitive Technology Research Areas. If yes, list the specific areas. If not, indicate that this does not apply.
2. A full curriculum vitae (including details of research and teaching, scholarly record, funding, collaborations/partnerships and leadership experience).
3. A two-page (maximum) research plan describing the applicant’s research vision and its alignment with relevant strategic priority area(s), including how the work will move beyond discovery to generate social, economic, and/or policy impacts through collaboration with partners, written in clear, accessible language for a broad audience.
4. The names and email addresses of a minimum of three potential referees who are prepared to submit a letter of recommendation.

All qualified individuals are encouraged to apply; ... [equity statement]

All applications should be submitted to:

Sanjeev Seahra
Dean of Science
c/o Chantelle Riley
chantelle.riley@unb.ca

Review of applications will begin on March 1, 2026. Applications will continue to be accepted until a successful nominee is identified. To guarantee full consideration, application materials should be received before March 1. General inquiries regarding this posting may be directed to Sanjeev Seahra (Dean of Science) at scidean@unb.ca.