"Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Neuro AI"

The University of Ottawa (uOttawa) invites applications for a Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Neuro AI. The successful candidate will hold a full-time tenured or tenure-track position at the uOttawa Faculty of Medicine’s Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine.

We are interested in identifying an established neuroscientist who is an internationally recognized leader in their field. The Chair’s mandate will be aligned with the uOttawa goal of redefining health care systems, with the expectation that their focus will include areas and conditions linking the brain and heart. We seek a computational neuroscientist whose work bridges AI approaches and the study of neural networks, translating cellular and circuit principles into next-generation AI and neuromorphic systems. This may include biophysically grounded neural modeling, spiking network theory, and machine learning. The successful candidate will lead an innovative program connecting theory, large-scale simulation, and experimental collaboration.

The candidate will also be a member of the Brain-Heart Interconnectome (BHI).

Tier 1 Chairs, tenable for seven years and renewable once, are for outstanding researchers acknowledged by their peers as world leaders in their fields.

Skills requirements:

• Education: Ph.D. or equivalent in a relevant field
• Required Qualifications: outstanding independent research achievements in the CRC’s identified area(s), a solid record with respect to teaching and training of students at the graduate level, strong record of external research funding. Excellent communication skills in either English or French. Passive (or active) knowledge of one’s second official language (French or English) is a requirement for tenure. English-French bilingualism is an asset.

Duties: Academic staff functions include, in varying proportions: teaching; scholarly activities such as research, artistic or literary creation, or professional work; academic service; graduate student supervision.

Rank and salary: Tenure-track academic appointment in the relevant Faculty. Salary scale for a full professor starts at $131,803 and $109,776 for an Associate Professor (scale of the collective agreement as of May 1, 2025). Salaries are competitive and commensurate with qualifications and experience.

Location of work: Department of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ON K1H 8M5

Application Package:

• A cover letter;
• An up-to-date curriculum vitae (Please include any personal circumstances and/or career interruptions such as parental or sick leaves that may have impacted your research trajectory. These will be taken into consideration in the selection process);
• A research plan (2 to 3 pages);
• A statement of relevance to the Brain-Heart Interconnectome (BHI) and commitment to a research co-production approach (research carried out in collaboration with community, patients, health professionals, policy makers and other knowledge users) (1 page);
• A statement of teaching interests (1 to 2 pages);
• A statement on equity, diversity, and inclusion philosophy and concrete practices (1 page);
• The names of three people who may be contacted by the University for letters of reference which will follow the Canada Research Chairs guidelines (i.e. Tier 1: all three arm’s length including one of international stature and who does not live in the country where the candidate is currently working); and
• Self-identification: Complete the “Count Me In” self-identification survey in VirtuO.

Deadline: April 6, 2026

Applications should be submitted by email as one pdf document sent to: chaires_chairs@uottawa.ca.

Please address your cover letter to: Dr. Julie St-Pierre, Vice-President, Research and Innovation.