Congratulations to the six UBC Arts researchers who received funding through the 2026 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Discovery Grants and Discovery Launch Supplement program.
This grant supports long-term research programs, recognizing the creativity and innovation that drive discovery forward. Learn more about the recipients and their projects below.
Discovery Grant recipients
The NSERC Discovery Grants program supports ongoing programs of research with long-term goals rather than a single short-term project or collection of projects.
- Dr. Muhammad Abdul-Mageed, Department of Linguistics
Project: Efficient and methodic reasoning for transformative low-resource natural language processing
- Dr. Bryan Gick, Department of Linguistics
Project: Characterizing posture across communicative fine motor systems - Dr. Darko Odic, Department of Psychology
Project: Investigating the mechanisms and development of internal number perception - Dr. Daniela Palombo, Department of Psychology
Project: Emotional spillover: Exploring the retroactive effects of emotion on memory for predictive information - Dr. Camilla Speller, Department of Anthropology
Project: Documenting millennia of marine biodiversity and Indigenous stewardship through biomolecular archives
Discovery Launch Supplement recipient
Discovery Launch Supplements provide timely resources to support early career researchers as they establish a Discovery Grant-funded research program. The following project was awarded an additional Discovery Launch Supplement of $12,500.
- Dr. Tianjia Liu, Department of Geography
Project: Mapping and modeling wildfires and smoke under land management interventions and climate extremes
