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Queen’s University, a member of the U15, is one of Canada’s leading research-intensive universities. Through leadership of the McDonald Institute, Queen’s is creating an environment that will enable Canadian scientists to ensure their continued and enhanced pre-eminence in astroparticle physics by leading the science and technology developments that will be required for the next generation of world-leading experiments. In addition to being awarded the CFREF funding that made the Institute possible, Queen’s is the physical host of the McDonald Institute and its Scientific Director, Dr. Tony Noble, has been a professor at Queen’s since 2002. Queen’s is also the academic home to the McDonald Institute’s namesake, Dr. Arthur B. McDonald, who received the 2015 Nobel Prize in Physics and the 2016 Breakthrough Prize for the discoveries of the SNO experiment. The university has a long history of being at the forefront of astroparticle physics in Canada as a partner in SNO and SNOLAB and is also the home to Dr. Gilles Gerbier, Canada Research Excellence Chair in Particle Astrophysics.

Canada is well positioned to lead in the global effort to advance research in physics. Through the McDonald Institute, Queen’s will bring together its multidisciplinary expertise in engineering, analytical chemistry, geochemistry and isotope analysis with its strong history in astroparticle physics. By building a network of expertise across the campus, the Institute will also be able to tap into the resources and connections to enable further development. Of the fifteen new faculty positions funded through the CFREF award, seven will be based at Queen’s. The areas identified for new faculty reflect the multi-disciplinary nature of the McDonald Institute; to date, faculty have been hired in the departments of physics, engineering, geology, and chemistry to meet the uniquely diverse needs of currents and next-generation astroparticle physics experiments.


Queen’s University is situated on the territory of the Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabek. Read more