UPEI pursues research excellence across a range of disciplines, including a cluster of five existing signature areas of research (Humanity, Justice, and Organizations; Environmental Stewardship; Healthy Communities; Healthy Animals; and Sustainable Development) as well as new emerging priority areas (Bioscience; Island Studies; Data Science; and One Health). The University is committed to the development of new resources in these areas, while supporting UPEI's existing research chairs who are contributing to transdisciplinary research in human, animal, and environmental health. 

Tier 2 Canada Research Chairs 

Dr. Jay Penney, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Biomedical Genetics

Research expertise: stem cell models to understand the roles of microglia in Parkinson’s disease

Visit Dr. Penney's research website

Dr. Josh MacFadyen, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Geospatial Humanities
 

Research expertise: digital approaches to environmental history, examining significant social-ecological transitions in Canadian agriculture; digital history and geospatial analysis of case study areas in the Maritime, Eastern Great Lakes, and Prairie regions

Visit Dr. MacFadyen's GeoREACH project website

Dr. Caroline Ritter, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Social Epidemiology for Healthy Animals
 

Research expertise: combining social science, veterinary epidemiology, and animal welfare research to bring forth new advancements in animal care best practice

Visit Dr. Ritter's Veterinary Epidemiology and Social Science for Animals (VESSA) website

Dr. Sara Sadri, Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Remote Sensing and Water Security
 

Research expertise: using data science to find sustainable and affordable solutions to increasing regional and global water security and food security demands

Visit Dr. Sadri's research website

Endowed and Sponsored Research Chairs 

Dr. Desiree Seib, Jeanne and J.-Louis Lévesque Research Chair in Human Health
 

Research expertise: impact of neurogenesis on behaviour, to identify mechanisms how neurogenesis can be manipulated to create new treatments for depression and other neurological disorders

Visit Dr. Seib's research website 

Dr. William Montelpare, Margaret and Wallace McCain Chair in Human Development and Health
 

Research expertise: epigenetics, climate change effects, and lifestyle effects on human development and health

Visit the UPEI Health Research website 

Dr. Jean Mitchell, UNESCO Chair in Island Studies and Sustainability
 

Research expertise: small islands’ sustainability across the intersecting socio-economic, cultural, aesthetic, and environmental domains; lives and livelihoods in “at risk” Island environments in a climate-changed world; intersections of local, traditional, and scientific knowledge in climate change adaptation; intersections of climate change and social change in local communities

Visit the UNESCO Chair in Island Studies and Sustainability website

Dr. Michael Cockram, Chair in Animal Welfare (Sir James Dunn Animal Welfare Centre)
 

Research expertise: animal welfare issues during transport, welfare assessment, and the effects of management practices on animal welfare

Visit the Sir James Dunn Animal Wefare Centre website 

Dr. Kate Scarth, Chair of L.M. Montgomery Studies, and Applied Communication, Leadership, and Culture
 

Research expertise: English and Canadian literature (eighteenth to the early twentieth century) particularly fiction about urbanism and the environment.

Visit the Lucy Maud Montgomery Institute website 

Dr. Senthilkumar Thiruppathi, Industry Research Chair in Sustainable Food Automation
 

Research expertise: sustainable food automation, including the use of near-infrared hyperspectral imaging for detecting fungal infections and mycotoxin contamination in agricultural products