Founding Director

Dr. Fred J. Longstaffe

Fred J. Longstaffe, a Distinguished University Professor at Western University and former Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Stable Isotope Science, was the founding Director of the Western Academy for Advanced Research (WAFAR). He led the Academy from its establishment in 2021 until December 2024.

A Vision for WAFAR

Drawing inspiration from institutes for advanced study such as CIFAR and UBC’s Peter Wall Institute for Advanced Studies, Fred envisioned a pan-university academy that would seek solutions to major issues facing humanity through a period of focused enquiry. His vision brought together Western researchers, Visiting Fellows and postdoctoral scholars from around the world to work on themes of broad public significance. He placed strong emphasis on public engagement and the accessible sharing of ideas, and on equity, diversity and inclusion as hallmarks of every theme.

Under Fred’s leadership, WAFAR grew into an international and interdisciplinary community that combines the full spectrum of ideas and experience at Western with those from around the world.

An Interdisciplinary Perspective

Fred is a former representative of Canada to, and Chair of, the NATO Advisory Panel for Advanced Study Institutes. His work on interdisciplinary grant selection panels for NATO, NSERC, the Banting Postdoctoral Fellowships program and the European Research Council showed him the power of integrating scholarship from across the arts and humanities, social sciences, sciences, engineering and medicine. That insight helped shape WAFAR’s founding vision.

Career and Honours

A graduate of the University of Windsor and McMaster University, Fred was a faculty member at the University of Alberta before coming to Western. In addition to his teaching and research, he served as founding Chair of the Department of Earth Sciences, Dean of Science, and Provost & Vice-President (Academic).

Fred is a member of Western’s Department of Earth Sciences and serves as Director of the multidisciplinary Laboratory for Stable Isotope Science. He is cross-appointed to the Departments of Anthropology, Biology and Geography.

Fred was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada in 1997 and was appointed a Member of the Order of Canada in December 2022.

Research

Fred’s research uses the light stable isotope ratios of oxygen, hydrogen, carbon and nitrogen to understand the connections among Earth’s lithosphere, biosphere, hydrosphere and atmosphere, and how they control the state of the Earth system.

With colleagues in biology and geography, he applies stable isotope tools to understand present and past environmental and ecological change. With colleagues in anthropology, he uses stable isotope techniques to study the residential patterns, diets and social structures of ancient societies, as well as the social, economic, political and climate drivers of change in those times.