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WAFAR-Funded Projects
WAFAR-Funded Projects
WAFAR-Funded Projects
WAFAR was created to spark collaboration, and bring brilliant minds together across disciplines to tackle the complex questions that shape our world. In five years, that spark has become a catalyst: five major research initiatives, dozens of partnerships, and new research solutions with global reach.
Mathematics of Neural Networks
The Mathematics of Neural Networks project delivered several landmark achievements in both artificial and biological intelligence. The team developed explainable AI tools that make it possible to observe and understand how artificial neural networks function, alongside a new AI-guided method to interrupt and stop epileptic seizures. A comprehensive understanding of how biological neural networks store memory was also established, creating new opportunities for disease intervention, and world-leading stem cell research was advanced to close the knowledge gap between AI-based and biological memory systems.
Climate-Resilient Infrastructure and Buildings
The Climate-Resilient Infrastructure and Buildings project produced a range of lasting initiatives and resources to help communities prepare for the effects of climate change. The team launched the Community and Infrastructure Resilience to Climate-geological Long-term Effects (CIRCLE) initiative, with centres in the UK, Indonesia, Cuba, and Canada, and established a Centre for Multi-hazard Risk and Resilience alongside the Canadian Severe Storms Lab. Working in partnership with the Cities of Calgary and Edmonton, the project developed "Climate Ready Homes" incentive programs, and created new building code models to support the construction of weather- and climate-resilient buildings.
Nature-Inspired Solutions for Carbon Transformation
The Nature-Inspired Solutions for Carbon Transformation project made significant strides in developing sustainable, circular approaches to carbon management. The team advanced more sustainable ways of producing biochar, a carbon-rich material made from agricultural and forestry waste, and found new uses for it in carbon capture and storage, soil enhancement, wastewater treatment, and catalysts for sustainable fuel production. Visiting Fellows from Italy and France brought new expertise and lasting international collaborations. The International Carbon Solutions Consortium was established to carry this work forward on a global scale.
Smart Cities and Communities
The Smart Cities and Communities project made important contributions in advancing data-driven technologies for urban environments while safeguarding privacy and citizens' rights. The team created a state-of-the-art data-to-decision tool to shape the future of cities, discovered new self-automation and sensing technologies for urban settings, and developed a nationally recognized, community-informed blueprint for ethical, technology-driven Smart Cities. The project also helped establish a Smart City Engineering undergraduate program with partners across industry, government, engineering, ethics, information studies and law, and built key partnerships with the City of London, the Ministry of Transportation, Conservation Authorities, the Canada Masonry Design Centre and industry to carry this work into communities.
Possibilities for Peace
The Possibilities for Peace project broke new ground in examining how the international legal system can respond to modern war and conflict. The team created policies to guide government responses to conflict and published new findings on the role of technology, human rights and climate change in peace and war. The project also started an academic–ambassadorial exchange that brought scholars together with retired Canadian ambassadors, building a global conversation among academics, artists, policy-makers and diplomats on securing peace today.
Arctic Sovereignty
WAFAR's inaugural IGNITE Summer Internship Program explored global questions of Arctic governance, geopolitics, Indigenous rights, climate change and security. Over 14 weeks, six Western undergraduates carried out independent, faculty-mentored research across disciplines, with the aim of developing future research leaders and sharing their findings beyond the university.
All Past Projects
