UNB Research

A message from Dr. David MaGee, vice president research:

It’s hard to believe it’s already autumn, let alone that we’re now onto our fourth UNB Research Celebration Week.

While 2025 seems to be racing by, this week is one that I’ve been looking forward to. Every year, we have so much to celebrate and highlight from our research community.

This year, I’m especially proud to highlight milestone anniversaries for two of our high-impact research institutes.

Ten years ago, we established the New Brunswick Institute for Research, Data and Training. This institute was started to bring together some of our leading data scientists, in partnership with our provincial government partners. It was created to leverage provincial administrative data holdings in support of a better understanding of our province, and to use this data to build better policies and programs for its people.

This year, we unveiled a new identity for this institute to better reflect its role and activity; it’s now known as Data NB.

Sixty years ago, UNB established its leadership in a very different field. In 1965, the Institute for Biomedical Engineering was created; at that time, it was known as the Bioengineering Institute, and its researchers were involved in the first all-Canadian myoelectric upper limb fitting for a child.

Now, more than half a century later, this institute’s team has maintained a leading role not only in scientific research, but in contributing to helping people live their lives to the fullest through its Atlantic Upper Limb Clinic. I invite you to visit them during their open house and discover the innovative work going on.

We also welcomed fifteen new researchers to UNB this past academic year, some of whom will be sharing their research programs at our two early career researcher events this week. I can’t wait to see what they accomplish in the years to come.

From researchers at the very beginnings of their careers to well-established institute and centre teams, we have so many people deserving of celebration in our research community.

This year, as we mark the tenth anniversary of the TRC Final Report and 94 Calls to Action, I’m especially excited to host an event showcasing Indigenous student researchers at UNB. We know that there is still much work to be done in achieving our goals, as a university and as a society, but we also know that all progress merits celebration, and that our research community is made better when diverse knowledges and perspectives can thrive within it.

One of the wonderful things about our research community is how active it is in a wide range of topics. That diversity can make it difficult to choose particular themes to highlight. However, this year, we are proud to be featuring an event that brings together some of the work happening in an area that affects all of us: human health and wellbeing.

I would also invite you to take part in the wide variety of events organized by our faculties, departments, centres and institutes. With over a dozen such events taking place during the week, they give a taste of that wonderful breadth of work I mentioned.

While this year’s Research Celebration Week ends on Friday, I’d also encourage you to make its intent and spirit part of every week: we have so much to be proud of in research at UNB, and so much that merits recognition and celebration. Find opportunities to learn about the work and accomplishments of colleagues, professors, fellows, students and staff. And, don’t just learn the ‘what;’ learn why it excites them, why it matters, and how they got there.

Then, share that curiosity and passion with others. Tell your family, your friends, your neighbours, about your own work, or the work of others. Help them understand why it matters, to your field, in our lives, and for the world.

Together, let’s keep working on building up a culture of research in our institution, our province, and around the globe.

Related Pages: Research Celebration Week