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Several 91��ܽ research projects that are tackling climate change and making an impact in communities have been given a boost through a first-ever round of dedicated seed funding from SFU.

SFU Climate Innovation’s advisory group, comprised of research and community representatives, has selected 11 projects to receive more than $100,000 in funding to advance community-centred climate research and innovation.

Projects selected include work underway that delves into many important climate-related issues, such as heat resilience among older adults, community-scale sustainable agriculture, using AI to advance climate action and co-designing hydrogen energy systems in remote communities.

“SFU has a strong foundation in collaboration among researchers and with community partners,” says Alison Shaw, executive director of SFU Climate Innovation. “These new seed funds are part of the way we are strengthening this reputation and catalyzing research-for-impact with and for communities.”

SFU Climate Innovation was created to advance an SFU strategic research priority: community-centred climate innovation. An innovative research-for-impact platform is bringing university supports and service to support interdisciplinary collaboration, co-creation research with community partners, and mobilize knowledge and scale up climate action and innovation solutions with and for communities.

The first round of funding is split into three categories.

Three “Catalyst” grants were awarded to interdisciplinary teams co-designing research-for-impact with community partners.

Five “Pollinator” awards support graduate students working with faculty across disciplines and doing community-centred work.

And, finally, three “Amplification” grants have been awarded funds for transdisciplinary research collaborations ready to move toward higher-impact funding proposals. One of these grants was co-funded by the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences Breaking Barriers Fund, helping to pool resources for high-impact climate action and innovation research.

“This is our first year distributing these seed funds,” says Shaw. “We’re thrilled to support these projects and are excited to see how our unique transdisciplinary model is getting attention from researchers, staff, students, partners and funders. This model is about orienting and moving the universities capacities toward impact with and for communities.” 

In addition to financial support, the successful projects will receive in-kind training and service supports from 12 collaborating units across the university, ranging from grant writing to co-creation research facilitation, knowledge mobilization and partnerships support, to training in community-engaged research methods. The goal is to provide the additional support needed for researchers to collaborate across disciplines and to meaningfully engage with community-centred partners.

The SFU Climate Innovation seed funds are creating innovative pathways for skill development among an emerging cohort of systems thinkers, interdisciplinary communicators, and community-engaged collaborators.

This work aims to use climate action as a way to promote the university’s longstanding commitment to advancing the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goals.

The Times Higher Education’s 2025 Impact Rankings ranks SFU as top 5 in Canada on Affordable and Clean Energy (2), Sustainable Cities and Communities (3), Climate Action (3), Peace, Justice and Strong Institutions (4), and Industry, Innovation and Infrastructure (5).

91��ܽ also ranked as Canada's #1 innovative university by the .

Learn more about each award recipient here.