Awards & Distinctions | 2025

Western Research Awards

Western Research Excellence Awards

The Western Research Excellence Awards celebrate Western faculty members at all career stages for exceptional achievements in research, scholarship and/or creative activity.

Outstanding Emerging Scholar

• Emma Duerden (Faculty of Education)
• Ryan Liss (Faculty of Law)

Outstanding Scholar

• Isha DeCoito (Faculty of Education)
• Arghya Paul (Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Science)

Outstanding Lifetime Achievement

• Jing Jiang (Faculty of Engineering)
• Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw (Faculty of Education)

Western Research Chairs

Western Research Chairs support networking and relationship building in Canada and globally, including with the business community and with other non-academic stakeholder communities.

• Dan Lizotte (Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry, Faculty of Science), Leadership Chair
• Shawn Whitehead (Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry), Leadership Chair

Wolfe-Western Fellowship

One Wolfe-Western Fellowship is awarded every five years to support exceptional scholars in the first year of their first Western appointment who demonstrates outstanding leadership and potential within their area(s) of research.

• David Seminowicz (Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry)

Federal Awards & Distinctions

Canada Research Chairs

The Canada Research Chairs Program attracts and retains some of the world’s most accomplished and promising minds. Chairholders aim to achieve research excellence in engineering and the natural sciences, health sciences, humanities, and social sciences.

New Canada Research Chairs

• Jackson Leween, Two Bears | Tékeniyáhsen Ohkwá:ri (Faculty of Arts & Humanities), Tier 1 CRC in Indigenous Arts Research and Technology
  
• Kirsty Robertson (Faculty of Arts & Humanities), Tier 1 CRC in Museums, Art, and Sustainability
  

Renewed Canada Research Chairs

• David Armstrong (Faculty of Social Science), Renewed Tier 2 CRC in Political Methodology
  
• Trevor Birmingham (Faculty of Health Sciences), Renewed Tier 1 CRC in Musculoskeletal Rehabilitation
  
• Mikko Karttunen (Faculty of Science), Renewed Tier 1 CRC in Computational Materials and Biomaterials Science
  
• Ali Khan (Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry), Renewed Tier 2 CRC in in Computational Neuroimaging
• Shun-Cheng (Shawn) Li (Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry), Renewed Tier 1 CRC in Molecular and Epigenetic Basis of Cancer
• Lance Lochner (Faculty of Social Science), Renewed Tier 1 CRC in Human Capital and Inequality
• Chantelle Richmond (Faculty of Social Science), Renewed Tier 2 CRC in Indigenous Health and the Environment

Dorothy Killam Fellowship

The Dorothy Killam Fellowships provide support to scholars of exceptional ability by granting them time to pursue research projects of broad significance and widespread interest

• Ryan Stevenson (Faculty of Social Science)

Ontario Early Researcher Awards

The goal of the program is to improve Ontario’s ability to attract and retain the best and brightest research talent and is open to researchers in all disciplines.

• Lindsay Bodell (Faculty of Social Science)
• Marcus Drover (Faculty of  Science)
• Emma Duerden (Faculty of Education)
• Yolanda Hedberg (Faculty of Science)
• Jibran Khokhar (Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry)
• Daniel Langohr (Faculty of Engineering)
• Carrie Anne Marshall (Faculty of Health Sciences)
• Mohammad Reza Najafi (Faculty of Engineering)
• Eva Pila (Faculty of Health Sciences)
• Taylor Schmitz (Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry)

Governor General Awards

Innovation Award

The Innovation Award honours individuals that have developed new or better ways of creating value and are improving our collective lives.

• Ed Eastaugh (Faculty of Social Science)
• Lisa Hodgetts (Faculty of Social Science)

Royal Society of Canada

Fellows

Election to Fellowship in The Royal Society of Canada, Canada’s national academy, is the highest honour attained by Canadian scholars, researchers, and artists. Fellows are peer-elected as the best in their field, and thus represent the pinnacle of Canadian intellectual leadership.

• Richard Kim (Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry)
• Gordon Osinski (Faculty of Science)

College of New Scholars, Artists and Scientists

The members of the College are Canadians and Permanent Residents who, are less than fifteen years from the date of PhD or disciplinary equivalent and who have demonstrated exceptional accomplishment.

• Emma Duerden (Faculty of Education)

International Awards & Distinctions

Ryman Prize

The Ryman Prize awards the world’s best discovery, development, advancement or achievement that enhances quality of life for older people.

• Vladimir Hachinski (Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry)

The Royal Society

The Royal Society is the independent scientific academy of the United Kingdom, dedicated to promoting excellence in science for the benefit of humanity.

• Adrian Owen (Faculty of Social Science), Foreign Fellow

CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars

The CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars program develops highly talented junior faculty into influential research leaders who shape the direction of boundary-pushing research.

• Luke Stark (Faculty of Information and Media Studies)

Discipline-Specific Fellowships

• Robyn Klein (Shulich School of Medicine & Dentistry), American Association for the Advancement of Science
• Maike Luiken (Faculty of Engineering), Canadian Academy of Engineering
• Kibret Mequanint (Faculty of Engineering), European Alliance for Innovation, AI Industry Alliance
• Manuel Montero-Odasso (Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry), Canadian Academy of Health Sciences
• Joshua Pearce (Faculty of Engineering), Canadian Academy of Engineering
• Abdallah Shami (Faculty of Engineering), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers
• Anthony Straatman (Faculty of Engineering), Canadian Academy of Engineering
• Rajiv Varma (Faculty of Engineering), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers

Discipline-Specific Awards & Distinctions

• Lindsay Bell (Faculty of Social Science), Canadian Anthropology Society | Labrecque-Lee Book Prize
• Eileen Crowley (Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry), Crohn’s and Colitis Canada | Rising Star Award
  
• Jimmy Dikeakos (Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry), Canadian Society for Virology | Grandvau-McCormick Award
• Jury Gualandris (Ivey School of Business), Clean50 | Clean16
• Yolanda Hedberg (Faculty of Science), Chemical Institute of Canada | Fred Beamish Award for Research Innovation in Analytical Chemistry
• Rachel Heydon (Faculty of Education), UK Literacy Assocation | Wiley Research in Literacy Education Award, Canadian Society for the Study of Education | Ted T. Aoki Award for Distinguished Service within the Field of Canadian Curriculum Studies
  
• Daniel Keir (Faculty of Health Sciences), Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada | Young Investigator Award
• Jibran Khokhar (Schulich School of Medicine & Dentistry), The College on Problems of Drug Dependence | Joseph Cochin Young Investigator Award, Canadian College of Neuropsychopharmacology | Young Investigator Award
• Gregory Kopp (Faculty of Engineering), Ontario Society of Professional Engineers | Engineering Medal for Research & Development
• Gabrielle Lee (Faculty of Education), Ontario Association for Behaviour Analysis | Research Award
• Veronica Pacini-Ketchabaw (Faculty of Education), American Educational Research Association | Critical Perspectives in Early Childhood Education SIG Distinguished Career Contribution Award, Reconceptualizing Early Childhood Education | The Bloch Distinguished Career Award
• Arghya Paul (Faculty of Engineering, Faculty of Science) Chemical Institute of Canada | X-Chem Research Excellence Award
• Abdallah Shami (Faculty of Engineering), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers | R.H. Tanner Industry Leadership Award
  
• Julie Theurer (Faculty of Health Sciences), London Health Sciences Centre | Academic Realignment Initiative Awards - Advanced Practice Fellowship
• Min Xia (Faculty of Engineering), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Instrumentation and Measurement Society | Outstanding Young Engineer Award