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In September, Queen’s announced it had received an investment of $63.7 million from the Government of Canada’s Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF) to support the creation of the Canadian Particle Astrophysics Research Centre (CPARC).

The centre aims to strengthen partnerships between Queen’s and other Canadian universities, attract top talent, and build on Canada’s position as a leader in the field.

The new centre will be headquartered at Queen’s, with members located at seven affiliated Canadian universities and five affiliated research organizations. To support the centre’s continuing and future research and experiments, 41 positions for researchers, engineers, designers, and technicians will be created. In addition, positions for approximately 18 post-doctoral fellows and 40 graduate students will be created on an annual basis. Queen’s has already committed to adding seven new faculty members – including two Tier II Canada Research Chairs – in support of the centre and its research aims.

“Through this initiative we will develop new particle astrophysics detectors capable of probing the highest priority questions in physics today while integrating students, fostering greater international collaboration, engaging industry and cementing Canada’s place as the global leader in the field,” said Tony Noble, Interim Director of CPARC.

The funding will be used to establish CPARC as the world’s leading research group in the study of particle astrophysics. Through its new and existing partnerships, the centre will be involved in many of the world’s leading dark matter (PICO, NEWS, SuperCDMS, and DEAP-3600) and neutrino physics (SNO+) experiments. These partnerships will allow researchers to extract maximum scientific output from the current suite of SNOLAB experiments.

In addition to its primary research aims, the new centre will also provide additional opportunities for industry partnerships that will benefit, amongst others, the nuclear, mining and medical industries. It will also provide new opportunities to embed students at all stages of their careers in this scientific culture, developing skills and creating training opportunities through linkages to colleges, industries, and international programs.

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Objectives
- to expand on the scientific culture at Queen’s university and partner institutions by building a powerful team working on all aspects of particle astrophysics.
- to extract maximum scientific output from the current suite of SNOLAB experiments by strengthening the scientific resources at canadian universities and engaging the broader community in the undertaking.
- to create a research team with the ability to lead global-scale, next-generation experiments and attract international collaboration; and
- to create opportunities to embed students at all stages of their careers in this scientific culture, developing skills and creating training opportunities through linkages to colleges, industries, and international programs.