The Azrieli Foundation has made a landmark donation of $10 million to the Canadian Institute for Advanced Research (CIFAR).
The gift, which CIFAR president and CEO Alan Bernstein called “transformative,” is the largest the Toronto-based research organization has received from a donor to date.
The $10 million will fund advanced research at CIFAR, which operates global research programs across disciplines, including genetics, neuroscience, economics and quantum physics.
The money will go toward two specific programs at CIFAR: the Azrieli Program in Brain, Mind and Consciousness and the CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars program.
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Naomi Azrieli, chair and CEO of the foundation established by her late father, Canadian-Israeli real estate mogul and philanthropist David Azrieli, said the Azrieli Foundation regards CIFAR as “visionary” and as “a really good match for us.”
She added: “They do this thing other institutions don’t, which is look at high-risk, high-reward research.”
Azrieli said the foundation, which supports a range of initiatives and programs in areas including education, scientific and medical research, architecture and the arts, sees brain research as “the final frontier of science” and believes CIFAR is addressing crucial questions related to brain development, brain disorders and consciousness in unique ways.
“CIFAR is asking really fundamental questions in science and other areas, while at the same time looking at solutions for improving the world. They don’t lose sight of how these questions [and solutions] could improve people’s lives – that’s not as common as you might think in the research world,” Azrieli said.
CIFAR runs 14 interdisciplinary research programs and has about 350 affiliate researchers under its umbrella at institutions in close to 20 countries worldwide, including Israel.
Bernstein briefly explained the programs that will be funded by the gift. The Azrieli Program in Brain, Mind and Consciousness has existed for just over a year and brings together a team of interdisciplinary researchers and scholars from Canada, the Untied States, the United Kingdom and Australia to explore the biological basis of human consciousness and its role in brain function and disorders.
“[The program] addresses connections between brain and mind and how it is humans have consciousness – whatever consciousness is, we don’t really know… – what it is and whether it’s unique to humans,” Bernstein said, adding, “It’s a typical CIFAR program, in that we bring together scientists and scholars – neuroscientists, psychologists, psychiatrists, philosophers and other disciplines are represented.”
Program participants meet several times a year to discuss complex issues and work to build collaboration, part of the purpose being to “creat[e] a global community of scholars,” Bernstein said.
The second program, the CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholars program, will provide funding and support to early-career researchers and scholars to build their research networks and develop skills.
Bernstein said the program will identify about 30 promising young scholars from around the world whose research interests align with one of CIFAR’s 14 programs and connect them to a program that fits their focus. They will have the opportunity to attend meetings with the scholars in each program, mentored by top researchers in their field and receive $100,000 for their research.
“Young people are key to driving progress in science, at yet, it’s never been harder in Canada, the U.S. or Israel for young people to get started in their careers, because money is so tight,” Bernstein said.
He emphasized that CIFAR’s particular interests in neuroscience and investing in kick-starting the careers of young scientists is aligned with the Azrieli Foundation’s values.
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“No other organization on the planet does what we can do, which is bringing together [by creating] international networks the very best people in the world… nobody else is bringing together the diversity of perspectives that CIFAR is… I think the Azrieli Foundation understands the importance of coming together to talk and collaborate, and that young people are the future,” Bernstein said.
Both programs will run for five years, at which point they’ll be reviewed.
The donation was formally announced at a reception held at Koerner Hall June 9.