Canada Excellence Research Chair for Critical Innovations to Strengthen Canadian Technology Sovereignty (Professor)

Reference: 25-PR-1
Duration: This is a tenure-track position
Location : Montréal, Québec
Deadline date: June 22, 2025 no later than 5:00 p.m. ET

WORK ENVIRONMENT
Polytechnique Montréal is an internationally recognized engineering university. Located in the heart of Montréal on Mount Royal, it is renowned for the high quality of the training offered at all levels, and for its multidisciplinary and multisectoral research, at the forefront of the local, national and international engineering.

Proud of its 150 years of history, it now welcomes more than 10,000 students and relies on the expertise of nearly 1,600 staff members with diverse skills, including more than 300 professors.

Polytechnique has been certified Gold by STARS (Sustainability Tracking, Assessment & Rating System). Polytechnique is known for its innovative approach, and its active role in technological, economic, and social development. It values the diversity of its employees and adheres to an equal employment opportunity program for women, visible and ethnic minorities, Indigenous people and those with disabilities. Having received the Parity Certification from Women in Governance, it offers excellent working conditions, focusing on work-life balance and the well-being of its employees. Adaptive measures are available upon request from persons with disabilities or in other circumstances. Candidates requiring adaptive measures are invited to contact Mrs Maria-Gracia Girardi, the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Advisor by e-mailing [email protected]

Canada Excellence Research Chairs
The Canada Excellence Research Chairs (CERC) Program is the most prestigious program of research chairs in the country. Its aim is to attract top-tier researchers from around the world who are international leaders in their fields and whose work is likely to produce social and economic benefits for Canadians. The chosen candidate will be invited to submit a grant request as part of the CERC competition, with an award value of up to $1 million per year over eight years (non-renewable).

The objectives of the CERC Program are to:

• strengthen Canada's ability to attract the world's top researchers, in order to be at the leading edge of breakthroughs in science, technology and innovation (ST&I) priority areas expected to generate social and economic benefits for Canadians;
• help Canada build a critical mass of expertise in ST&I priority areas identified by the Government of Canada;
• create a competitive environment to help Canadian institutions, in their pursuit of excellence in their research, attract a cadre of world-leading researchers; and
• contribute to branding Canada as a location of choice for world-leading research, science and technology development, alongside other federal programs with similar objectives.

For more information about this initiative, please visit the Canada Excellence Research Chairs Program website here

Research areas
A protectionist agenda is jeopardizing global free trade and undermining Canada's autonomy. The country's manufacturing sector and various supply chains, in particular, are tightly integrated with those of other countries. To help enhance Canada's resilience, durability, environmental stewardship and national security, Polytechnique Montréal is seeking exceptional candidates whose work targets development and adoption of technologies critical to the strengthening of Canada's sovereignty and autonomy.

The proposed research program must address one of the three themes below, which are particularly enabling for the country, given its extensive territory and Nordic climate. Polytechnique expects the research work to be carried out in co-construction with the communities established in the territory, while respecting the values and needs of these communities, and to generate both short- and long-term strategic benefits for Canada in areas linked to at least one of the themes. The advances achieved may also be transferable to Arctic and space-based contexts. This proposal is in keeping with Polytechnique's 2024–2028 Strategic Plan as well as the federal government's science, technology and innovation priorities.

Polytechnique Montréal will constitute a "strategic cluster" of research chairs, including this CERC, aimed at contributing to Canada's prosperity, autonomy, security and resource development. The cluster will encompass the three themes:

• Living on lands
• Health, including in remote and isolated areas;
• Food, water and air supply;
• Housing and infrastructure resilience in extreme environments;
• Energy supply, storage and management (e.g., nuclear, solar).
• Watching over lands
• Advanced materials and sensing, including land- and satellite-based remote sensing;
• Communication technologies, including satellite-based;
• Artificial intelligence and cybersecurity;
• Stealth sea and air mobility.
• Developing lands
• Transport in extreme environments, including robotics and self-driving vehicles;
• Mining exploration and operation, critical minerals, geomechanics, geophysics, geometallurgy;
• In situ resource utilization;
• Waste minimization, including reduction at source and circularity.

The chosen candidate will be given the opportunity to name the Chair according to the nature of their activities.

The CERC held by the chosen candidate will be part of a dynamic environment comprising, among others:

• IVADO (research, training and knowledge mobilization consortium in artificial intelligence);
• Trottier Energy Institute (IET);
• Multidisciplinary Institute for Cybersecurity and Cyber Resilience (IMC2);
• Institute for Disruptive Innovations (catalyst for innovation in the high-technology field);
• TransMedTech Institute (transdisciplinary institute for development of novel medical technologies for the healthcare system);
• Astrolith (transdisciplinary research unit for space resource and infrastructure engineering);
• Centre d'études interuniversitaire des structures sous charges extrêmes (CEISCE, strategic research cluster dedicated to safety of civil engineering structures);
• Northern Engineering Centre (CINEP);
• Clean Technology Innovation Centre (CITP);
• Centre for Characterization and Microscopy of Materials ((CM)2);
• Poly-Grames Research Centre (centre of excellence in radio frequency, microwave, millimetre-wave and microwave photonics science and engineering);
• Centre for Applied Research on High-Performance Polymers and Composites à (CREPEC);
• Research, Development and Validation Centre for Water Treatment Technologies and Processes (CREDEAU);
• Interuniversity Research Centre on Enterprise Networks, Logistics and Transportation (CIRRELT);
• Thin-Film Physics and Technology Research Group (GCM);
• RAMP-UP biomanufacturing initiative.

Primary responsibilities
The successful candidate will carry out the responsibilities of this position with dynamism and creativity. Among other duties, they will:

• Exercise leadership in the targeted areas, establishing and maintaining collaborations with other research groups at Polytechnique and at other institutions;
• Carry out innovative, high-quality research projects in their field of expertise;
• Obtain complementary external funding to support research and innovation in their field and to train highly qualified personnel;
• Supervise undergraduate and graduate students, providing coaching and training for their research projects;
• Publish the scientific results of their research;
• Commit to integrating equity, diversity and inclusion into their team and their research design, once awarded the CERC;
• Actively contribute to the teaching and research activities of the department to which they are assigned;
• Contribute to enhancing Polytechnique Montréal's visibility and influence in Québec and internationally.

CERC program requirements
Candidates must:

• Be full professors or associate professors expected to be promoted to full professor within one or two years of the nomination;
• Possess the qualifications necessary to be appointed at these levels if they come from outside the academic sector;
• If they are from an Indigenous community (First Nations, Inuit or Métis), have a record of achievement at the community, regional, national or international level.

Profile sought by Polytechnique
Candidates must:

• Hold a PhD in engineering or equivalent in a relevant field. Polytechnique requires that the chairholder hold a doctoral degree. This requirement comes from our institution and not from the Program;
• Have achieved world-class recognition in their field and have made remarkable contributions likely to have a significant societal impact (depending on career stage);
• Have a research record demonstrating superior ability to fund research through external sources to supervise graduate students;
• Be capable of building a diverse and high-quality research team that will significantly contribute to Polytechnique Montréal's reputation in the field;
• Demonstrate leadership that has helped establish collaborations and transformative initiatives;
• Demonstrate ability to attract and mentor a diverse group of students, trainees and research staff, and create an equitable and inclusive research environment;
• Commit to integrating equity, diversity and inclusion into their team and research design;
• Demonstrate a strong commitment to and skills in teaching, if possible supported by teaching evaluations.
• Polytechnique Montréal will provide the candidate with the necessary assistance and support to be registered on the roll of the Ordre des ingénieurs du Québec (OIQ) and to learn French.

Institution's commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion
In accordance with its recruitment policies, and in particular its "Equal Access and Employment Equity Program," Polytechnique Montréal is committed to fostering excellence in research and research training and to guaranteeing equal opportunities for all candidates.

Further to its commitment to equity, diversity and inclusion, Polytechnique Montréal encourages The university encourages applications for this CERC from persons who belong to under-represented or equity-seeking groups, including Indigenous Peoples, women, racialized persons, persons with disabilities, and persons who identify as sexually or gender-diverse.

Polytechnique Montréal also recognizes that career slowdowns or interruptions are part of the trajectory of many people in the research ecosystem. Where appropriate, candidates may explain any leave or special circumstances (e.g., maternity leave, parental leave, caregiving for family members, community responsibilities, situations of disability, health problems or prolonged disability immigration procedures, or repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic) that have had an impact on their performance or career trajectory so that they can be fairly considered in the evaluation process. Candidates are under no obligation to provide details about their personal life or other information that they consider confidential.

As a signatory to the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment (DORA), Polytechnique is committed to adopting exemplary practices to ensure fair, transparent and thorough evaluation of the merit and excellence of researchers' scientific work, based on the quality, importance or impact of their contributions as a whole.

Advantages of working at Polytechnique Montréal
This is a tenure-track position.

Salary and benefits will be determined in accordance with the collective agreement (text in French). It provides for, among other things:

• Provisions for work-family balance, such as maternity, paternity and adoption leave, in addition to the Québec Parental Insurance Plan;
• The possibility of benefiting from paid respite periods;
• A defined-benefits pension plan.
• In addition, relocation and immigration support is available to the successful candidate and their family.

To learn more about Polytechnique Montréal and the benefits of contributing to its mission, please see: Avantages et milieu de vie (in French).

How to apply
Interested candidates are urged to submit their application package via e-mail to the Office of the Vice-President of Research and Innovation no later than 5:00 p.m. ET on June 22, 2025.

The package must include:

• A cover letter stating, among other things, the candidate's suitability for the field targeted by this CERC;
• A detailed curriculum vitae, outlining the candidate's leadership and significant achievements, as well as the concrete impact of their work;
• A description of the research objectives and program planned for the CERC (maximum 5 pages or 3,000 words) including among other things a summary of the research proposal (maximum 200 words), the main thrusts of the research in relation to previous work, the targeted objectives aimed at, an overview of the methodology, the expected impact of the research (spin-offs, synergies), and the contribution to the training of highly qualified personnel;
• Two reference letters from recognized international authorities in the candidate's research field.
• Successful candidates will be required to prepare an application package to be submitted to the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat (TIPS) no later than March 18, 2026.

Conditional upon the award of a CERC by the Program, candidates will be integrated into a faculty position, in accordance with hiring procedures in effect at Polytechnique Montréal. Selected candidates will have up to 12 months to take office as CERC chair after the notice of award and acceptance has been signed by all parties, and to join the Polytechnique faculty.

For more information and questions, please contact the Office of the Vice-President of Research and Innovation.

The Program imposes no restrictions on candidates with regard to nationality or country of residence. Employment and Social Development Canada and Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada have established procedures to allow non-Canadian chairholders to work in Canada. Please refer to the Global Skills Strategy process and the information about the dedicated service channel, where the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) – Tri-Agency Institutional Programs Secretariat (TIPS) is identified as a referral partner.

Please apply online at: https://rita.cegid.cloud/go/6834afd34450a0d200570112/5f05de2c4530fa4f205ff753/en