Guelph ON, – Two University of Guelph researchers have been named as winners of the 2024 Early Career Research Award. Dr. Ataharul Chowdhury was awarded $70,000 for his work in Getting Research into Practice (GRIP) and Dr. Sam Workenhe receives $40,000 to further his work in discovering and developing antiviral treatments for highly pathogenic livestock and poultry viruses.
The awards were announced at the Livestock Research Innovation Corporation (LRIC) annual symposium on June 20 in Elora. Now in its third year, the award is funded by LRIC, Grand River Agricultural Society (GRAS), Western Fair Association (WFA), Ontario Agricultural College and Ontario Veterinary College to encourage cross-sectoral and cross-disciplinary approaches to livestock research.
“The Early Career Research Award is designed to acknowledge the value of livestock research being conducted by young researchers on behalf of the livestock industry. It is a combined initiative by both LRIC and industry working together to encourage research results that will not only benefit production, animal health, and nutrition, but will also be disseminated widely to anyone who will use the results,” says Deborah Whale, First Vice President of the Grand River Agricultural Society and member of the project review committee. “The decision committee thanks all of the applicants. They represent the very best of those doing excellent research on behalf of the Canadian livestock sector, where constant improvement is the norm and indeed is necessary to maintain sustainability and competitiveness.”
Dr. Chowdhury’s research will focus on awareness, collaboration and knowledge mobilization of innovative ideas related to livestock, agri-food and climate change misinformation. He will also focus on the emerging role of generative artificial intelligence in GRIP. A new platform will present livestock research information in actionable formats including videos, plain language summaries, blogs and more.