New Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Buildings!
Congratulations to Pierre Blanchet on being awarded a new Canada Research Chair in Sustainable Buildings! The overall objective of the Chair’s research program is to position sustainable buildings as a tool of choice in the fight against climate change, for the well-being of Canadian residents and the Canadian economy.
Activities will be organized around three research themes, positioning buildings in relation to building-environment, building-human, and building-industry interactions.
Each year, the Canada Research Chairs program invests up to $311 million to attract and retain some of the world’s most talented and promising researchers. For more information, visit the Canada Research Chairs website at www.chairs-chaires.gc.ca.
Sources: Dix-neuf nouvelles chaires de recherche du Canada (ulaval.ca)
Pierre Blanchet is a full professor in the Department of Wood and Forest Sciences at Laval University, part of the Faculty of Forestry, Geography and Geomatics. As the holder of the NSERC Industrial Research Chair in Environmentally Responsible Wood Construction (CIRCERB), he acts as the hub of the group’s activities, a role that suits him since he defines himself as a generalist in the building industry, although his speciality is materials development. He also heads the Industrialized Construction Initiative, a collaboration between Laval University, Sherbrooke University and University of Quebec at Chicoutimi. He is also a director of the Centre interdisciplinaire de recherche en opérationnalisation du développement durable (CIRODD—Interdisciplinary Research Center on Sustainable Development Operationalization), and a member of the Renewable Materials Research Center (CRMR), CERMA, CERIEC and the EDS Institute at Laval University. He also sits on the ESB scientific committee and is a director of the Créneau Bois-Chaudière Appalaches (BOCA). As associate editor of the journals Coatings and Forests, he oversees submissions on bio-based construction materials. His innovative work with industrial partners earned him the NSERC 2022 Synergy Award for Innovation in the category of companies with more than two entities. He is one of the co-leaders of the project entitled «Platform for the development of sustainable bio-based materials in the circular economy», which recently received substantial funding of $3.4 million from the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).