Winnipeg, Manitoba
Research Manitoba is investing $2,969,045 through its Strategic Partnerships Program for the 2025-2026 fiscal year, supporting collaborative research initiatives that address provincial priorities, strengthen Manitoba’s research ecosystem, and foster partnerships across sectors.
The Strategic Partnerships Program is designed to catalyze research collaborations that bring together researchers, industry, government, health-care organizations, community organizations, philanthropic partners, and the non-profit sector. Through strategic investments and leveraged partnerships, the program supports initiatives that advance knowledge, address complex challenges, build research capacity, and create benefits for Manitobans.
Strategic Partnerships consists of three streams:
- Stream 1: Innovative Strategic Partnerships supports initiatives that present a unique and innovative opportunity, address a Manitoba-specific challenge and align with strategic priorities identified by Research Manitoba. These partnerships must involve a minimum of one partner organization in addition to Research Manitoba.
- Stream 2a: Matching Funds & Research Chairs supports Manitoba-based research initiatives/projects that involve a minimum of one partner organization in addition to Research Manitoba and require provincial support. Matching Funds investments will leverage funds to Manitoba from other sources (e.g. other funding agencies), and create opportunities for Manitoba researchers that would otherwise be difficult to access
- Stream 2b: External Competition Awards is dedicated to fostering collaborations with external organizations that host competitive research awards. The primary focus of this stream is to support Manitoba research by partnering with these organizations, enhancing opportunities for Manitoba researchers to receive these awards.
The 2025-2026 Strategic Partnerships portfolio supports projects spanning Indigenous-led research, environmental sustainability, health-care system improvement, chronic disease prevention and treatment, genomics, digital research infrastructure, student experiential learning, and research capacity development.
It’s exciting to see the strength and momentum of research projects emerging through the Manitoba research ecosystem. Collaborations with partners across post-secondary institutions, industry, non-profit organizations, and government being fostered through the Strategic Partnerships Program are enabling high-quality, collaborative projects that addresses complex challenges and advances knowledge. It is inspiring to witness Manitoba’s research community working together to generate meaningful discoveries and elevate our province’s role in research and innovation!
Research Manitoba’s 2025-2026 Strategic Partnerships investments support the following initiatives:
| Stream | Project | Applicant(s) |
| Stream 1: Innovative Strategic Partnerships | Looking Outside the Cup: Indigenous-Led Socioenvironmental Monitoring and Planning in Manitoba | Stephane McLachlan |
| Stream 1: Innovative Strategic Partnerships | Braiding Indigenous Science and Engineering to Address Plastic Pollution Impacts on Land and Water Systems in Indigenous Communities | Qiuyan Yuan |
| Stream 1: Innovative Strategic Partnerships | Reducing Manitoba’s Joint Replacement Waitlists | Christiaan Righolt |
| Stream 1: Innovative Strategic Partnerships | Volatus Aerospace: Science Experiential Aerial Research (SEAR) Program | Matthew Johnson |
| Stream 1: Innovative Strategic Partnerships | Manitoba Tomorrow Project | Travis Hrubeniuk and Donna Turner |
| Stream 1: Innovative Strategic Partnerships | Reducing Dietary Acid with Fruit and Vegetables Versus Oral Alkali in People with Chronic Kidney Disease (ReDACKD) | Dylan Mackay |
| Stream 2a: Matching Funds | PrairieGen: A Multi-Omics Approach to Advancing Data Integration from Manitoba and Saskatchewan Populations into the Pan-Canadian Genome Library | Cheryl Rockman-Greenberg and Athanasios Zovoilis |
| Stream 2a: Matching Funds | SysQuan-MB: Transforming Biomedical and Clinical Research Through Enabling Proteome-Wide Absolute Quantitation of the Human Proteome Using Labeled Cell Lines | Rene Zahedi |
| Stream 2a: Matching Funds | Digital Research Alliance of Canada | Hans-Joachim Wieden |
| Stream 2a: Research Chairs | Canadian Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Arctic Research | Dr. Dorthe Dahl-Jensen |
| Stream 2a: Research Chairs | Heart & Stroke and Research Manitoba Chair in Clinical Stroke Research | Dr. Nishita Singh |
| Stream 2b: External Competition Awards | Alzheimer Society Research Program | Alzheimer Society of Canada |
| Stream 2b: External Competition Awards | Increasing Capacity for Maternal and Pediatric Clinical Trials (IMPaCT) | IMPaCT |
Through the Strategic Partnerships Program, Research Manitoba supports partnerships that leverage expertise, resources, and knowledge across sectors to strengthen Manitoba’s research capacity and generates meaningful impacts for communities across the province.
Contact:
Communications, Research Manitoba
info@researchmb.ca | researchmanitoba.ca
Research Manitoba
Research Manitoba promotes, supports, and coordinates the funding of research excellence and innovation in health, natural and social sciences, engineering, and the humanities in Manitoba. Research Manitoba supports local talent development by providing research support to early career researchers and graduate students, along with fostering strategic partnerships to strengthen research and innovation in Manitoba.