Current Initiatives
Acceleration Consortium
The Acceleration Consortium is leading a paradigm shift in scientific discovery through the development of self-driving artificial intelligence-guided robotic labs that accelerate the discovery of advanced materials and small molecules, from decades to years.
The consortium addresses fundamental topics, such as deep learning algorithms, materials modelling, and robotics and applied challenges, such as discovering materials for a wide range of commercial applications.
The Acceleration Consortium supports a commercialization-focused ecosystem that aims to translates materials discoveries through start-ups and industry partnerships.
AgeTech LaunchPad
AgeTech LaunchPad is a purpose-built, university-embedded, and GTA-localized platform that addresses societal and systems-level challenges of population aging in a coordinated and practical way, enabling U of T faculty and trainees to collaboratively design, evaluate, and deploy pilot solutions across diverse community, home, and care environments. The Initiative leverages AGE-WELL, Canada’s Technology and Aging Network that brings together researchers, older adults, caregivers, partner organizations and future leaders, to build sector relationships, establish international partnerships, develop bespoke training platforms, and make pathways for scaling successful interventions.
Bioeconomy and Sustainable Materials Institute (BSMI)
The Bioeconomy and Sustainable Materials Institute (BSMI) is dedicated to the sustainable management of natural resources with the goal of creating a viable Canadian economy for bio-based practices, products and services focused on the forest biomass industry. The Institute is a research hub and network that works to harmonize human activities, industrial decisions and public policy with sustainable ecological systems. BSMI engages and supports rural, remote and diverse voices and prioritizes Indigenous wisdom and approaches to co-create ecologically-sound, socially equitable, and community-driven solutions to critical societal challenges. This holistic approach focuses on helping Canada transition to a more sustainable and resilient economy, addressing both current and future challenges.
CRAFT (Centre for Research and Applications in Fluidic Technologies)
The Centre for Research and Applications in Fluidic Technologies (CRAFT) is a unique long-term partnership between the University of Toronto (U of T) and Canada’s National Research Council to advance the field of microfluidics — the manipulation of fluids at micron length scales by developing devices with improved precision, lower detection limits, and the capacity to parallelize procedures. This partnership positions Canada to become a world-leader in developing and translating microfluidic solutions, such as point-of-care diagnostics, organ-on-a-chip devices and organ-scale tissue substitutes, that will improve the health of all Canadians and lay the foundation of a thriving, internationally competitive industry sector.
Data Sciences Institute (DSI)
The Data Sciences Institute (DSI) is an entryway for all things data science at the University, including research, training, and partnerships. The initiative provides the leadership and capacity to catalyze the transformative nature of data sciences in disciplines, in fair and ethical ways, leveraging and strengthening U of T’s pre-eminence in data sciences to solve society’s complex and pressing problems. Research efforts focus on advancements in data science methodologies and tools that can be applied across a variety of fields as well as the emergent discipline of data science itself. The DSI forms a community and supports faculty and trainees to expand their data-intensive research activities; develop their computational and data science skills to support their teaching, scholarship, and research.
EPIC (Emerging and Pandemic Infections Consortium)
The Emerging and Pandemic Infections Consortium (EPIC) harnesses the full potential of Toronto’s diverse community, at U of T and its partner hospitals, of clinicians, scientists, engineers, and public health and policy-focused infectious disease experts to converge on innovative approaches that ensure future emerging infections do not wreak devastation. Anchored by U of T’s Infectious Disease Laboratories (IDL), Toronto’s only Combined Containment Level 3 (C-CL3) unit for the study of high-risk human pathogens, as well as the CL2+ aerosol containment facility and Biobank, EPIC’s virtual research and training ecosystem aims to be the leading initiative on infectious disease research and training from discovery to policy, a magnet for world-leading talent, and an authority on infectious disease-focused education and science-based advocacy.
Inlight – Student Mental Health Initiative
There is a substantial gap in research evidence on the mental health and wellness needs of university students, raising critical questions about how to best support student mental health and wellness throughout their academic journey. The Student & Youth Mental Health Research Initiative will leverage important partnerships between U of T, the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and other hospital and community partners to establish a network of experts in student mental health research. Engaging with a wide range of stakeholders, this initiative will generate research-informed, evidence-based solutions to the complex challenges identified by the 2019 U of T Presidential & Provostial Task Force on Student Mental Health.
Institute for Health Emergencies and Pandemics
The Institute of Health Emergencies and Pandemics (IHEP), formerly the Institute for Pandemics brings together transformative researchers and educators from across disciplines and around the world to address the complex, global public health challenges posed by public health emergencies and pandemics. Our work centers around three pillars: ‘readiness’ to prevent and track evolving pandemics; ‘resilience’ of health systems and communities, and to improve public health policies and interventions; and equitable ‘recovery’ to reduce health disparities in pandemics, and to build back stronger and more fairly. Situated in Canada’s leading school of public health, IHEP serves as a knowledge nexus informing public health responses, helping to strengthen systems, and equip future health leaders with a multi-faceted skillset to combat pandemics and epidemics.
Lawson Climate Institute
Through a multidisciplinary approach, the Lawson Climate Institute (formerly the Climate Positive Energy Research Initiative) is ramping up U of T’s capacity to advance the technologies and policies needed for Canada to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050. As one of U of T’s most wide-ranging, comprehensive initiatives, the institute is unique in its aim to ensure students in every discipline across three campuses have an opportunity to gain the tools needed to take concrete steps toward implementing practical climate solutions. The institute is named in honour of Brian Lawson and Joannah Lawson in recognition of their transformative $60-million donation.
MITO2i (Mitochondrial Innovation Initiative)
The Mitochondrial Innovation Initiative (MITO2i) is a network of researchers, clinicians, patients and advocates, academic institutions, non-governmental organizations and industry partners working together to transform our understanding of the role of mitochondria in human health and disease, including both rare and common chronic diseases affecting mood, metabolism, longevity and quality of life. MITO2i is focused on developing infrastructure for collaboration, knowledge integration and coordinated data-sharing to enable a comprehensive, big-picture understanding of this crucial and emerging area of medicine.
PRiME (Precision Medicine)
PRiME leverages the U of T’s world-class expertise in biologics, omics, molecular chemistry, liquid biopsy, nanomedicine, biology-on-a-chip and related domains to develop new solutions to unmet needs in human disease. The multidisciplinary approach at PRiME goes beyond genomics and mutational profiling, to more fully understand the biology of disease, create new tools for disease diagnosis, and develop novel therapeutic strategies that will deliver on the promise of precision medicine.
Quantum Advantage Toronto (QAT)
Quantum Advantage Toronto (QAT) is an interdisciplinary initiative that brings together leading researchers, industry partners, and domain experts to accelerate the development of real-world applications of quantum technologies. Building on the University of Toronto’s internationally recognized strengths in quantum information science, QAT fosters collaboration across fields such as physics, chemistry, engineering, life sciences, medicine, finance, and policy to translate foundational discoveries into solutions with societal and economic impact. Through coordinated research programs, strategic partnerships, and innovative training opportunities, the initiative aims to position Toronto as a global hub for quantum innovation; advancing breakthroughs in areas including sensing, communications, materials, and computing while supporting the growth of Canada’s quantum ecosystem.
Robotics Institute
The University of Toronto Robotics Institute is Canada’s global robotics talent network. UofT faculty working across the frontiers of robotics innovation have a critical mass of expertise spanning the robotics-enabling technologies (sensors, controls, machine learning and AI), robot system integration (perception and control), robot applications (healthcare, manufacturing, and mobility) and their impacts (business, ethical, regulatory, and economic). With a breadth comparable to many of the leading robotics research centres worldwide, and an alumni network that spans the globe, the University of Toronto Robotics Institute is Canada’s leading research and training partner in advanced robotics and thought leadership. Together with our partner ecosystem, we bring UofT research excellence and values to the global forefront of robotics innovation.
School of Cities
The School of Cities convenes interdisciplinary urban-focused researchers, educators, students, practitioners, institutions and the general public to explore and address complex urban challenges, with the aim of making cities, urban regions and communities more equitable, sustainable, prosperous and just. Today, more than half of the world’s population lives in cities. Why do cities matter? What makes a city livable? What do we need to do to make cities more sustainable, inclusive and just? U of T’s physical location in Canada’s largest city, and deep urban-focused expertise across all fields uniquely positions the School of Cities to examine these questions and address the challenges cities are expected to face in the years to come.
Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society (SRI)
The Schwartz Reisman Institute for Technology and Society is a research and solutions hub dedicated to ensuring that powerful technologies like artificial intelligence are safe, fair, ethical, and make the world better—for everyone. With researchers in fields ranging from law, philosophy, and political science to computer science, engineering and beyond, the Institute will develop new frameworks to understand the social implications of technologies in the present age, and reinvent laws, institutions, and social values to ensure technology is designed, governed, and deployed to deliver a more just and inclusive world.
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs@UofT)
The Transforming Our World: The 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development, adopted by all United Nations Member States, provides a shared blueprint for peace and prosperity for people and the planet. At its core are the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) that cover a wide range of complex challenges and serve as an agenda for a better and more sustainable future for all. The aim of the SDGs @ U of T is to build on our existing research initiatives, form new interdisciplinary and global partnerships, and produce a map for advancing the UN SDGs at U of T.
Read more news about
SDGs at UofT
Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport (TISS)
The Tanenbaum Institute for Science in Sport (TISS) is a global centre of excellence for high performance sport science and sport medicine. TISS's mission is to support research that advances high performance in sport for professional and non-professional athletes and para-athletes, as well as for members of the wider community, both able bodied and with disabilities, who want to optimize their recreational participation in sport.
TC3 (Toronto Cannabis and Cannabinoid Health Sciences Consortium)
The Toronto Cannabis and Cannabinoid Consortium (TC3) is a tri-campus, multi-institution, interdisciplinary Institutional Strategic Initiative that aims to advance cannabis and cannabinoid research across U of T and the Toronto Academic Health Sciences Network through research, education and training, resource sharing and collaboration, and knowledge translation and partnerships. The TC3 endeavours to close the significant gaps in knowledge related to the benefits, harms, and opportunities of cannabis and cannabinoid use and to develop a pipeline of highly qualified personnel who will become leaders in research and innovation in cannabis health sciences, business and policy. Together with our hospital partners, we are poised to take the lead as a cannabis knowledge creator and broker and make a national and international impact on health, policy and the economy.
TRANSFORM HF
TRANSFORM-Heart Failure aims to enable new healthcare models that are proactive, personalized, and decentralized to improve access to equitable, high-quality heart failure care. TRANSFORM HF unites a diverse team of experts in technology innovation and implementation, basic science, heart failure medicine, data analytics and artificial intelligence, health technology assessment, patient engagement and Indigenous health focused on working collaboratively to advance digital medicine and remote healthcare monitoring technologies in service of its mission. Together with Indigenous organizations and leaders, as well as patients, TRANSFORM HF hopes to create such innovative models in a spirit of allyship and partnership.
Read more news about
Transform-HF