Roberta Hamme teaches, attends meetings and conducts ongoing research into the oceans’ absorption of atmospheric carbon dioxide.
But without the renewal of her Canada Research Chair funding, announced Friday at the University of Victoria, the UVic associate professor of oceanography would not be able to hire the laboratory technician who makes the precise measurements and collects the data that supports her scientific research.
“I do so many things at the university that I can’t be in my lab 40 hours per week,” she said. “So having somebody in there that has the lab skills and the knowledge is key to my work.”
Hamme said oceans absorb almost half of all carbon dioxide that human activity releases into the atmosphere. But little is known about that absorption process or what the extra carbon is doing to ocean-water chemistry.
Without the federal funding, Hamme said, she “would do a lot less measurement, wouldn’t be able to participate in as many research expeditions and I wouldn’t be able to take on so many students.”
“My research is important, I think, because it’s important to understand how the ocean takes up carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere,” said Hamme. “We really don’t know how or where that’s happening and we haven’t even quantified it that well.”
She was speaking to reporters after an event at UVic’s Michael Williams Building where Kirsty Duncan, federal minister of Science and Sport, announced 346 new or renewed Canada Research Chairs nationwide. That includes Hamme and two others at UVic.
The Canada Research Chair is a $275-million-a-year program to support researchers with up to $500,000 over five years. Aside from hiring laboratory technicians, the money is used to purchase equipment and gather data in fields ranging from engineering to medicine, health, humanities and social sciences.
Across Canada, a total of 1,800 researchers at 52 institutions are supported with a Canada Research Chair, including 41 at UVic.
“It’s part of our commitment to science, research and evidence-based decision making,” said Duncan. “My commitment began with a determination to put research and students first.”
On Friday, UVic also became one of 50 universities and colleges in Canada to sign what’s been called the “Dimension Charter,” a public agreement to apply principles of equity, fairness and inclusiveness in research.
Duncan noted that 41 per cent of the new or renewed Canada Research Chairs were awarded to women, four per cent went to Indigenous people and five per cent went to people with disabilities.
David Castle, UVic vice-president for research, said there was no hesitation in signing the Dimension Charter.
“We looked and thought: ‘Yes, we are doing that,’ and ‘Yes, we agree with that,’ and ‘Yes, we like that and would like to do more,’ ” said Castle.
