During a mission to Ottawa in May 2026, Pavel Kabat, HFSPO Secretary-General, met with leaders from Canada’s major science funding and policy organizations to reinforce Canada’s longstanding support for frontier, high-risk international science and to explore new areas of collaboration.
The visit included discussions with the Canada Foundation for Innovation, Genome Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, National Research Council Canada, NSERC, and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Across meetings, Canadian leaders emphasized HFSP’s unique role in supporting “unfundable” frontier science through international and interdisciplinary collaboration.
Discussions focused on shared priorities, including scientific talent mobility, research security, Indigenous participation in science, and mechanisms to accelerate translation of fundamental discoveries into innovation. Canadian officials also highlighted growing international interest in Canada as a destination for scientific talent and reaffirmed the importance of maintaining open global scientific collaboration amid an increasingly complex geopolitical and research security landscape.
Conversations explored possible future collaboration around Indigenous and First Nations participation in frontier science. Discussions also examined opportunities to strengthen connections between HFSP-supported frontier research and innovation ecosystems in Canada, including through science policy and industry engagement forums.
The mission reaffirmed Canada’s position as one of HFSP’s most stable and strategically aligned member countries and underscored a shared commitment to advancing high-risk, high-reward science through international cooperation.