Research Performance

Sponsored research income

$95.6 million (2011/12). Since 1999, SFU has quadrupled its research income. This translates to about $6.7 million per year from the Government of Canada to cover SFU's Indirect Costs of Research (IDC). See the IDC Program page for a breakdown of how SFU allocates its IDC funds.

Research output

Between 1999 and 2008, SFU doubled its number of research publications, topping the Canadian comprehensive universities on this measure. SFU currently ranks in the top four of Canada's comprehensive universities in publication intensity, the average number of publications per full-time faculty member. For more details, see the Facts and Figures page.

Research intensity

Between 1999 and 2009, SFU more than doubled its research intensity (research income per full-time faculty position). In FY2011, SFU received $109,800 in research income per full-time faculty position. For more details, see the Facts and Figures page.

Research impact

Since 2008, SFU has consistently placed 1st in publication impact among the Canadian comprehensive universities, measured by the probability of an article being cited in peer-reviewed journals. For more details, see the Facts and Figures page.

Research chairs

Based on a calculation of its Tri-Council research funding over the past three years, SFU has been allocated 22 Tier 1 and 25 Tier 2 Canada Research Chairs (CRCs), for a total of 47. SFU has also established five BC Leadership Research Chairs. For a full list of SFU's research chair holders, please see the Find a Researcher page.

Research centres & institutes

SFU has established 47 research centres under the direct authority of the relevant Faculty Dean, and 27 research institutes that have a university-wide mandate or multi-university consortium. For a full list of SFU's research centres and institutes, please see the Centres & Institutes page.

Knowledge mobilization

In the past decade, SFU has spun-out, mentored, incubated or assisted over 200 companies, adding more than 2,400 new jobs to our economy and contributing annual tax revenues of about $186 million. For more, please visit the SFU Innovation Office website.