SFU Climate Innovation seed funds support sustainability and resilience in our communities

Nine awards provide $130,000 to seven projects developing practical solutions to pressing climate challenges.

Simon Fraser University (SFU) is investing in a new cohort of interdisciplinary, community-engaged climate research projects through the 2026 Climate Innovation Seed Funds, supporting researchers and students working alongside Indigenous communities, non-profits, governments and industry partners to develop practical solutions to pressing climate challenges.

This year, SFU Climate Innovation awarded $130,000 to seven projects, as well funding two graduate students supporting two of those projects. Recipients of four Amplification Grants, three Catalyst Grants and two Pollinator Awards address issues ranging from Indigenous water governance and food sovereignty to ocean stewardship, healthy housing, climate resilience and health-care system preparedness.

"We are proud to support these interdisciplinary projects, which will advance climate solutions and build resilience through meaningful partnerships with communities," says Deborah Harford, acting executive director at SFU Climate Innovation.

"This year's recipients show impressive leadership in working across disciplines and faculties to develop community-engaged climate research. This year’s cohort includes significant representation from Indigenous-led or Indigenous-partnered projects, reflecting dynamic Indigenous leadership and innovation on climate action and scholarship. Together, the 2026 Climate Innovation Seed Fund projects reflect SFU's strategic university-wide commitment to community-centred climate innovation.”

The seed fund competition attracted proposals from researchers in all faculties, with requests totalling nearly $400,000, demonstrating growing demand for interdisciplinary climate research that is developed with and for communities. Funded projects involve collaborators from 13 disciplines across seven SFU faculties, as well as partners ranging from First Nations and community organizations to health-care unions and international institutions.

The grants are designed to help researchers strengthen partnerships, co-develop research agendas, mobilize knowledge and pursue larger funding opportunities. Over the coming year, project teams will draw on SFU's research supports, community-engaged research expertise and global networks to advance work with real-world applications.

"Receiving this seed funding gives our team an important opportunity to build on the Climate Resilience Roadmap work initiated through SFU CERi and extend the Championing Older Adults for Leadership in Environmental Sustainability and Climate Empowerment (COALESCE) citizen science approach into Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside,” says Mei Fang, SFU Urban Studies and Gerontology, co-lead of Advancing a Climate Resilience Roadmap for DTES Non-Profit Housing: A Healthy Housing Pilot with Older Adults.

“The pilot will allow us to work alongside older adults living in more precarious housing circumstances and better understand how extreme heat and wildfire smoke are experienced across different housing, neighbourhood, and social conditions.”

Amplification awards

• Bridging Waters, Bridging Worlds: Co-designing Indigenous-led Water Governance Frameworks among Indigenous Communities in the Peruvian Amazon and Western Canada ($24,000)

Co-led by Lyana Patrick (SFU Health Sciences), Zoe Todd (SFU Indigenous Studies), Krista Stelkia (SFU Health Sciences) with Ryan Stillwagon (Public Health and Social Policy, UVic), Paola Torres Slimming (Health Sciences at Universidad Peruana Ciencias Applicadas (UPC)), in collaboration with Asociación Raíces Indígenas Amazónicas Peruanas (ARIAP), Saik’uz First Nation, Stellat’en First Nation.

• Co-Designing Indigenous Food Sovereignty in the Tsawwassen Living Lab ($23,000)

Co-led by Woo Soo Kim (SFU Mechatronic Systems Engineering) and Tammara Soma (SFU Resource and Environmental Management (REM)) in partnership with Tsawwassen First Nation.

• COMPASS - Co-designed Ocean Management through Planetary Health, Ancestral Knowledge, and Stewardship Systems ($23,000)

Co-led by Manuhuia Barcham (SFU School of Interactive Arts and Technology (SIAT)) with Anne Salomon (SFU REM), Ron Wakkary (SFU SIAT), William Odom (SFU SIAT), Kyle Wilson (SFU REM), Michael Hathaway (SFU Sociology & Anthropology) in partnership with Nuchatlaht First Nation, Ngāti Hori, and Heather Castleden (Public Administration, UVic).

• Healthcare workers on the frontlines of the climate emergency ($10,000)

Co-led by Kendra Strauss (SFU Labour Studies) with Maya Gislason (SFU Health Sciences), Leah Montange (SFU Labour Studies) and Hospital Employees Union.

Catalyst awards ($10-15,000 each)

• Weaving Climate Science, Indigenous Innovations, and Visual Storytelling to Mobilize Equitable Seafood Futures

Co-led by Anne Salomon (SFU REM) and Wendy Palen (SFU Biological Sciences) in collaboration with ḥapinyuuk - Tommy Happynook, (Anthropology, UVic) and ɬaʔamɩn (Tla’amin) Nation, nɩne gɩǰɛ (Lands & Resources Department).

• Advancing a Climate Resilience Roadmap for DTES Non-Profit Housing: A Healthy Housing Pilot with Older Adults

Co-led by Mei Fang (SFU Urban Studies and Gerontology) with Stuart Poyntz (SFU Communication and SFU’s Community-centred Research Initiative (CERI)), Tara Mahoney ((CERi) and Sean Condon (Vancity Community Foundation).

• Uplifting Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw stated priorities in in the implementation of nature-based solutions

Co-led by Andréanne Doyon and Kyle Wilson, SFU REM, with Squamish Nation.

Supporting the next generation of climate innovators

The 2026 Seed Funds also include two Pollinator Awards of $5,000 each, for graduate students engaged in interdisciplinary and community-based climate research. The award recipients are:

• Huijin (Letitia) Zhu, (SFU Gerontology & Graduate Studies) supporting Advancing a Climate Resilience Roadmap for DTES Non-Profit Housing: A Healthy project in collaboration with Housing Pilot with Older Adults, and
• Graham Brownlee, (SFU REM) supporting the Weaving Climate Science, Indigenous Innovations, and Visual Storytelling to Mobilize Equitable Seafood Futures project.

The funded projects demonstrate how climate innovation at SFU is bringing researchers, communities and partners together to tackle interconnected environmental, social and economic challenges. By supporting collaboration across disciplines and knowledge systems, the Seed Funds help create pathways toward larger research programs capable of generating impact in British Columbia and beyond.

SFU is a national leader in Climate Innovation—one of two research priorities at the university—utilizing research and education to drive real-world solutions through bold, interdisciplinary collaboration with communities, industries, and governments.