Left to right: Dr. Stan Floresco, Dr. Kiran Soma, Dr. James Enns
UBC Psychology faculty members received funding to support their research from the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) Discovery Grant Program.
NSERC awarded 141 UBC-led projects a combined total of $32.1m over five years through individual Discovery Grants.
The Discovery Grants are awarded to researchers in a variety of disciplines with long-term goals and to early-career researchers with strong leadership potential in their field and assist in promoting and maintaining a diversified base of high-quality research capability in the natural sciences and engineering in Canadian universities, fostering research excellence, and providing a stimulating environment for research training.
Join us in congratulating Dr. James Enns, Dr. Kiran Soma, and Dr. Stan Floresco for receiving the 2024 NSERC Discovery Grants!
Learn more about Drs. Enns, Soma, and Floresco’s research
Dr. James Enns
Project: Visual Perception and Attention
Dr. Enns is a graduate of the University of Winnipeg and Princeton University. His research interests include perception, attention, vision, cognition, development, human-machine interaction and has been supported by grants from NSERC, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, the Australian Research Council, BC Health, and Nissan.
“My graduate students, Manlu Liu, Raymond MacNeil, Sam Good, and I are thrilled to receive this generous support from NSERC for our research. This is a milestone for me, representing 44 years of continuous funding from NSERC (1985-2029).”
Dr. Kiran Soma
Project: Local glucocorticoid production during development
Dr. Soma is a professor in the Department of Psychology and a member of the Djavad Mowafagian Centre for Brain Health at the University of British Columbia. He has published over 120 papers with 7000 citations on neural circuits, hormones, behaviour, and immune function. His research interests include behavioural neuroscience, neuroendocrinology, neuroethology, diet, exercise, stress.
“This is a continuation of funding I have held from NSERC for 20 years since 2004. The funding will support my work in steroid hormones and how the important molecules shape development of the brain and immune system.”
Dr. Stan Floresco
Project: Prefrontal-subcortical circuitry underlying cognitive flexibility and inhibitory control
Dr. Floresco is a Professor in the Department of Psychology and an Investigator at the Djavad Mowafaghian Centre for Brain Health at the University of British Columbia. Dr. Floresco’s research focuses on neural circuits that facilitate different forms of learning, cognition and executive functioning.
