The 2020 Killam Prize winners are digging into some of the most pressing issues of our time—including health equity, Indigenous perspectives on history, brain imaging, nanotechnology, and environmental remediation.
And 2020 Killam Prizes are even more exciting with a record number of women winners.
That’s why the Canada Council for the Arts, the organization that administers the Killam Prizes, collaborated with The Future Economy, a website dedicated interviewing Canadian leaders, to create video portraits of the winners talking about the impact of their work.
What are the Killam Prizes?
The Killam Prizes are awarded to active Canadian scholars who are making a significant impact in their respective fields in the humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, health sciences, and engineering.
These prizes were established by the Killam Trusts thanks to a gift and bequest from Mrs. Dorothy J. Killam in memory of her husband, Izaak Walton Killam, and his outstanding achievements.
Who are the 2020 Winners?
The 2020 Killam Prize Winners are:
-
- Cecilia Benoit, Social Sciences (University of Victoria)
As a distinguished social scientist, Cecilia Benoit’s work with socially excluded and stigmatized groups, in particular with sex workers, has made important contributions to Canadian public policy in the fields of women’s health, maternity care, and health service equity.
-
- Sarah Carter, Humanities (University of Alberta)
Sarah Carter’s ground-breaking scholarship has reconceptualized the history of the Canadian West by placing women, settler and Indigenous, front and centre, within a broad context of nation and empire-building.
-
- Alan Evans, Health Sciences (McGill University)
Alan Evans is one of the world’s foremost authorities on brain imaging and the modeling of brain networks. During his distinguished academic career, his work has pioneered innovative techniques that enhance the resolution of brain imaging devices by using statistical analysis of images to discover previously unseen attributes of the brain.
-
- Edward H. Sargent, Engineering (University of Toronto)
Edward H. Sargent is a pioneer in the field of nanotechnology. His research involves the use of small semiconductor particles a few nanometers in size, called colloidal quantum dots or CQDs. At the atomic and molecular level, he assembled radically new photovoltaic materials with properties not found in the natural world.
-
- Barbara Sherwood Lollar, Natural Sciences (University of Toronto)
Since her early career, Barbara Sherwood Lollar has spearheaded the development and application of sophisticated measurement tools used in chemical analysis of minute isotope concentrations for investigating the remediation of contaminated groundwater sites.
Where can I watch the video portraits?
Stay tuned for the video portraits on The Future Economy’s website, which will be posted in the coming weeks.
And learn more about the Killam Prizes—and how you can nominate somebody—by visiting the Killam Program’s website.
