Acadia University’s newest Canada Research Chair is Dr. Zoë Migicovsky, an assistant professor in biology and an expert in two of the most economically important crops in Nova Scotia and Canada – apples and grapes.

Her appointment is part of an investment announced on November 16 by the Honourable François-Philippe Champagne, Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, of more than $139 million to support 176 new and renewed Canada Research Chairs at 46 Canadian research institutions.

“Our government remains committed to supporting the country’s world-class research community. We know the vital role research and science play in growing our economy, and today’s investments will help Canada cement its position as a world leader in research and innovation,” Champagne said.

Emerging world-class scholar

As Acadia’s new Tier II Canada Research Chair in Agri-Food and Sustainable Agriculture, Dr. Migicovsky’s research will focus on using data-driven decisions in both management practices and plant breeding to increase the resiliency and sustainability of our food production system.

Dr. Anna Redden, Acadia’s Vice-Provost of Research and Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, explained that Tier II chairholders are exceptional emerging world-class scholars acknowledged by their peers as having the potential to achieve international recognition in their field.

“Dr. Migicovsky is an exciting addition to Acadia’s outstanding faculty researchers and Canada Research Chair program,” Redden said. “Her research is at the intersection of plant agriculture and data analytics and will help us quantify and harness plant diversity.”

A return to Acadia and the Valley

No stranger to the Annapolis Valley, Migicovsky is a 2010 graduate of Acadia and has worked on Canada’s Apple Biodiversity Collection, a research orchard in Kentville, a partnership between Dalhousie University and Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, which contains more than a thousand apple varieties.

Most recently, Migicovsky was a postdoctoral fellow at Dalhousie University in the Faculty of Agriculture.

“I am thrilled to return to my alma mater and excited to contribute to world-class research in the Annapolis Valley, which grows many of the fruit crops I study,” says Migicovsky, who specializes in woody perennial fruit crops.

Learn more

See the full media release from Innovation, Science and Industry Canada.