Career Campus: The Granting Agencies

Shweta Ganapati joined NSERC as Mitacs Canadian Science Policy Fellow in 2020. She has since been working on a broad range of policy priorities at NSERC as well as taking on key international files including the European Union and Germany. Before joining NSERC, Shweta served as program manager at the Canadian Science Policy Centre (CSPC, 2019-20) and research scientist at a Maryland based biotech start-up, SD Nanosciences (2017-19). Shweta holds a PhD in Organic and Analytical Chemistry from University of Maryland, USA and a Master’s and Bachelor’s degree in Chemistry from St. Stephen’s College, University of Delhi, India. As a science policy fellow, she aims to apply her scientific training to serve society through supporting scientific discovery and innovation.

Uzma Urooj has a PhD in Cognitive Neuroimaging from University of York, UK and BSc Honors in Neuroscience and Linguistics from University of Toronto, Canada. Following her PhD training, Uzma gained professional experiences in research management, technology transfer and subsequently science policy. She currently works as Senior Advisor, Science Strategies at Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Intimately involved at the interface of science and policy, Uzma is passionate about raising the bar for research excellence and improving the training and development of Canadian highly qualified individuals affiliated with science.

Lisa Chen Obrist started at the CFI in 2015 as a Programs Officer and subsequently joined the Performance, Analytics and Evaluation team as a Senior Evaluation Analyst in 2016.  After working for several years on Parliament Hill she returned to graduate studies and completed a PhD at the University of Toronto in the history and philosophy of medieval science and medicine. In 2009, she started working at the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and held various roles in the Corporate Strategy and Performance Division as well as the Research Grants and Partnerships Division. Lisa holds undergraduate and graduate degrees from McGill University in History and Italian Studies.

François Pelletier holds a PhD in History from the University of Montreal and Paris Panthéon-Sorbonne. His research focuses on the relationship between governments and businesses, the formulation of energy policies, and international relations. He recently published a book on the founder and first president of the French company and oil giant: Total. Since completing his PhD, François has published and participated in conferences on different subjects linked to economic history such as government regulations, trade policy, strategic planning, and natural resources. After working as an editor and writer, he finished a research fellowship at the Management Department of HEC Montréal. This position was the first opportunity to link past and present and to start thinking about mobilizing knowledge to tackle current issues facing governments and companies.