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Centre for Digital Media to be home for Network Centre of Excellence Programme

Masters For Digital Media [1]Vancouver (via CDM) – A new Network Centre of Excellence (NCE) recently awarded by the federal government to 50 researchers at 19 universities across Canada, will be headquartered at the Centre for Digital Media [1], Great Northern Way Campus (GNWC). GRAND, an NCE in GRaphics, Animation, and New meDia, will explore, challenge, and advance the use of new media through collaborative, multi-disciplinary research, training, and innovation with a secondary focus on commercialization.

“Through GRAND, we will be able to develop further the evolving areas of research and commercialization of digital media,” said Dr. Gerri Sinclair, Executive Director, GRAND and CEO, Centre for Digital Media, GNWC. “Plus, we will have an opportunity to work with a top notch list of researchers and digital media companies from across the country.”

GRAND is comprised of 30 projects, supported by a multidisciplinary, cross-country network of investigators, researchers, and industry.

“A unique strength of the GRAND research program is the synergy between social science researchers and the engineering and computer science researchers who are collaborating on many of the projects,” explained Dr. Abby Goodrum, GRAND’s Director for Social Sciences and Humanities Research, and professor in the Faculty of Communication and Design at Ryerson University in Toronto.

The five themes to be explored include:

• New media challenges and opportunities
• Games and interactive simulation
• Animation, graphics and imaging
• Social, legal, economic and cultural perspectives
• Enabling technologies and methodologies

“The proliferation of social networks and new media represent one of the most significant popular adaptations of computer technology,” said Dr. Kellogg Booth, GRAND’s scientific director and a professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of British Columbia which is hosting the NCE. “This new network will enable research collaborators to address issues and explore opportunities in this fast-growing sector.”

Whether tackling new media issues such as intellectual property rights and privacy or introducing new technologies, the outcomes from GRAND aim to benefit Canadians as well as enhance Canada’s position as a global leader in new media.

GRAND was one of three NCEs announced by the federal government today. In 2008, NCEs were responsible for 110 patents, 4,300 papers in refereed journals, and partnerships with more than 1,997 companies, government departments, and agencies, hospitals, universities in Canada and from around the world.