Research Programs

The Helmholtz Alberta Initiative combines synergetically the scientific and technical expertise of the Helmholtz Association (Germany) and the University of Alberta (Canada) as international research collaboration. This is done by the successive development of thematically focused research programmes in the areas of:

To this end, on September 29, 2009, a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between the Helmholtz Association of German Research Centres and the University of Alberta. As part of the Initiative, since 2010 the University of Alberta has been cooperating with four Helmholtz institutions, namely the GFZ German Research Centre for Geosciences, the UFZ Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research, the Forschungszentrum Jülich and the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, KIT in the fields of environmental and energy research. In addition, the Brandenburg University of Technology in Cottbus (BTU) is also a research partner in this initiative. The basic goal of this collaboration is to provide knowledge, innovative technologies and system solutions for an environmentally sound and energy-efficient development and use of globally relevant fossil and renewable energy resources.