Lethbridge Polytechnic ranks 10th among Canadian research colleges

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on December 28, 2024.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

The Lethbridge Polytechnic has cracked the top 10 in the Research Infosource ranking of Canada’s top 50 research colleges for the first time, and continues to build on its reputation as a leader in applied research.
LP was ranked 11th last year after it first joined the ranks of the top 20 for the first time in 2021, finishing 16th.
Andrew Dunlop, associate vice-president of applied research says this shows that the school is where it should be as its mandate is to support regional industry and contribute to economic and social growth in southern Alberta. The ranking show LP is doing its job as an applied research institution. 
“The way we got here was through several years of consistent focus on supporting a growing industry,” says Dunlop. “We always say we go where the industry is going and I think this shows that the researcher has grown because we have outcomes that industry is looking for.”
Lethbridge Polytechnic has a total of five research themes within its Centre for Applied Research, Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CARIE), They include Agriculture, Food and Environment, Business and Technology, Health and Wellness, Justice and Public Safety and Science, Social Sciences and Humanities.
LP’s current research focus areas include advanced post-harvest technology led by Chandra Singh; the integrated agriculture technology centre led by John Derksen and Nick Savidov; the Mueller Irrigation Group led by Willemijn Appels; the Spatial Technologies Applied Research and Training led by Tyler Heaton; and the Centre for Public Safety Applied Research led by Kirsten Fantazir.
“One example is some work we’re just getting going with the Alberta sugar beet growers to develop a revolutionary new process for them, on how they build their market and sell their products that will change the industry.”
 Dunlop adds that this will also help them prevent losses from spoilage and that work is being done through their advanced post-harvest technology centre.
 “We are also really proud of some of our social innovation projects,” says Dunlop. “For example, are Centre for Public safety, Applied Research is doing work with local community partners on helping them address some of the issues related to crime.”
LP is also providing service to organizations that require a fairly quick turnaround on the solution through its fee-for-service arrangements, which in 2023 resulted in $812,000 in revenue.
“So, we make available our expertise, our researchers, their facilities and equipment to solve problems,” says Dunlop. “‘It’s a very straightforward way that people can come talk to us, tell us what’s going on and if you are able to help them, we can do that.” 
He adds that if it is something outside of the expertise of the research team, they can refer them to some of the other colleges and polytechnics with whom they’ve partnered.
“One of the areas that tends to get lots of fee-for-service requests are people who are doing start-ups in the controlled environment agriculture, for example, Greenhouse growing,” says Dunlop.
 But people are also asking for help in other areas like special technologies, applied research and training.  
“Virtual reality and augmented reality, that’s another area that sees a lot of fee-for-service contracts,” says Dunlop. “Small companies just trying to integrate new technologies into their operations and we’re able to help with that on a quick turnaround.”

3
-2