Greetings,

From everyone here at the McDonald Institute, we wish you a merry and joyful holiday season this year.

The artwork for this year’s holiday card is licensed from local Kingston artists Dakota Ward and Jaylene Cardinal of W.C. Creatives.

This piece is a prayer honouring the sacred roles of mothers and grandmothers, the first teachers, the carriers of love, wisdom, and generational strength. Their presence is woven into every part of our lives, just as each element in this artwork is connected within the greater universe. At the heart of the painting sits the dream catcher, a living web of memory and protection. Its spiralling energy represents how the teachings of our matriarchs radiate outward, shaping who we are and who we become. Surrounding it, the feathers act as messengers, carrying our hopes, griefs, and gratitude into the spirit world, reminding us that we are never alone. Grandmother Moon watches gently from above, her warm glow guiding our emotional tides and nurturing our intuition. She is the eternal grandmother, steady, patient, and full of quiet power. The universe around her is alive: stars, ancestors, and spirit beings create a cosmic landscape that holds all our stories. Together, these elements speak to the deep interconnection between family, spirit, and creation. This artwork is an offering of thanks to the matriarchs who lift us, protect us, and remind us of who we are. It celebrates their enduring influence and the way their love continues to ripple through generations, as infinite and expansive as the night sky.

Learn more about the artists on their Instagram and Facebook pages.



Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is quickly becoming an integral part of our digital world. Whether it’s as simple as summarizing search results or as complex as generating photorealistic images and videos, there is no question that these tools are having a significant impact on our digital experiences.

We are thrilled to host Prof. Geoffrey Hinton in Kingston on January 29th for the 2026 George and Maureen Ewan Lecture. In his talk, Prof. Hinton will explain the various forms of AI, their potentials, and their limits. He will discuss the advancements and integrations of AI into our digital world and how we should anticipate potential intellectual and security risks in the future.

Registration coming soon.



SNO+ results making headlines!

The breakthrough, led by researchers at Oxford, was made using the SNO+ detector at SNOLAB. The team searched for events where a carbon-13 nuclei is struck by a high-energy neutrino and transformed into radioactive nitrogen-13, which decays about ten minutes later. They used a ‘delayed coincidence’ method, which looks for two linked signals: an initial flash from a neutrino striking a carbon-13 nucleus, followed several minutes later by a second flash from the resulting radioactive decay. This distinctive pattern allows researchers to confidently separate real neutrino interactions from background noise. The analysis found 5.6 observed events over a 231-day period, from 4 May 2022 to 29 June 2023. This is statistically consistent with the 4.7 expected to be generated by neutrinos during this time.

"To our knowledge, these results represent the lowest energy observation of neutrino interactions on carbon-13 nuclei to date and provide the first direct cross-section measurement for this specific nuclear reaction to the ground state of the resulting nitrogen-13 nucleus." explains SNOLAB staff scientist, Dr. Christine Kraus.

https://journals.aps.org/prl/abstract/10.1103/1frl-95gj

Watch the CTV coverage of the results featuring SNOLAB's Christine Kraus and Ryan Bayes!

The Professional Development Opportunities (PDO) program is designed to support the national Highly Qualified Personnel (HQP) community in building their skills, confidence, and connections needed for impactful careers in and beyond academia. We encourage new and existing HQP to join us, and for faculty to promote these opportunities within their research groups. 

Join us for the first session on Wednesday, January 14, at 3 pm EST, where we’ll spark your professional development journey with interactive discussions for charting a roadmap for your skills development during your degrees (or employment if you’re a postdoc!). In this session, we will be joined by experts from Queen’s Career Services and Prof. Stephen Sekula (SNOLAB) and Prof. Miriam Diamond (UofT) who will talk about how to tailor your CV and Cover Letter for jobs in academia and industry.

This session (and most of the PDO offerings) will be offered both in person and virtually over Zoom.

Register for the CV and Cover Writing session on January 14 here. 

If you have any questions regarding registration or accommodation, please feel free to reach out to Nikhil Arora (Education & Outreach Officer) at arora@mcdonaldinstitute.ca

Stay tuned for more sessions coming in 2026! 



McDonald Institute seeking new Scientific Director!

Since the establishment of the McDonald Institute, Tony Noble has been the scientific director, leading the Institute from its initial CFREF funds and the programs that made it possible, to the new NSERC funds. A big thank you to Tony for his tenure and leadership as he looks to end his term as the scientific director later in 2026. We now invite applications for the scientific director role, with the opportunity to bring in a new vision for the astroparticle physics community in Canada.

The Scientific Director guides strategic planning, champions major initiatives, and ensures alignment with federal research priorities, funding agencies, and international scientific efforts. They foster an inclusive, collaborative research culture, mentor emerging scientific talent, and promote interdisciplinary connections across cosmology, particle physics, and underground science. As the Institute’s chief scientific ambassador, the Scientific Director represents the McDonald Institute nationally and internationally, strengthens partnerships, elevates the profile of Canadian discovery science, and supports the Institute’s commitment to training, outreach, and public engagement.

If you are ready to shape the future of Canadian astroparticle physics and lead a national

community of researchers toward new scientific frontiers, we invite you to express your interest

by submitting a curriculum vitae and a statement of scientific vision for the McDonald Institute through https://boyden.thriveapp.ly/job/3099



Call for Applications: HQP Pooled Resources Round 2

Round 2 of the HQP Pooled Resources competition is now open! This round supports astroparticle physics faculty, whose research is aligned with the McDonald Institute Research Strategy, to hire undergraduate and graduate researchers working in Canada. For successful applicants, the awarded ticket is expected to be filled (i.e., an individual has been identified for this funding) by the end of May 2026, and all positions made possible by this funding should start no later than Sept 2026.

 

The deadline for applications is Wednesday, January 28, 2026 4.00 pm EDT.

Experimental Postdoctoral Support

We’re pleased to announce a call for applications for McDonald Institute funding to support the hiring of a Postdoctoral Fellow in Experimental Astroparticle Physics. The institute invites faculty members at eligible Canadian institutions to apply for funding to host a postdoctoral researcher in experimental astroparticle physics. The program provides two years of funding to support 75% of a postdoc's salary. Successful faculty who receive an award ticket will then be able to advertise for their positions, with an expected start date before September 30, 2026.

The deadline for applications is Wednesday, January 14, 2026, at 11:59 PM.



The McDonald Institute’s Cross-Disciplinary Internship (CDI) program continues to connect students from outside physics with astroparticle research teams across Canada. This program aims to build new bridges between disciplines and the study of astroparticle physics. Students who are in non-physics degrees are invited to co-apply with an astroparticle physics postdoc or faculty supervisor. Students receive a $12,000 CAD paid research internship, gaining hands-on experience, mentorship, and national networking opportunities. This year, we’re expanding our program to include an Indigenization Cross-Disciplinary Internship (I-CDI) stream to explore reciprocal knowledge exchanges between Indigenous Knowledges and Perspectives (IKP) and astroparticle physics in a meaningful way. We welcome applications from Indigenous students in post-secondary institutions who want to contribute their skills and perspectives to Canada’s astroparticle physics research community.

Supervisors are invited to co-design cross-disciplinary projects and to connect with interested students from any Canadian post-secondary institution. Please connect with Alexandra Pedersen (alexandra.pedersen@mcdonaldinstitute.ca) if you are curious about the program or are working on your application for support. 

Deadline to apply is January 30th, 2026. 



Learn more and share the opportunity with your networks: https://mcdonaldinstitute.ca/cdinternship/

2026 CAP Congress

The 2026 CAP Congress will be held from June 21-25 at the University of Ottawa and Carleton University. The annual CAP Congress is an excellent opportunity to share your research, learn more about physics research and discovery across Canada, network with other physicists and physics students, participate in professional development activities, and help to celebrate physics in Canada and abroad.   

DEADLINE FOR ABSTRACT SUBMISSION - January 15, 2026

Cosmological Frontiers in Fundamental Physics 2026
Cosmology is at a crossroads. Are the rising observational tensions harbingers of doom for our beloved LCDM paradigm? Is the young field of gravitational wave astronomy about to revolutionize our understanding of black holes, and their cosmic dynamics? What is the best explanation of the early universe? What are the most exciting new ideas? This annual workshop brings together leaders from our three institutes and beyond to address these questions, and plan a roadmap to advance the cosmological frontiers of fundamental physics.

Abstract submission deadline: Feb 16, 2026

63rd Winter Nuclear and Particle Physics Conference

The Winter Nuclear and Particle Physics Conference is a national meeting for the Canadian subatomic physics community, with a special focus on providing a forum for junior researchers (students and postdocs) and encourages scientific discussions and community building with subatomic research groups from across Canada. WNPPC2026 will feature sessions focusing on the research areas of interest to the Canadian subatomic physics community, both experimental and theoretical.

Abstract submission is OPEN

CITA@40 / Kingston Meeting: A Celebration of Cosmic Discovery

The Canadian Institute for Theoretical Astrophysics (CITA) will host its 40th-anniversary event, CITA@40 / Kingston Meeting, in Toronto from May 27–29, 2026. This gathering marks four decades of research in theoretical astrophysics, from the early universe to black holes and star formation. It also continues the tradition of the Kingston Meeting, a long-standing forum for Canada’s theoretical astrophysicists that predates CITA itself. Full details of the meeting at: https://conference.cita.utoronto.ca/event/2/overview 

The event will feature scientific talks spanning CITA’s history and scholarship, with a focus on both past achievements and future directions. Over 132 CITA alumni now hold tenured faculty positions worldwide, reflecting the institute’s global impact. The meeting provides an opportunity for alumni, researchers, and collaborators to reconnect and engage in discussions about the field’s evolution.

Abstracts for presentations are due by March 2, 2026, and registration is open. Questions and inquiries can be directed to the organizing committee.

Our newsletter provides the astroparticle physics community with updates, programs, and opportunities and we want to help share your story! We invite all members of the community to contribute to this newsletter.



The McDonald Institute at Queen’s University is situated in the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe & Haudenosaunee First Nations. The Institute is part of a national network of institutions and research centres which operate in other traditional Indigenous territories. Visit www.whose.land to learn about the traditional territories where astroparticle physicists are grateful to live and work across Canada.



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