By Ilana MacDonald, Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics
Renée Hložek, Associate Professor at the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics at the University of Toronto, is one of six researchers who was awarded the 2025 Arthur B. McDonald Fellowship by the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).
“This is an incredible recognition of Professor Hložek’s growing accomplishments and promise of future achievements,” says Stephen Wright, interim dean of the Faculty of Arts & Science. “On behalf of the entire faculty, I congratulate her on this national recognition and well-deserved honour.”
The award is typically given annually to up to six early-stage academic researchers in the fields of natural sciences and engineering. Over the two years of the fellowship, it is meant to support and accelerate their research in order to allow the recipients to inspire others by becoming leaders in their field.
“This award is such an honour to receive” said Hložek. “It comes at just the perfect time: the two telescopes that define my cosmological research are at a defining point with their first data soon available for me to sink my teeth into, and I have lots to do!”
“I am so grateful for the research support and extra time available to drive these research goals. Doing this work is such a gift and the fact that it is recognised by NSERC is icing on the cake.”
The Arthur B. McDonald Fellowship will support Hložek in her work that focuses on the first science results from the Vera C. Rubin Observatory, a one-of-a-kind instrument that had first light earlier this year, and the Simons Observatory, a new radio telescope with the goal of studying the polarization of the oldest light in the universe.
In anticipation of the large amounts of astronomical data that will be coming from these two telescopes, Hložek is at the head of the Canadian Data Intensive Astrophysics Platform, or CanDIAPL, which will process data from both the Rubin and Simons observatories, and serve it to the Canadian astronomical community.
This new data will enable Hložek to explore fundamental questions about the Universe, such as its composition, structure, and evolution. These questions can be probed by using precise measurements of the oldest light we can detect, called the Cosmic Microwave Background, and of extremely energetic exploding stars called supernovae.
“Awards like this also make me reflect on all the people who enable this success,” continued Hložek. “My research group and their individual efforts going after the ‘big questions’ in astrophysics and cosmology, but also my collaborators all over the world who make doing this work so rewarding.”
Hložek’s research group at the Dunlap Institute is called the HNauts, a clever play on the abbreviation for Hubble’s constant. The members of the group, which includes several graduate students and post-doctoral fellows, tackle a variety of cosmological questions.
“Cosmology is really a team sport as we build massive telescopes and then need lots of person power to drive innovation in analysing and interpreting the data. It is a privilege to work in these teams.”
With the support of the of this fellowship, Hložek will also apply her astrophysical expertise to the field of neuroscience, by using imaging techniques originally developed for the study of cosmology to analyse images of the brain. The goal is to study brain cell activity in order to detect early signs of neurodegenerative conditions, such as Parkinson’s disease.
“Part of this award is also to develop a mentoring network among Canadian scientists to support the next generation,” said Hložek. “I think that mentoring and personal support of scientists is often what gives one the nudge to keep going in our quest to understand the cosmos, and I want to give new researchers the opportunity to have that support.”
Hložek adds the Arthur B. McDonald Fellowship to an already impressive list of honours including the King Charles III Coronation Medal (2025), the Rutherford Memorial Medal (2024), election to the College of New Scholars (2022), the McLean Award (2021), the Harvey B. Richer Medal (2021), the Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowship in Physics (2020), and being named a CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar (2019).
About the Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics
The Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics in the Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto is an endowed research institute with over 80 faculty, postdocs, students, and staff, dedicated to innovative technology, groundbreaking research, world-class training, and public engagement.
The research themes of its faculty and Dunlap Fellows span the Universe and include optical, infrared and radio instrumentation, Dark Energy, large-scale structure, the Cosmic Microwave Background, the interstellar medium, galaxy evolution, cosmic magnetism and time-domain science.
The Dunlap Institute, the David A. Dunlap Department of Astronomy & Astrophysics, and other researchers across the University of Toronto’s three campuses together comprise the leading concentration of astronomers in Canada, at the leading research university in the country.
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For more information, please contact:
Ilana MacDonald
Public Outreach, Communications and Events Strategist
Dunlap Institute for Astronomy & Astrophysics
University of Toronto