The founders of Perimeter have always been of the view that its long-term success would be best assured by the creation of deep and meaningful partnerships with the surrounding academic community to build a regional nexus of talent involving students, postdocs and junior and senior faculty members. An example of such scientific interaction is the newly founded Institute for Quantum Computing at the University of Waterloo – a new initiative that, together with Perimeter, has already established Waterloo Region as one of the best places in the world for the exciting new field of quantum computing.

Specific methods of interaction between Perimeter and Canadian universities include:

University Cross-Appointment: Perimeter Institute is motivated to facilitate a cross-appointment for any of its senior researchers with any relevant local university. While the majority of any cross-appointed scientist’s time would be designated for research at Perimeter, every cross-appointment is envisioned to involve a sustainable, ab initio commitment of that researcher to the home university in terms of (reduced) teaching duties and supervision of graduate students. The University of Waterloo has concluded an agreement with Perimeter Institute for ten such cross-appointed positions; and the Institute is in the process of discussing similar arrangements with the University of Guelph, University of Western Ontario and McMaster University. We welcome the opportunity to explore various scenarios for cross-appointments with any relevant Canadian university.

Associate Member Program: The Associate Member Program is specifically designed to enable the Institute to partner with similarly focused research universities throughout Canada to jointly recruit international-calibre scientists to their faculties with an associated residence commitment at Perimeter. The Institute is flexible with regards to the time-sharing and cost-sharing details of these relationships, with the understanding that monies committed by the Institute will be directly proportional to the time spent in residence at the Institute. Although this process is initiated at the behest of the host university, it should be noted that all Associate Members must undergo the full and independent approval process of Perimeter Institute. It is not considered strictly necessary for Associate Members to be specialists in the principal scientific activities of Perimeter, although a substantial research overlap is required. To date, the Institute has 8 Associate Members, Alex Buchel (University of Western Ontario), Cliff Burgess (McMaster University), Richard Cleve (University of Waterloo), Raymond Laflamme (University of Waterloo), Michele Mosca (University of Waterloo), Ashwin Nayak (University of Waterloo), Maxim Pospelov (University of Victoria) and Thomas Thiemann (Max Planck). Open searches for faculty positions specifying a possible associate membership at Perimeter are currently on offer at McMaster University and the University of Waterloo.

Affiliate Member Program: The Affiliate Member Program enables select faculty at surrounding Canadian universities to be regularly involved in the Institute’s research activities. The Institute provides office space, accommodation in our visitor housing, a per diem and travel supplements to and from the Institute to its Affiliate Members who are encouraged to come to the Institute on an informal, ongoing basis.

Graduate Students: Perimeter was explicitly designed to involve graduate students in the lifeblood of the Institute and a strong aspect of our mandate is to partner with Canadian universities to both increase the numbers and quality of physics graduate students in Canada. Graduate students are currently associated with PI either through supervision by a cross-appointed PI researcher or through their direct participation in conferences, workshops and summer schools. At present, some 10-12 graduate students are active in the daily activities of the Institute and we anticipate that this number will increase in coming years.

Memoranda of Understanding:The Institute has signed Memoranda of Understanding with 30 Canadian universities and institutions to further its goal of serving as a focal point for all relevant members of the Canadian theoretical physics establishment.

These include: