Marc Fortin

Marc Fortin is Vice-President of Research Partnerships at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC). Dr. Fortin leads research support programs that bring together academic researchers with other organizations to generate new knowledge and new impact for Canada.

Dr. Fortin has led the development of policies, strategies and programs designed to support research partnerships across organizations and disciplines to generate benefits for Canada and Canadians. He has worked extensively at the national and international levels to leverage research to generate impact for the policy, industry, regulatory or decision-maker communities. He has provided advice to Governments in topics at the interface of science, policy and society. He has led the development of research support programs focused on impact for Canada that have changed the relationships between partners in the innovation space.

Prior to joining NSERC, Dr. Fortin held senior positions leading research organizations in academia and government. He has led science and technology branches as Assistant Deputy Minister at the Department of National Defence and at Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada for the last 12 years. He was Associate Professor at McGill University where he held leadership positions (Department Chair and Associate Dean – Research) for the previous 16 years.

Dr. Fortin was a molecular geneticist, with a B.Sc. and a M.Sc. from Université Laval and a Ph.D. in Plant Molecular Biology from McGill University. He did post-doctoral work in molecular genetics at the University of California and the University of Chicago.