EIC Canada Collaboration
The Electron Ion Collider (EIC) is a major new collider facility being developed on Long Island, New York, by the US Department of Energy. At the EIC, polarized electrons will collide with polarized protons, polarized light ions, and heavy nuclei at luminosities far beyond what is currently available. The facility will answer several fundamental questions central to completing an understanding of atoms and integral to the agenda of nuclear physics today.
The EIC project achieved key early milestones with the site selection of Brookhaven National Lab and the first critical decision (CD-0) establishing mission need. The project is planned to start operations following completion of construction and commissioning. The EIC Users Group is coordinating the international efforts to instrument the two interaction regions of the collider.
Canadian subatomic physicists have participated intensively in the planning of this new facility and have chartered a multi-institutional EIC Canada Collaboration to coordinate participation. We anticipate that the Canadian participation in the first new North American collider in this century will become similar in scope as, e.g., the Canadian participation in the Belle II experiment.
Long Range Planning Brief
As part of the Canadian Subatomic Physics Long Range Planning process coordinated by the Canadian Institute of Nuclear Physics (CINP) and the Institute for Particle Physics (IPP), the EIC Canada Collaboration has prepared briefing documents that outline our plans for participation in the EIC project:
Interested in Research at the EIC?
We are currently accepting applications for both graduate students and undergraduate summer research students interested in research at the EIC.
Funding
The EIC Canada Collaboration gratefully acknowledges funding support from:
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Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) through Subatomic Physics Project grants SAPPJ-2021-00026, SAPPJ-2023-00041, and SAPPJ-2025-00040 for “Canadian participation in the Electron-Ion Collider”. These grants support highly qualified personnel through undergraduate and graduate student stipends at all participating institutions.
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Canada Foundation for Innovation - Innovation Fund (CFI IF) for “Enabling High Intensity Collisions and High Granularity Detectors for the Electron-Ion Collider”. This funding supports infrastructure, in particular the construction of superconducting radiofrequency crab cavities and the End-of-Sector Boxes for the Barrel Imaging Calorimeter of the ePIC experiment.
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Research Manitoba for matching funding towards the CFI IF project “Enabling High Intensity Collisions and High Granularity Detectors for the Electron-Ion Collider”.
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Canadian Institute for Nuclear Physics (CINP) for graduate fellowship support.
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Google Summer of Code (GSoC) for supporting student contributors working on open-source software for EIC Canada.
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Mitacs Globalink for supporting international research internships related to EIC Canada.
Code of Conduct
Our collaboration is committed to maintaining an inclusive and equitable working environment for all members. Our commitments towards equity, diversity, and inclusions are listed in our Code of Conduct. The collaboration ombudspersons in the leadership team can be contacted with concerns.
News & Outreach
2026-03-13 – UM Physicists Shaping the World’s Next Supercollider and the Future of Medical Technology
University of Manitoba researchers are leading Canada’s contribution to the Electron-Ion Collider at Brookhaven National Laboratory, backed by a $7 million investment from the Canada Foundation for Innovation and Research Manitoba. Their work also drives advances in medical technology, including more portable cancer-treatment equipment for underserved communities.
2026-03-13 – EIC Canada Receives CFI Innovation Fund Award
The Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) has awarded EIC Canada Collaboration funding through the Innovation Fund to support detector development and computational infrastructure for Canadian participation in the Electron Ion Collider. All funded projects from the March 2026 Innovation Fund competition can be found at the CFI news release.
Contact
For information on joining the EIC Canada collaboration or contributing as an associate member, please contact Wouter Deconinck.