Viola Birss is a Professor of Chemistry and has been the holder of a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Fuel Cells and Related Clean Energy Systems at the University of Calgary for two full terms. Dr. Birss was one of the founders and then leader of both the Western Canada Fuel Cell Initiative and the pan-Canadian Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Canada (SOFCC) organization and more recently was the Scientific Co-Director of the SOFCC NSERC Strategic Research Network. She is currently the Scientific Director of CAESR-Tech (Calgary Advanced Energy Storage and Conversion Research Technologies), a large cluster of scientists and engineers who are focussed on electrochemical technologies, e.g., electrolysis cells, fuel cells, a variety of batteries, and electrochemical capacitors, as well as electricity management and LCA at the University of Calgary. She is also the Co-Lead of the Electrolysis Theme of HyPT (Hydrogen Production Technologies), a Global Research Center involving Australia, the USA, UK and Canada. Dr. Birss has been the recipient of numerous prestigious scientific awards and honors, holding Fellowships in the Royal Society (UK), the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Society for Chemistry, and the Electrochemical Society. She is currently an Associate Editor of the Journal of Materials Chemistry A and of Materials Advances, is the recent recipient of the Order of the University of Calgary, and is the author of over 350 refereed scientific publications. 

Dr. Birss’ research team is heavily focused on the discovery of a range of structurally ordered nanomaterials for a variety of clean energy and environment applications. This includes improving the performance/lifetime of PEM fuel cells using paradigm-shifting nanoporous carbon materials developed in her group, leading to the founding of a start-up company (Momentum Materials), and more recently, the development of novel electrocatalysts for green hydrogen production from seawater. Her work is also centered around the application of highly active mixed conducting metal oxide perovskite catalysts that can split water and convert CO2 to clean green fuels and chemicals in high temperature solid oxide electrolysis cells, relevant to her second start-up company (SeeO2 Energy). Other areas of research include the development of core@shell nanoparticles, protective coatings and other novel strategies to combat the corrosion of metals, as well as the development of selective and sensitive electrochemical biosensors for the detection of pathogens. Dr. Birss has also been a committed advocate for EDI, beginning in the early 90’s in her efforts specifically towards the attraction and retention of women in science and engineering.