Dr. Viola Birss is a world leader in the area of electrochemistry at surfaces and interfaces and in nanomaterials development for a wide range of clean energy applications. Dr. Birss is a Professor of Chemistry and has been a Tier I Canada Research Chair in Fuel Cells and Related Energy Systems at the University of Calgary since 2004. Birss was a co-founder and leader of the Western Canada Fuel Cell Initiative and the pan-Canadian Solid Oxide Fuel Cells Canada (SOFCC) Research Network, and is currently the Scientific Director of CAESR-Tech (Calgary Advanced Energy Storage and Conversion Research Technology group) at the University of Calgary, a cluster composed of ca. 20 research groups (over 80 members) in science and engineering.

​

Dr. Birss has been the recipient of numerous prestigious scientific awards and honors and is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Society for Chemistry, and the Electrochemical Society. She has also been a keynote and plenary speaker at many conferences and is the author of over 250 refereed scientific publications. She is also the leader of a research group of ca. 20 graduate students and post-doctoral fellows and is involved in scientific collaborations with many national and international groups, as well as with numerous industry

partners.