USask recognizes Roy, Banerjee, Adewole as top researchers for 2026

Roy, recognized nationally and internationally as a leading scholar in the areas of speculative fiction, women’s writing, and relations of power in Canadian literature, is the Bateman Professor of English in USask’s College of Arts and Science. Her award will be presented June 2 during USask Spring Convocation ceremony at Merlis Belsher Place.

As well, USask is recognizing two outstanding young scientists—one an expert in nonruminant nutrition, and the other a rising star in virology—with New Researcher awards: Dr. Deborah Adewole (PhD) is an assistant professor in the College of Agriculture and Bioresources; Dr. Arinjay Banerjee (PhD) is a principal scientist in the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization (VIDO), adjunct professor at the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM), and co-lead of USask’s One Health signature area. They will be honoured June 17 during USask’s Faculty and Staff Awards ceremony at Maquis Hall.

The annual awards, announced by USask Vice-President Research Baljit Singh, honour significant contributions to research, knowledge or artistic work (RSAW).

“I’m just thrilled, of course,” Roy said about her award recognition. “It was unexpected in some ways, but I am very much pleased that my research was recognized, because sometimes research in the humanities is not recognized or understood as clearly as research in the sciences or other areas.”

Roy sums up her research career trajectory at USask as focused on power relations as exemplified in Canadian literature, including issues of gender and colonialism. As a literary scholar, she is also interested in how literature demands that we think about the social world around us through a humanistic perspective.

She has published 22-peer reviewed articles, has presented more than 40 papers at conferences and events in Canada and internationally, and has been in demand as a keynote, plenary and invited speaker. She has authored two books and edited two others.

Roy has mentored 46 graduate students through master’s and PhD degrees, and she has supported emerging national and international scholars by offering research assistantships, enabling participation in conferences and panels, and guiding them through publication of their own research.

“Mentorship has been a really important part of my career, and I think this award, in some ways, recognizes that,” said Roy. “Mentorship of others’ research, writing, and publishing is important. It’s essential to our discipline and the whole university, and I’m proud that I was able to be part of it for the past 22 years.”

Roy’s research contributions are foundational and forward-looking, said Dr. Marlene Goldman (PhD) of the University of Toronto’s Department of English in a letter of support for her nomination.

“Her four books—Maps of Difference (2005), The Next Instalment (2019), Listening Up, Writing Down, and Looking Beyond (2012, co-edited), and most recently, ReVisions: Speculating in Literature and Film in Canada (2025)—demonstrate a consistent ability to open new areas of inquiry and to model rigorous, imaginative scholarship,” Goldman wrote.

“Professor Roy’s achievements represent a model of scholarly excellence: a research profile of international distinction; a continuous and field-defining publication record; extensive and successful external grant funding; exceptional mentorship; and leadership that has strengthened the discipline locally, nationally, and globally,” wrote Goldman.

Talking about ReVisions, an edited collection that explores speculative fiction and film in Canada, including by Indigenous authors and filmmakers, Roy notes that these works speculate about the future in order to comment on what is happening now or what has happened in the past. She said the works she analyzes tend to be dystopian and apocalyptic, such as novels by Margaret Atwood and Emily St. John Mandel and short stories by Atwood and others, including Margaret Laurence, Carol Shields, and P. K. Page. Roy argues that research on works such as these is imperative because they can provide a humanistic perspective on issues such as warfare, climate change, AI, health crises, and scientific developments, and can allow us to imagine revised and perhaps better futures.

“It’s important for us not just to take a scientific approach to these but also to think about the impacts on humans, on our communication, on our lives.”

In recognition of Roy’s established international research reputation and outstanding contributions to scholarship, the English department in 2023 chose her as the Bateman Chair in English and the college recently presented her with its own Distinguished Scholar Award. She also has earned several teaching awards, including the Provost’s Outstanding Teaching Award, and has been nominated for others. She helped to bring literary studies to the community through her stewardship of the department’s Literature Matters: Literature in the Community series, and her involvement as a volunteer for the Word on the Street annual literary festival.

“I felt honoured by the recognition, I felt grateful to God for my life and good health,” Adewole said about her award.

“I am thankful to my colleagues for the nomination, to every member of my department for being so supportive, and also to my students, past and present, who have conducted research with me. It was a collective effort. I am also very thankful for my family for their support.”

Before joining USask in 2023, Adewole had a five-year appointment at Dalhousie University as an assistant professor and Industrial Research chair. She chose USask because “It’s a good place to work and it’s where my interests meet opportunity, having a strong college of agriculture in an agriculture-focused province.”

In their letter nominating Adewole for the award, her AgBio colleagues, Dr. Timothy Mutsvangwa (PhD) and Dr. Natacha Hogan, professors in the Department of Animal and Poultry Science, wrote: “Dr. Adewole has rapidly established a nationally and internationally recognized and highly productive research program in poultry nutrition and management, antimicrobial stewardship, and sustainable livestock production.”

They note that Adewole’s scholarly productivity and technology transfer are exceptional for an early‑career researcher, as she has published 55 peer‑reviewed papers in high-impact scientific journals in her field such as Poultry Science, the Canadian Journal of Animal Science, and Journal of Animal Science, and also provided more than 60 conference abstracts/presentations.

Adewole is particularly proud of her record as a mentor, having trained 37 highly qualified personnel, with seven still under her wings at USask. Many have gone on to careers in industry, government and academia and are doing well, Adewole said.

She has been awarded major competitive funding as principal investigator, including NSERC Discovery and Alliance grants, and funding from poultry industry groups.

As poultry and pork industries strive to reduce antibiotic use, Adewole said her goal is to ensure sustainability and production efficiency. Her team’s research is centred on developing nutritional strategies to improve the gut health of animals and maintain a strong immune system by developing dietary alternatives to antibiotics using food byproducts, plant extracts and supplements to provide probiotics, prebiotics, organic acids and dietary fibre. This aims to mitigate the impacts of heat and other stressors on nonruminants.

Adewole is researching the use of fruit residue that is now considered waste—such as grape pomace (skins, seeds and stems), and apple and berry pomace—to learn if these products can be processed and included in feed to increase the “gain to feed ratio,” meaning using less animal feed to gain more weight. As well, she is extracting from dogwood plants, which grow freely in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, an antioxidant-rich product that is beneficial in feed.

“With a growing human population, demand for animal protein will continue to rise. As we work to meet that need, we must ensure that animal production protects human health while minimizing negative impacts on the environment.”

“Industry continues to welcome research innovations that enhance efficiency, sustainability, and profitability in animal production, including strategies that supplement or reduce reliance on antibiotics. I am pleased that my research contributes to solutions that address some of the critical needs currently facing animal production,” Adewole said.

“As a researcher, I see myself as still growing, with much more to learn and accomplish.”

“It was quite a surprise. I don’t remember being nominated and it was not something I was expecting,” said Banerjee about the award announcement. “It’s really because of my trainees. I have exceptionally driven trainees in my lab, and it makes my job easy. I’m having a lot of fun doing science and learning alongside trainees.”

In a letter nominating Banerjee for the New Researcher award, VIDO Director and CEO Dr. Volker Gerdts (PhD, DVM) wrote: “Dr. Banerjee is the most successful young scientist I have ever met in my career … (He) has already made great strides toward improving the health of Canadians and beyond through his innovative research.”

Banerjee, who completed a master’s degree at the National Institute of Virology in India, was attending a summer program through ZIBI at Humboldt University in Germany in 2013 when he met a USask delegation that included Dr. Vikram Misra (PhD) from the Western College of Veterinary Medicine (WCVM).

Attracted by Misra’s talk on an Ebola virus outbreak, Banerjee told Misra he was interested in studying viruses in bats. Misra didn’t have an established bat virology program at the time but convinced Banerjee to join him at USask where together they would create one.

Banerjee earned a PhD at USask, where his doctoral thesis on coronavirus-host interactions was awarded the Governor General’s Gold Medal. He is now an internationally recognized expert on emerging viruses that originate in bats and is USask’s Tier 2 Canada Research Chair in Zoonotic Virus and Animal Reservoirs.

Banerjee has 80 peer-reviewed publications in high impact journals such as Nature, Nature Microbiology, Nature Communications, PNAS, Cell Reports, and Journal of Virology, and has been awarded more than 15 grants as principal investigator by major funding agencies. He has made more than 100 invited presentations and guest lectures at international institutions. Among his numerous awards are the Early Career Award by the Canadian Society for Virology, and the American Society for Virology Ann Palmenberg Junior Investigator Award.

Banerjee runs a large lab at VIDO, and has supervised nine post-doctoral fellows, five PhD students, three master’s students, 13 bachelor’s honours students and a research lab technician.

For funding purposes, his lab is divided into three distinct areas. The first studies how viruses interact in the reservoir animal host. Learning how hosts avoid infection provides information his team can use to develop novel therapeutic strategies. He’s pursuing funding to spinoff a biotech company based at USask to develop biomedical therapies against novel emerging zoonotic viruses.

The second area looks at how viruses that jump from host animals behave in the human immune system. Along with VIDO colleague, Dr. Neeraj Dhar (PhD), his lab is developing in petri dishes mini-organs that mimic the architecture of such organs as lungs and kidneys. Any therapeutics developed using this method can proceed directly to human trials, and Banerjee and Dhar want to advance this technology at VIDO.

The third section develops antiviral therapeutics. His team is one of four at VIDO whose work led to $24 million from the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations to develop vaccine candidates that broadly protect against coronaviruses. Banerjee wants to expand the research to develop vaccines against Nipah virus.

“I have been fortunate to work with some amazing collaborators across the planet,” Banerjee said. “It’s rewarding to learn from these individuals. My mentors opened a lot of doors for me, and I want to open even more doors for my trainees.”