Honourees included the recipient of the SSHRC Gold Medal – Professor Myriam Denov, the evening’s keynote speaker – as well as two appointees to the Order of Canada, two Alfred P. Sloan Research Fellowships, two Prix du Québec laureates, the Humboldt Research Award recipient, the Gairdner Early Career Investigator Award recipient, the Breakthrough Prize in Fundamental Physics recipient and six new Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada. Winners of the President’s Prize for Public Engagement Through Media were also honoured.

In his opening remarks, McGill President and Vice-Chancellor Deep Saini recognized the achievements of the 116 honourees, who cumulatively received 122 major prizes and distinctions. He stated: “That remarkable number is more than a point of pride, it reflects something fundamental about who we are as McGillians and it speaks to a shared commitment to the highest standards of scholarship, and to advancing society in ways that genuinely matter.”
 

‘What does it really mean to listen?’

“I want to begin with a simple question that has followed me on my research journey: what does it really to mean to listen?” said Myriam Denov, Professor in the School of Social Work and Canada Research Chair in Children, Families and Armed Conflict.

For over two decades and on three continents, her work has transformed how scholars engage with marginalized children. She has implemented innovative, responsible and ethical participatory methodologies and radically expanded youth empowerment in research.

“At its core my work asks, how do we listen to children whose lives have been shaped by war? Not simply how we hear them, but how we create the conditions in which they can speak openly,” Denov said. “This question feels especially urgent today as more than 500 million children – one in six – live in conflict zones and are not just exposed to violence, but grow up within it.”

Denov received the 2025 SSHRC Impact Awards Gold Medal, one of Canada’s most prestigious research honours, for her pioneering research on wartime experiences and for promoting action and change. In April, she was also awarded the Governor General’s Innovation Award.

Remembering Professor John Michael Dealy

Bravo emcee, Dominique Bérubé, Vice‑President, Research and Innovation, recognized the honourees for their exceptional contributions.

“We are so proud of what our research community has achieved,” she said. “Every Faculty and school at McGill is represented at Bravo, a powerful reminder that research excellence at McGill spans disciplines and unites the entire University.”

Bérubé also offered a special tribute to Professor John Michael Dealy, whose passing was marked during the event. An esteemed researcher and a much-admired mentor and colleague, Dealy was named a life member of the Royal Society of Canada posthumously in 2025. He joined McGill in 1964 and served as Chair of the Department of Chemical Engineering and as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering.

Click here to view the full list of the 2026 Bravo laureates