As President of the Canadian Association of Physicists (CAP) it is my pleasure to welcome you to our website. As the world celebrates the International Year of Quantum Science and Technologies, this year also marks the 80th anniversary of the Canadian Association of Physicists. Since 1945, the CAP has striven to foster a vibrant and inclusive physics community that drives discovery and innovation in Canada. The CAP membership comes from academia (universities, CEGEP and colleges), the Canadian school systems, industry and government.
The CAP promotes Excellence, Professionalism, Collegiality and Mentorship to its membership and believes that an inclusive, diverse and equitable community is key to its success as an association and to the development of physics as a field. As such, we are committed to reflecting these values in our governance, our administrative processes and our programs. CAP has an Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) Advisory Committee, an EDI Implementation Committee, and a Division for Gender Equity in Physics. Our Division organizes panel discussions at the annual CAP Congress, contributes to our magazine (Physics in Canada), and proposes speakers for our lecture Tour and our Congress plenary sessions. It also promotes attendance to conferences for gender minorities in Physics.
The CAP plays a crucial advocacy role for our community, meeting regularly with research funding agencies such as NSERC, government officials and policy makers to promote physics as the cornerstone of fundamental science and a key contributor to Canada’s innovation ecosystem.
In 1999, the CAP established a certification process that led to a Professional Physicist designation (Professional Physicist) and trademarked the abbreviations “P.Phys.” in English and “phys.” in French to create an easily identifiable specialist designation. Details on the application process are available on our website (https://cap.ca/programs/pphys-certification/application-process-and-forms/). The CAP is also striving to provide professional development activities to its members, such as workshops to further the professional development of CEGEP teachers in collaboration with partner organisations.
The CAP recognizes exceptional contributions to Physics through its CAP Medals, Awards and Fellowships. The Fellowship programwas introduced in 2022 and recognizes significant contributions by CAP members in education, research, professional practice or service (Canadian Association of Physicists Fellows and Other Recognitions for Post-Graduate Physicists ). Please consider nominating deserving colleagues for the suite of CAP recognitions.
Our student members (undergraduate and graduate) are a core focus of the association. The student members are represented by the Student Advisory Council (SAC), who advises the CAP Board, posts academic and career resources for students on their website sac.cap.ca, and runs programmes such as a national online physics speakers series. The CAP is progressively extending our lecture tour program beyond undergraduate students to CEGEP and high school students.
The annual CAP Congress attracts physicists from across Canada and around the world. A significant number of the speakers are physics students from all over Canada, who are given the option to compete in oral and poster competitions. The CAP Medals for excellence in research, service, and teaching are awarded at Congress. The CAP also hosts an annual full-day physics workshop for local high school / CEGEP teachers in conjunction with Congress. Please join us in Ottawa for our 2026 Congress, which will be hosted jointly by the University of Ottawa and Carleton University.
This year we are implementing our new 5-year Strategic Plan, which aims to make the CAP the voice of physics in Canada and to increase its relevance for all of the physics community in Canada. To expand our impact, a key strategic objective will be to increase substantially our membership. If you are not a member of the CAP, please consider joining the only multi-subdisciplinary national physics association today! Your support is critical to our ability to advocate on your behalf, and to provide the services that are important to Canadian physicists, physics students and physics educators, especially in the challenging context we are all facing. The CAP has reciprocal agreements with several other physics societies (APS, JPS, Australian PS) that allow CAP members to attend the conferences of these societies at their member rates.
If you already are a member, please consider contributing your time and talents by joining the CAP Advisory Council, or one of our committees in Science Policy, Student Affairs, Professional Practice, International Affairs, or Member and Affiliate Services. Please reach out to our Executive Director, Francine Ford (execdir[at]cap[dot]ca) or our Program Manager, Ellen Molloy (programs[at]cap[dot]ca).
The CAP Foundation (CAPF) is the fund-raising arm of our organization for many of our education-related activities that are not supported by membership fees, such as the CAP Lecture Tour, Student Scholarships, the High School-CEGEP Teacher Awards, the High School and University Prize Exams, and the Canada Wide Science Fair. Your tax-deductible donations are critical to ensuring the availability of these programs and are much appreciated. Please give generously. Donations are processed through Canada Helps with charitable receipts issued directly by them. Canada Helps also offers the possibility to set up monthly donations in addition to making a single contribution.
All the best,
Pierre Bénard, CAP
Pierre.Benard@uqtr.ca