About our Dean

Research & Teaching

Declan Ali began his term as dean of the Faculty of Science on July 1, 2023. Ali has been a member of the Faculty of Science for more than 20 years, joining the Department of Biological Sciences in 2000.  Since then, he has served as a professor, associate dean (research), acting associate vice-president (research) (AVPR) and most recently, as chair of the Department of Biological Sciences. 

In his tenure as chair since 2022, Ali has led close to 100 faculty and staff and more than 3,000 undergraduate and graduate students while managing a budget of $20 million and research funds of $18 million. As associate dean (research) he helped construct the current faculty strategic plan (2020-25), fully supporting the pillars of collaboration, equity, diversity and inclusion, transparency and shared leadership. As AVPR, he spent considerable time working with faculties across the institution on strategic initiatives and large-scale collaborative grants such as CFI and Genome Canada.


Declan Ali, dean of the Faculty of Science at the University of Alberta.