Margaret Atwood, the celebrated Canadian novelist, has donated C$1 million (£540,000) to the University of Western Ontario to establish the Graeme Gibson chair in avian biology, honouring her late partner who died in 2019. Gibson maintained a lifelong passion for observing birds despite eventually losing his ability to journal about them due to vascular dementia. The donation will support research into how birds move, adapt and behave as their environment undergoes rapid transformation, uniting Atwood's long-standing commitment to environmental protection with scientific inquiry.

The University of Western Ontario has established itself as a global leader in avian research, developing pioneering facilities including the world's first hypobaric climatic wind tunnel for studying bird flight. Researchers continue investigating fundamental mysteries about avian behaviour, such as how birds navigate thousands of kilometres, sense magnetic fields, and fuel their long-distance migrations. Atwood, who champions numerous causes including Indigenous education and human rights, characterised her donation as stemming from both her platform as a renowned author and her financial capacity to support scientific advancement.