Adrian J. Lam | President and Co-Founder

president@utsri.ca | ajl@nrci.ca | Linkedin

Adrian is a driven leader passionate about transforming ideas into action. As Co-Founder and President of UTSRI and NRCI, he leads a diverse executive team united by a shared vision to make research more accessible and meaningful through various formats of competition and conference. With experience across governance, event management, and strategy, Guided by ambition and purpose, Adrian strives to turn vision into reality and he believes leadership is about creating something that lasts beyond oneself.

Letter from the President

To our students, colleagues, and supporters,

If you know me, I have never been particularly good at keeping my ambitions small. When I founded UTSRI in January 2024, I wanted to create a place where students could take their ideas seriously enough to do something with them. I knew there were people who wanted to go further than what was expected of them. The question was whether we could build an organization that gave them the opportunity.

That question has shaped everything we have done since.

At the closing of our inaugural Summit, I spoke about something I was still learning to accept myself: you can give something your absolute best and still fall short. Standing before our delegates, I wanted to be honest about how difficult that can be. It is easy to encourage people to persevere when you are speaking from a position of success. Those words carry a different weight when you have to live by them yourself.

Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Man in the Arena” remains my all-time favourite passage. I returned to it in that closing address because of the credit it gives to the person who steps forward, commits to a worthy cause, and risks falling short. In Roosevelt’s words, “if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly.” I have always found something deeply reassuring in that. We cannot guarantee the outcome of everything we attempt. We can decide whether we care enough to give it our best.

That experience reinforced something I want every student who joins us to understand. You should be able to pursue an ambitious idea without feeling that an imperfect outcome makes the effort meaningless. There is value in preparing thoroughly, putting your reasoning before others, and discovering where it needs to improve. We have a responsibility to build a community where students are willing to take that chance.

Our theme for 2026-2027 is Divergence.

For me, divergence begins with the willingness to pursue a question even when it leads somewhere unfamiliar. It means developing your own judgment, questioning assumptions you have inherited, and having the humility to reconsider conclusions you once defended. Independent thought requires both conviction and a willingness to be wrong.

This applies to how we lead UTSRI as much as it does to the experiences we create. I want our team to question decisions, disagree openly, and take ownership of making things better. That includes questioning me. An organization built around inquiry should hold its own leadership to the same standard.

Through our high school and undergraduate case competitions and the next Scientific Research & Strategy Summit, we will continue asking students to work through uncertainty, defend their reasoning, and communicate beyond their immediate fields. These are demanding experiences, and they should be. Students deserve opportunities that take their capabilities seriously.

With the growth of NRCI and new connections across institutions, our ambitions are also expanding. Seeing an idea that began at the University of Toronto reach students who want to help shape it elsewhere is deeply meaningful to me. It also brings a responsibility to ensure that every commitment we make is supported by the preparation, structure, and care needed to fulfil it.

To our returning team, participants, educators, and supporters: thank you. I know how much of the work behind UTSRI happens quietly, and how much time people give because they believe in what we are building. None of this happens through one person’s ambition alone.

To those joining us for the first time, welcome. You do not need to arrive with every answer or an impressive list of accomplishments. Bring your curiosity, be willing to put in the work, and allow yourself to attempt something whose outcome you cannot guarantee.

There is still a great deal I want us to accomplish. I hope this is the year you find something here that you want to help build.

ad summa nitimur,

Adrian J. Lam