Universities heard gender balance message: minister

OTTAWA — Six months after Science Minister Kirsty Duncan threatened universities with cuts to their research funding over a “dismal” gender balance among scientists nominated for lucrative research posts, she says they have heard her message and have started to respond.

More than half the scientists submitted by universities for consideration for one of the Canada 150 chair jobs are now women, Duncan said.

As well, 41 per cent of the people nominated for the latest round of Canada Research Chair appointments were female, the highest proportion ever in the 17 years the program has existed.

“I think the message is getting through,” Duncan said.

“Broad perspectives breed great science. If you come with a different perspective you may ask a different question, you may use different methodology and you may get better results. I think this is really good news for Canadian science.”

She noted these are preliminary numbers based on nominations and they still are going through the peer review process. However, in the past the success rates of researchers receiving the appointment after being nominated were similar for men and women. The problem lay in that not enough women were being nominated.

In April, Duncan was appalled when the spring round of Canada Research Chair nominees included twice as many men as women.

Shortly after, she warned schools they had until the end of 2019 to meet decade-old diversity targets. If they didn’t, schools would not get funding for future chairs until they could show the targeted balance not just for women but also researchers with disabilities, visible minorities and those with Indigenous backgrounds.

The extended deadline is largely because the chair positions last for up to seven years each and turnover can be slow.

To speed that along, Duncan also announced this week she is limiting Tier 1 Canada Research Chair jobs to just one renewal. Tier 1 jobs are aimed at more experienced researchers, offer up to $200,000 a year for up to seven years, and can currently be renewed for an unlimited number of terms.

Tier 2 jobs, which target emerging scientists with up to $100,000 a year for up to five years, can only be renewed once.

As of October, women held 21 per cent of Tier 1 positions, and 39 per cent of Tier 2 positions.