Report calls for $1.3B injection for research
Canada’s scholarly inquiry stalled as funds slashed for independent projects
Basic research and scholarly inquiry require urgent reinvestment from the Canadian government after a sustained period of withering funding and poor co-ordination, a major report released Monday warned.
The review of fundamental science in Canada said its single most important recommendation was to rapidly increase funding for independent, investigator-led research, after “flatlining” federal spending had eroded the country’s global scientific standing. The nine-member panel that produced the report also called for a new advisory council to address broad inconsistencies in how funding is allocated across different disciplines, among other issues.
Observers said the report comes at a critical time, as pressures on research in the U.S. and U.K. — from Trump administration cuts and Britain’s exit from the European Union, respectively — have given Canada an opportunity to regain its lost momentum.
“It provides a very comprehensive analysis of the Canadian research ecosystem and it provides a very clear road map for what needs to be done,” said Paul Davidson, the president of Universities Canada.
Last June, federal Science Minister Kirsty Duncan convened an advisory panel and tasked its nine members with reviewing the federal system of funding and support for research at universities, colleges, hospitals and other institutions that sit outside of government departments and agencies. The panel, led by former University of Toronto president David Naylor, received 1,275 submissions from individuals and groups and met with 230 researchers.
Examining Canada’s investment in research at institutes of higher education as a percentage of GDP, the panel noted that Canada leads all G7 countries — but only because universities themselves are supplying 50 per cent of that funding, while the federal government’s contribution is under 25 per cent and dropping.
Available funding from granting councils has been in steady decline since 2008, the report said. Starting in roughly 2006 — the year Stephen Harper’s Conservative Party came to power — a significant portion of the funds that did exist were funneled into priority areas and industry partnerships, further reducing the pool of money available for investigators who wanted to pursue their own curiosity-driven research programs.
The panel estimated that for those who want to pursue independent, basic science, these combined pressures resulted in a 35-per-cent decline in real, available resources per researcher. Measures of Canada’s scientific performance, from awards recognition to publications and citations, suggest “that Canada is stalling relative to peers,” the report concludes. The panel recommends lifting the annual funding base for the four major granting agencies — CIHR, NSERC, SSHRC and CFI — from $3.5 billion to $4.8 billion by the end of four years.
An advisory council mandated to harmonize, co-ordinate and provide oversight to the fragmented granting agencies should be chaired by an external member and vice-chaired by the not-yet-appointed chief science adviser, the report also recommends. Funding prospects for researchers in the early stages of their careers differ across the various granting agencies, which particularly impacts the progress of women, indigenous researchers, researchers with disabilities and other under-represented minorities.
Jim Woodgett, director of research of the Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute and a vocal critic of shortcomings in science funding, called the report thorough and timely, and said he looked forward to seeing how the government would implement it.