Two quick bits.

One, tonight the finalists for the prestigious Canada Excellence Research Chairs program will be presented. This program is superficially similar to the kind of big-funding initiatives I argued are needed in Canada and already exist in the US. The difference, as usual, is that these are focused on applied research:

The CERC program invests $28 million a year to attract and retain the world’s most accomplished and promising minds and help Canada build a critical mass of expertise in the priority research areas of environmental sciences and technologies, natural resources and energy, health and related life sciences and technologies, and information and communication technologies.

Two, the Liberal party has released some stats on the actual funding that the government is delivering for research, and it is nothing like what we’re being told is being allotted.

The current administration is making a big deal out of its investment in graduate scholarships. Complaints have already been raised about the ridiculously high scholarships that they have instituted for a small number of awardees ($50K, or about twice the operating grant for many new labs) and the requirement for SSHRC to focus on business-related programs.

The other significant change that I don’t know has been discussed widely is the cut to the MSc graduate scholarship duration by NSERC. It used to be that both the MSc and PhD scholarships were for 2 years (and you could get both, for 4 years of funding overall). No one does a PhD in science in 2 years, so it is good that this has finally been extended to 3 years. However, the MSc scholarship has now been cut to 1 year.

Anyone who does a PhD in Canada either completes an MSc first or transfers from the MSc to the PhD directly. Many students complete the MSc and move on to non-academic careers, so there are far more MSc students than PhD students. In other words, whether they will finish with an MSc or go on to a PhD, all recruitment decisions of graduate students involve admission to an MSc program at some point.

Scholarships are an important supplement to operating grants which, as everyone now knows, are small in Canada and mostly are used to fund students and their research (if you have $30K, $25K may be spent on salaries for 2 MSc students, for example). If a student can obtain a scholarship, he or she is essentially “free” to an advisor because the stipend is then paid. This makes it much more likely that a student will get into a lab of his or her choice, and it also increases the number of students who can be trained. However, if the funding is only available for 1 year, then an advisor has to decide whether he or she can afford the second year.

Cutting the MSc scholarship to 1 year will, I predict, significantly reduce the positive impact that the program has at the MSc level. It may also indirectly affect the PhD level by causing advisors to suggest that students transfer to the PhD even if they are not really qualified.

There is another effect that will surely arise. In addition to the NSERC scholarship program, students in Ontario can seek funding from the Ontario Graduate Scholarships (OGS) program. Most students apply to both. Generally speaking, if a student receives an NSERC they also get an OGS, as the latter is slightly less competitive. However, a student can only accept one, which means that NSERC and OGS fund different students and therefore increase the total number with support. Now that NSERC is 1 year, scholarship holders will no doubt be applying for OGS for the second year. This means that the pool of applicants will soon include former NSERC winners along with new applicants for OGS. Unless OGS greatly increases the number of awards, this means fewer scholarship students and thus fewer graduate students trained.

As you no doubt are aware from reading this blog and others (CanadaResearchFunding.org and Don’t Leave Canada Behind), NSERC, CIHR, and SSHRC are having their budgets cut by around $148 million over the next three years. They also cut $30 million from the National Research Council.

Surely unrelated, Minister Clement Acts to Advance Automotive Research in Canada. At the bottom of the story, we find:

Automotive Partnership Canada (APC) is a five-year (2009–2014), $145-million initiative to support significant, collaborative, industry-driven research and development (R&D) that benefits the Canadian automotive industry.

APC involves funding from the following agencies:

• Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC): $85 million;
• National Research Council Canada (NRC): $30 million;
• Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI): $15 million;
• Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC): $5 million; and
• Canada Excellence Research Chairs program (CERC): $10 million.

Proposals funded under this initiative will be led and submitted by university or government (NRC) researchers, but they must be clearly driven by industry needs.

The Don’t Leave Canada Behind letter has been signed by more than 2,000 scientists. But what about the other individuals who are just as affected, namely graduate students and postdocs? Given that most of the small amount of funding provided by NSERC goes directly to paying student stipends, they are stakeholders in this as much as anyone else. There is now a way for them to express their support for research in Canada and to send a message that the cuts are unacceptable.

Join Protect Science Funding in Canada at Facebook!

Hat tip: CanadaResearchFunding.org

Apparently simply not canceling the standard, yearly Discovery Grants awards from NSERC warrants a press release nowadays.

Government of Canada Invests in Research Through Discovery Grants Program

OTTAWA, ONTARIO–(Marketwire – April 17, 2009) – The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology) announced new grants for Canada’s top researchers through the Discovery Grants Program (DGP), administered by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).

“The Discovery Grants Program supports researchers judged by their peers to be among the very best,” said Minister Goodyear. “Our Government is proud to invest in research and development because it improves the quality of life for all Canadians and builds a stronger, more resilient economy. That’s why Canada’s Economic Action Plan is investing $5.1 billion in science and technology.”

etc.

Not included: the fact that NSERC (and CIHR and SSHRC) are being chopped by $150 million in the next three years.

HT: CanadaResearchFunding.org

From CBC,

Scientists urge PM to restore research funds

And the Globe and Mail,

PM urged to restore science funds

(A big shout out to the science journalists who are working to help rescue science funding!)

From the CBC [Federal minister wants to rescue famous Quebec observatory]:

The Conservative cabinet minister insists the observatory’s budget was not cut by the government.

He said the government cut funding to the National Research Council, which in turn funds the observatory.

From tomorrow’s issue of Nature.

Canadian government reaffirms support for science and discovery
Gary Goodyear

Sir,

You report researchers’ concerns about the Canadian government’s support for science in two recent News stories (Nature 457, 646; 2009 and Nature 458, 393; 2009). As Minister of State for Science and Technology, I can say that, despite the global economic situation, the government of Canada remains committed to innovation and discovery. We have increased funding to researchers, both in universities and in the private sector.

In the past three years, for example, we have significantly increased the budgets of federal granting councils, increased scholarships through the Canada Graduate Scholarships Program, and increased the Industrial Research Assistance Program for small and medium-sized businesses. The Budget 2009 announcements include Can$750 million (US$590 million) for the Canada Foundation for Innovation to attract and retain world-leading researchers, and a Can$2-billion infrastructure programme. The government has also put in place two five-year funding agreements with Genome Canada that are worth Can$240 million, to support large-scale, world-class research.

Your readers should therefore rest assured that the government of Canada will continue to fund research for the benefit of all scientists and Canadians.

Also in the next issue:

Genome Canada cancels stem-cell project funding

Genome Canada, a not-for-profit organization, has pulled its support for an international stem-cell consortium.

The International Regulome Consortium, which involves 12 countries and aims to understand the regulatory networks that guide cell behaviour, expected Genome Canada to provide Can$20 million (US$16 million) over 5 years towards the Can$80-million project.

Genome Canada’s head Martin Godbout says that the organization decided not to continue its support after an interim review of the project’s science, management and budget recommended substantial changes. The consortium head, Michael Rudnicki, says that the decision was made because the organization lacked the funds after receiving no money in Canada’s 2009 federal budget (see Nature 457, 646; 2009).

“This is about the conservative government failing to support science,” he says. Rudnicki says he is working to organize funding and revamp the structure so that the consortium can continue.

From The Agenda, a program on TVO.