Vice-presidents of research from across Canada converged in Ottawa on April 13 to meet with the presidents of the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), Natural Sciences & Engineering Council (NSERC), Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), regarding the impact of the 2012 budget on their funding programs.

While the complete details of the consequences of budget 2012 remain to be fully worked out, the overall tone of the message emphasized the efforts being made by Tri-Council to protect and promote fundamental research, to describe where the new investments in the budget will be rolled out, and to give a first look at where the mandated cuts in programming and operations will occur.

Initial discussion emphasized new investments being made and the expression of support for basic research in the budget language (if not directly in the dollars being distributed). Not only was the overall budget to Tri-Council preserved in a budget cycle where five to ten per cent cuts in overall budgets were the norm, but new investments were committed to support a number of new and existing programs. Thus CANARIE, Genome Canada and the CFI all received major infusions of funding that were accompanied by focused investments (in mental health etc.). While there is no explicit new funding for basic research in this budget, the lack of an overall funding reduction place Tri-Council in rare company around the federal budget table this year.

Over the last number of years, Tri-Council agencies were asked to undertake a strategic review of their expenditures, a process which required a review of all program spending and assessment of savings. The review process identified areas where savings could be achieved in order to redirect funding within the organization for new initiatives or to other government priorities.

While these are clearly no longer the heady times of the early 2000s, when Tri-Council budgets grew rapidly in a largely unrestricted manner, overall support for university-led research by the federal government remains comparatively strong and researchers should be encouraged by this. However, it is clear that at all levels, the funders of university research continue to move towards an emphasis on how the results of university-led research translates into tangible benefits for Canadian society and the Canadian economy. Here it is important for researchers to continue their efforts to explain and educate government and other funders on the need to support fundamental research as the bedrock on which university-led research is built.

It is also crucial to emphasize the need for programing that provides funding for making connections amongst researchers and sustaining the basic infrastructure needed for individual research programs. We can all, in following up on the steps presently been taken by Tri-Council, encourage the continued protection and development of core people and basic research programing within Tri-Council, and emphasize at every opportunity that the development of Canada’s Innovation Agenda can only be successful if done in partnership with development of our discovery agenda.

For the full commentary, which includes specific details of anticipated programming changes, please click here.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91ÑÇɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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Organized by the Faculty's Committee on Research Policy & Planning, the celebration comprises four themed presentations from noon to 1:30pm daily. Scheduled venues include the Senate Chamber, Scott Library Atrium and the 91ÑÇÉ« Research Tower.

On Monday, the week begins with "Ideas at Work: Special Research Team Edition" in the Senate Chamber, 9th Floor, North Ross Building. Learning to work with each other is an important learning outcome in university education. In "Ideas at Work", students will discuss how their research can advance knowledge, how their collaborations work and what they are learning from the collaborative research experience.

Presentations by 11 91ÑÇÉ« undergraduates include topics such as the Stanford prison experiment of 1971, a look at the two Canadas through cheese production, supply chain economics and the environment, corporate tax cuts, and pornography and personal narratives.

Tuesday's presentations feature a series of one-minute lectures titled "Instant Knowledge Transfers" by LA&PS Faculty members in the Scott Library Atrium.

Presenting knowledge discovery in an accessible yet precise and concise way is a daily challenge. Faculty members will each present the essence of a discovery in 60 seconds. The lecturers from the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies include:

• Christopher Innes, Distinguished Research Professor and Canada Research Chair in Performance & Culture;
• Naomi Couto, Public Policy & Administration;
• Sophie Bury, business librarian in the Peter F. Bronfman Business Library, Schulich School of Business;
• Lisa Sloniowski, English literature librarian, Scott Library;
• George Georgopoulos, Economics;
• Marie-Helene Budworth, Human Resource Management;
• Luin Goldring, Sociology;
• Alison Kemper, Administrative Studies;
• William Wicken, History;
• Philipp Angermeyer, Languages, Literatures & Linguistics
• Sean Kheraj, History
• Niru Nirupama, Administrative Studies
• Sotirios Liaskos, Information Technology

Wednesday's lunch session in the Senate Chamber features conversations led by Wade Rowland (Communications Studies) with four 91ÑÇÉ« professors, titled "Up Close and Personal: Different Research Journeys". Professors George Fallis (Economics and Social Science), William Wicken (History), Darryl Reed (Social Science) and Ananya Mukherjee-Reed (Political Science) will talk about why they chose to become academics and share lessons learned from setbacks and successes in their personal research journeys. After the conversations, student researchers from the Student Council of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies will ask the scholars questions on what they would love to know but did not have the chance to ask before.

In Thursday's final session, in Room 956, 91ÑÇÉ« Research Tower, another group from Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies will take part in an interdisciplinary panel discussion titled, "Do the Right Thing: Self-interest vs. Societal Interest". Panel members include:

• Uzo Anucha, Social Work;
• Kym Bird, English;
• Tom Cohen, History & Humanities;
• Paul Grayson, Sociology;
• Richard Wellen, Social Science;
• Brenda Spotton Visano, Economics, Public Policy & Administration

All are welcome. For more information, visit the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies research website.

Republished courtesy of YFile– 91ÑÇɫ’s daily e-bulletin.

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