I. Identifying the problems

2. I. Identifying the problems Shifting funding from basic research Defunding politically inconvenient research Obscuring the defunding Stacking granting council governing boards Changing granting council priorities Diverting resources to “stars” Muzzling experts Directing public science for private profit Promoting undue corporate influence in university research

3. Shifting away from funding basic research

4. Funding for Canada’s Granting Councils

5. Defunding politically inconvenient research

6. Polar Environment Atmospheric Research Laboratory (PEARL) Experimental Lakes Area

7. Obscuring the defunding

9. Stacking granting council governing boards

10. MRC/CIHR Council

11. NSERC Council

12. SSHRC Council

13. Changing granting council priorities

14. Fettered funding within Granting Councils - NSERC Source: NSERC Departmental Performance Reports, Budget 2012-13

15. Less support for open research Source: NSERC, CIHR, SSHRC Departmental Performance Reports, Federal Budget 2012-13

16. Declining success rates Source: SSHRC, NSERC, CIHR

17. NSERC Initiatives – examples • Strategy for Partnerships and Innovation “helping to organize ‘speed dating’ events to bring interested researchers and companies into brief and structured contact to discuss needs and capabilities.” http://www.nsercpartnerships.ca/StrategyPartnership-StrategiePartenariats_eng.asp • The Engage Grants (EG) Program is supporting “short-term research and development projects aimed at addressing a company-specific problem.” http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/Professors-Professeurs/RPP-PP/Engage-Engagement_eng.asp

18. Engage Grant Program Source: NSERC

19. NSERC: Report on Plans and Priorities 2013-14 • “Working with the Industrial Research Assistance Program (IRAP) to develop an effective Concierge Service for business that includes the expertise within the postsecondary research community: • “In 2013-14, NSERC will work with IRAP to assess and implement tools to link the expertise base within the NSERC systems with the new Concierge Service system being developed under the leadership of IRAP.” • http://www.nserc-crsng.gc.ca/NSERC-CRSNG/Reports-Rapports/RPP-PPR/2013-2014/index_eng.asp#s2.1.3

20. NSERC Spending Priorities In millions, 2013 dollars. Source: NSERC 2013-14 Report on Plans and Priorities

21. Diverting resources to “stars”

22. $10,733,333 was spent on 9 NSERC Canada Excellence Research Chairs in 2010-11 That would have supported 339 researchers with Discovery Grants and reversed the decline in success rates since 2006 $17,833,333 was spent on 13 NSERC CERC Chairs in 2011-12 That would have supported an additional 545 researchers with Discovery Grants that year

23. Muzzling experts

24. Muzzling Government Scientists Dr. Kristi Miller, Head, Molecular Genetics, Department of Fisheries and Oceans 2008 Federal Government Media Protocol:  "Just as we have one department we should have one voice. Interviews sometimes present surprises to ministers and senior management. Media relations will work with staff on how best to deal with the call (an interview request from a journalist). This should include asking the programme expert to respond with approved lines."

25. Muzzling Academic Researchers Prof. Andreas Muenchow Associate Professor Graduate College of Marine Studies, University of Delaware DFO Publication Review Committee Procedures: “All journal articles…must be submitted to your Division Admin for review and approval prior to being submitted for publication. Publication review procedures apply to all submissions where a DFO Science staff member is an author (whether the single author, or one of multiple co-authors)."

26. Muzzling Librarians & Archivists • “On occasion, LAC employees may be asked by third parties to teach or to speak at or be a guest at conferences as a personal activity or part-time employment. Such activities have been identified as high risk to LAC and to the employee with regard to conflict of interest, conflict of duties and duty of loyalty. • “An employee may accept such invitations as personal activities if all of the following conditions are met: • The subject matter of the activity is not related to the mandate or activities of LAC;… • The third party is not a potential or current supplier to/collaborator with LAC;… • The employee has discussed it with his or her manager, who has documented confirmation that the activity does not conflict with the employee’s duties at LAC or present other risks to LAC.” • -LAC Code of Conduct

27. Directing public science for private profit

28. National Research Council to 'refocus' to serve business • CBC News • Posted: Mar 6, 2012 1:58 PM ET  • “Canada's national government research and • development agency is being transformed • and ‘refocused’ into a service that provides • Solutions for businesses, Canada's Minister of State for Science and Technology announced Tuesday. • “Gary Goodyear says he envisions the National Research Council becoming a ‘concierge’ service that offers a single phone number to connect businesses to all their research and development needs.”

29. Promoting undue corporate influence in university research

30. Federal Budget 2013 • $121-million over two years “to invest in the strategic focus of the National Research Council to help the growth of innovative businesses in Canada” • All of the new funding for the granting councils ($37-million) to support “research partnerships with industry through the granting councils, including $12 million to enhance the College and Community Innovation Program”

31. CAUT Report on University Collaborations – Do they preserve academic integrity? (To be released May 2013) • See: • Guiding Principles for University Collaborations – CAUT Council 2012 • http://www.caut.ca/uploads/GuidingPrinc_UCollaborationv2.pdf

32. II. What we need to do Educate the public about basic research Building pressure to Increase core funding of the granting councils and for government science Protect the integrity and independence of scholarly research Make the granting councils arms-length Fund research on the basis of scientific and scholarly importance, as determined through peer review not political preference Stop the muzzling of scientists and other academic professionals – their duty is to the public, not to the minister of the day Create a non-partisan Parliamentary Science Officer Adopt a sound science policy for Canada Enforce principled standards for university collaborations Make graduate programs affordable & pay postdocs properly

33. III. Some steps we are taking Dedicated web site Interactive map cataloguing cancelled and “at risk” projects Video testimonies and on-line submission forms Email & petition tool Local town halls and regional forums – for researchers to talk with the public about what’s happening and what it means Research report on university/corporate collaborationswith tool box faculty and students can use to ensure transparency and integrity in any new proposed collaborations Reports on granting councils’ priorities and practices Database of researchers and scientists to facilitate advocacy

34. Concluding Comment from Others

35. nature editorialChanges to Canadian science raise questions that the government must answer • “Governments come and go, but scientific expertise and experience cannot be chopped and changed as the mood suits and still be expected to function. Nor can applied research thrive when basic research is struggling.” • Nature 487, 271–272 (19 July 2012) • http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v487/n7407/full/487271b.html

36. Mike Lazarides Founder, Research in Motion “What we need are those creative people to be left to do creative things just for the hell of it … this is the game changer that forms the raw material for industry to capitalize.” - Speech at the Perimeter Institute, 2003