Presidents' Message on Implementation of S&T Strategy
We are pleased to provide you with an update on our progress over the past six months. We have taken important steps to focus our resources on the research priority areas that were identified in the last federal budget and re-emphasized in the strategy. In this context, we have worked together to open up our programs and promote greater participation across the research community. Examples of this are the recent calls for proposals in Management, Business and Finance from SSHRC and for strategic projects in Advanced Communications and Management of Information, Healthy Environment and Ecosystems and Sustainable Energy Systems from NSERC.
We are also actively engaged in working with other federal partners in the implementation of 18 of the 35 policy commitments identified in the Strategy. Our organizations are specifically working together on four key areas of priority:
- Coordination of programs and processes. We are developing a plan to integrate and align programs, policies and processes where appropriate. Our objectives in doing so are to 1) facilitate research and research-related activities that span agency mandates, 2) improve coordination between different programs that we manage individually or collectively, 3) improve client service and reduce unnecessary workload by the research community. Examples of potential opportunities for enhanced collaboration that we are currently considering include:
- an effective mechanism for cross-agency research;
- a better approach for directing applications to the most appropriate agency;
- an examination of programs to see which ones could be operated on a multi-agency basis;
- harmonization of policies governing eligibility of institutions and individual researchers as well as post-award administration;
- a sharing of peer review best practices; and
- the common use of technology to improve application and other electronic services.
- Improving our ability to measure and report on the impact of S&T expenditures. We are developing a set of core indicators that will enable the collection and reporting of standardized data on the results and impact of investments by the federal granting agencies and CFI.
- International collaboration. The strategy calls for a strengthening of Canada's ties to the global supply of ideas, talent and technology and for an improvement of Canada's ability to contribute to and benefit from international opportunities. We are currently looking at areas for collaboration and potential joint initiatives including measures to increase the mobility of graduate students and fellows.
- Advising on the balance in funding. The objective is to contribute to the development of a more comprehensive approach to the management of the overall envelope of support for higher-education R&D. To support this work, we have already commissioned an economic analysis of trends in federal investments to date by nature of investments (e.g. direct, indirect, infrastructure and people). We recognize that the Canadian research system is complex and involves many other funders. Therefore, we have begun consulting with stakeholder groups and plan to continue this over the coming weeks. These consultations will help guide us in the development of a feasible and appropriate approach in addressing this very complex issue.
All of this is being done with enthusiastic spirit of co-operation among the presidents and staff across our organizations. We would welcome any comments you may have as we move forward on these initiatives, and we will keep you informed of our progress.
Sincerely,
Pierre Chartrand, Acting President, CIHR
Suzanne Fortier, President, NSERC
Chad Gaffield, President, SSHRC
