research-policy

Open Toolchain Canadian Open Data Society Board meeting 2021-08-27 Idea People, with the right data, tools and resources, can do good things working together. James Colliander Professor of Mathematics: UBC Cofounder: 2i2c, Callysto, Syzygy, Crowdmark Past Director (2016-2021): PIMS

James Colliander, Director of the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS) Nassif Ghoussoub, Director of the Banff International Research Station (BIRS) Ian Hambleton, Director of the Fields Institute for Research in Mathematical Sciences (Fields)

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s ministerial mandate letters for Science and Innovation, Science and Economic Development (ISED) outline an agenda to investigate and improve the nation’s innovation ecosystem. Roundtable discussions on various themes are taking place across the nation as part of Canada’s Innovation Agenda, an initiative driven by Minister Navdeep Bains (ISED) and Minister Kirsty Duncan (Science).

The NSERC investment in the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences (PIMS), the Fields Institute, and the Centre de Recherches Mathématiques (CRM) was last renewed in 2014. These institutes contributed funds from this investment to support the launch of the Canadian Statistical Sciences Insitute (CANSSI) and continued to provide support for the Atlantic Association for the Research in the Mathematical Sciences (AARMS).

(The following is a slightly edited version of an invited post appearing on The Inside Agenda Blog on TVO’s web space.) Canada retreats from Science Canada is retreating from investment in science and engineering.

On Today’s NSERC Contact Newsletter Item Regarding Postdocs I received today the September 2012 Contact Newsletter (volume 36, number 4) from NSERC via email. The fourth item in the newsletter reads:

The (false) headline conveys the sporting analog of NSERC’s new policy on Postdoctoral Fellowship Competitions: Effective as of the 2013 competition, you can only apply once to the NSERC Postdoctoral Fellowships (PDF) Program; however, applicants whose first PDF application was submitted prior to the 2013 competition may submit a second application provided they are within the eligibility window.

Investments by governments to support research and development are crucial to economic prosperity, job creation, scientific advancement, and improvements to the future to be inherited by children. How should these investments be selected?

Budget 2012 continues to shift Canadian federal investment away from basic research toward industrial applied research. This shift is politically expedient: the redirection of funds can be discussed with tantalizing justifications based on job creation, targeted investment, streamlining discovery, and so forth.

Fifteen1 faculty members from the Department of Mathematics at the University of Toronto submitted proposals to the 2012 NSERC Discovery Grants competition. Of these, one was a first time applicant (En), two (Ga, Ia) applied after a successful appeal of 2011 results, and one (Cd) was an appellant whose appeal was denied but could reapply because the 2011 award was for zero dollars.