Following the Council meeting in Saskatoon on October 16-17, 1995, the following changes have been adopted.
In response to recommendations from the Strategy Implementation Task Force and staff, Council approved a regrouping of programs to better represent the extent of partnership and collaboration already present in NSERC activities and to promote stronger links between researchers and research users. Consolidated under the Research Partnerships umbrella are all activities that involve partnership beyond the academic sector, and that are characterized by significant partner involvement and clear evidence of ability to use the results. Consistent with the objectives of the NSERC Strategy, students participating in Research Partnerships activities will interact with representatives from partner organizations, and, whenever possible, receive some of their training outside the university.
The restructured Research Partnership envelope will have three main components:
This element will fund small to mid-scale group projects and will operate through an annual competition, with awards up to five years in duration. This program element differs from the current Strategic Grants program in that it will be open to projects in any field as long as the project meets the basic partnership test and will result in economic, social or environmental benefit for Canada. The new design will thus accommodate some of the types of proposals now eligible under the Collaborative Project Grants (CPG) and Collaborative Special Projects (CSP) programs.
While applications in any field will be accepted, Council may choose to promote the development of research in certain areas by setting a higher success rate for these areas within a given competition. For the April 1996 competition, Council has identified such a focus on enabling technologies in six areas: information technology, biotechnology, environment, materials, manufacturing and processing, and energy efficiency.
As in all elements of the Research Partnerships Program, a significant partner contribution is required. At a minimum this must involve active participation in the project and in many cases will extend to financial involvement (cash and/or in-kind through the provision of staff, facilities or other resources). The degree of partner commitment to the project is a selection criterion. Partners may be from any non-university sector.
This element is essentially the current suite of University-Industry programs, except that some of the larger partnership activities will now fall into the third program component described below. At least one partner must come from the industrial sector, and a significant financial commitment is required.
This element will accommodate large complex proposals with a number of partners jointly managing and directing the research. It will include some existing activities currently supported as CSPs (those having the required "partner" component), as well as some very large university-industry collaborations.
Council believes that this revised structure will permit the funding of a greater variety of activities, as well as provide greater flexibility in budgeting and allocations within the Research Partnerships envelope. The Research Partnerships are complemented by two existing programs that are administered by NSERC, but developed and funded independently: the Technology Partnerships Program, which extends the scope of the Research Partnerships activities towards commercialization, and the Networks of Centres of Excellence program.
Council approved the phase-out of the Collaborative Project Grants program (as recommended by the Strategy Implementation Task Force). The 1995 competition is the final one. Given the financial environment projected for the coming years, it was clear that resources would not be sufficient to allow the CPG program to achieve its objectives, and that Council's efforts would be better spent in encouraging collaboration across all programs.
Following a discussion that focused primarily on the goals of collaboration and interdisciplinary research in the Research Grants program, there was agreement that collaboration is a means of achieving excellence in many areas of research and that Council must do what it can to remove barriers to collaboration (real or perceived). In reiterating its commitment to collaborative research, Council recognized the need for staff to work closely with the research community to ensure that practices both in the peer review process and in the universities promote the emergence of excellent collaborative proposals. As a first step, the distinction between individual and team research grants will be removed. Council also noted that the university promotion and tenure process does not include sufficient rewards for collaboration. NSERC staff were encouraged to develop closer ties with universities, to try to break down these barriers.
Funds released as a result of the termination of the CPG program and the cancellation of non-core programs will be used to help meet the budget deficit facing NSERC in 1996-97 and 1997-98. The deficits remaining after taking into account the termination of these programs are approximately $5 million in 1996-97 and $6 million in 1997-98. Council agreed that these deficits should be met through proportional cuts to program envelopes and that the standing committees (Committees on Research Grants, on Targeted Research, and on Scholarships and Fellowships) be mandated to determine where to make the cuts within their envelope.
Dr. Monique Frize, holder of the Nortel/NSERC Chair in Women in Engineering at the University of New Brunswick and Chair of the NSERC Task Force on Women in Science and Engineering, provided Council with an indication of the emerging recommendations of her committee. Council was very supportive of the approach being taken and congratulated Dr. Frize and her task force for their work. The final report will be presented to Council in January.
More complete information on these program changes will appear in the next issue of CONTACT and on NSERC's Web site as it becomes available.