Recent advocacy articles of interest
We invite you to read these recent articles of interest:
Shifting Demographics among Research Project Grant Awardees at the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (NHLBI)
The present study was initiated because of concerns expressed by NHLBI-funded mid-career investigators regarding perceived difficulties in the renewal of their grant awards. This led us to ask: “Are mid-career investigators experiencing disproportionate difficulties in the advancement of their professional careers?”
NIH discusses curbing lab size to fund more midcareer scientists
Unexpected benefits of open-ended science – a report by the Royal Swedish Academy of Science
Read our 2016 Advocacy Report
Learn about CAN-ACN’s advocacy activities in 2016, and some of our plans for 2017 in our 2016 Advocacy report
CAN supports the development of a Canadian Action Plan for Brain Health
The Canadian Association for Neuroscience strongly supports the development of a Canadian Action Plan for Brain Health, an initiative proposed by the Neurological Health Charities of Canada. Read our support letter here.
Read CAN-ACN’s contribution to the review of federal support of fundamental science
We have submitted our contribution to the review of federal support of fundamental science, launched by the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Canadian Minister of Science.
This contribution also included the results of the survey we conducted in July and August about funding reforms at the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.
Read our submission to Sciencereview.ca: CAN-ACN_Science_Review_Contribution.pdf
View the results of the CAN 2016 survey about CIHR reforms: https://can-acn.org/new-cihr-reforms-survey-results
Recommendations to the Honorable Bill Morneau for pre-budget consultations
Read CAN’s recommendations to the Honorable Bill Morneau for the pre-budget consultations.
Excerpt:
Recommendations:
1) The mid-term objective should be a doubling of the operating budgets of the NSERC and the CIHR.
If Canada invests in science 2% of the GDP, we will only return to the level of support science had 10 years ago. We believe that Canada’s demonstrated excellence in research can only be sustained with support that reaches 3% of the GDP, which would make Canada’s research investment comparable to Germany’s and the USA’s research investments. Doubling funds that are available in open competitions through the CIHR and the NSERC would be essential to stop the downward trend experienced by fundamental discovery research laboratories across Canada.
2) An increase of $150 million to the 2017 Budget for CIHR.
In the latest competition, the 13% success rate was made possible by moving the 2016- Autumn competition to the 2017 budget of the CIHR. This means that next year the expected success rate will be 5-6% unless the government decisively steps in and restores science funding in Canada. These investments would ensure that the standard of research excellence is maintained in Canada. Canadian scientists are willing and ready to continue to make important contributions that benefits all Canadians. It is important to ensure that we have the means to do so.
New CAN CIHR survey
Thank you to all who completed the new CIHR survey today. Results of the survey are being shared with the Science Review panel, launched by the Honourable Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science.
CAN advocacy news
Read our July 2016 Calls to action:
https://can-acn.org/documents/2016/Advocacy-news-July2016.pdf
New Advocacy corner
Please view the advocacy corner section, on the right hand side of this page to view current Calls to action and recent articles of interest.
Letter by Jim Woodgett about CIHR Peer-review reforms
We invite you to read a letter by Jim Woodgett, Director, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute, to the right Honorable Jane Phillpott, Minister of Health, about the CIHR reforms. You can read and sign the letter here:
Woodgett letter to Jane Philpott – google doc
Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan launches review of federal support of fundamental science
Read the letter of support the Chair of the CAN Advocacy Committee Katalin Toth and CAN President Freda Miller sent to the minister:
CAN letter of support for Science Review
Minister Duncan Honoured at Research Canada’s AGM
Research Canada held its 11th Annual General Meeting last week where the Honourable Dr. Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Science, was honoured for her six years of service to the Parliamentary Health Research Caucus, a non-partisan forum which educates Parliamentarians about the social and economic benefits of Canadian health research and health innovation.
Read the full press release on the Health | Research | Innovation portal
Advocacy and public outreach session at CAN16
The CAN advocacy committee invites you to a special advocacy and public outreach session at the upcoming 2016 Canadian Neuroscience Meeting, May 30th from 5:30 to 7PM. Two neuroscientists with extensive experience in public speaking and outreach, Paul Zehr and Wendy Suzuki, will make presentations, and awards will be given to the best neuroscience outreach initiatives in Canada. More details here: Advocacy & Public Outreach
The Canadian Association for Neuroscience sponsors the Welcome reception of the new Health Research Caucus in Ottawa
The Canadian Association for Neuroscience was happy to sponsor the welcome reception of the new Health Research Caucus, which took place March 7th, on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. It was an occasion for members of the CAN advocacy committee to meet members of parliament and talk with them about the importance of government support of scientific research. The reception was hosted by the honorouble Jane Philpott, Minister of Health. Dr. Philpott was one of the speakers at the event.
Budget 2016: The Canadian Association for Neuroscience thanks the honourable Bill Morneau for his support of scientific research
The Canadian Association for Neuroscience (CAN), is grateful to the Federal Government for increasing the budgets of
the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the National Science and Engineering Council by $30 million and supporting the Brain Canada Foundation with $20 million for the next 3 years.
Read our full thank you letter : Post-budget2016-final
The honourable Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance, responds to CAN’s recommendation letter
Read the response Minister of Finance Bill Morneau sent CAN in response to our pre-budget consultation letter:
Budget2016_consultation_response_to CAN-ACN_431369
CAN contribution to the Canadian government pre-budget consultation
The CAN Advocacy committee has submitted recommendations to the honorable Bill Morneau, Minister of Finance, for the pre-budget consultation by the Canadian government. Read the letter signed by CAN President Doug Munoz and the Chair of the Advocacy Committee, Katalin Toth: CAN-Pre-budget20160121
CAN is looking for the best neuroscience outreach and advocacy initiatives in Canada
Two $1000 prizes will be awarded, and the winning initiatives will be presented at the CAN2016 meeting in Toronto – view all the details here: https://can-acn.org/contest-best-neuroscience-promotion-advocacy-groups-in-canada
Parliament Hill event hosted by the Honourable Jane Philpott, Minister of Health on March
CAN-ACN is now a member of Research Canada and will have a booth at a Parliament Hill event hosted by the Honourable Jane Philpott, Minister of Health on March 7th. More details to be posted here soon.
Press review – October- December 2015
Read recent articles, interviews and opinion pieces by Canadian neuroscientists in our October – December 2015 Press review. We share these articles on our social media streams, so please inform us of papers we should be sharing with our membership.
Invitation to write to your local MPs and ministers – Nov 27th letter from Katalin Toth
Begin forwarded message:From: Kristin Baetz <kbaetz@uottawa.ca>Date: November 25, 2015 at 6:39:58 PM GMT+1To: Kristin Baetz <kbaetz@uottawa.ca>Subject: Time to demand change at CIHR
Dear Friends and Colleagues,We have all been impacted by the CIHR reforms and many of you have told me that you felt helpless in effecting change. Today Michael Rudnicki took a stand on the issue. When talking to Elizabeth Payne at the Ottawa Citizen last week about his recent discovery on Duchenne muscular dystrophy, Michael let her know about the crisis that is occurring at CIHR and how it is impacting researchers across the country. This led to an outstanding article on the front page of the Ottawa Citizen today:Michael, along with many other scientist and societies across Canada have begun the discussion. Indeed, this article instigated a series of meeting today in Ottawa. But more scientists need to be engaged in the discussion. It is critical that new Liberal government hear about how the CIHR reforms have impacted your research program. Email/letter volume on a topic remains an important advocacy tool.I encourage you to contact Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Minister of HealthJane Philpott, Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan, Minister of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Navdeep Singh Bains and your newly elected MP. Demand changes at CIHR!The Liberal Government has strongly indicated that Science will once again become a priority. Not only does Canada now have two Minsters with science portfolios and the mandate letter from Prime Minister Trudeau to Minister of Science Kirsty Duncan outlined one of her top priorities to “Examine options to strengthen the recognition of and support for fundamental research to support new discoveries.”The time is right to tell the Liberal Government your concerns about fundamental research funding in Canada and demand changes at CIHR.If you are not already a member, today I ask you to please join the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences. We are working hard on your behalf to advocate for increased funding for discovery research – including our petition, advertisements targeted to MPs/policy makers, letters to committees and speaking to MPs on your behalf. Our next focus will be on advocating for change at CIHR. Our membership fees are essential for paying for advertisements, website designs, PR consultants and hosting networking events on Parliament Hill. Without increased membership we will be limited in our ability to advocate for the changes we need to keep Canada’s innovation pipeline strong.CheersKristinKristin Baetz PhDInterim Director of the Ottawa Institute of Systems BiologyPresident of the Canadian Society for Molecular BiosciencesCanada Research Chair in Chemical and Functional Genomics and Associate ProfessorDepartment of Biochemistry, Microbiology and ImmunologyuOttawa613 562-5800 X 8592
CSMB petition:
We invite you to sign the petition by the Canadian Society for Molecular Biosciences at
https://www.csmb-scbm.ca/advocacy/Petition.aspx
October 19th 2015 Canadian federal elections
- View the CAN questions about science funding to the candidates – 3 of 4 major political parties have responded
- View our letter: Increased investment in Brain Research must be a priority for the next Canadian government – A shorter version was sent to newspapers across the country.
- Read and sign the CSMB Petition asking for increase support for discovery research in Canada
- Read this Call for increased research funding in the CMAJ blog by Doug Zochodne
- Election day is October 19, advance voting is October 9-12 – make sure you are on the election list!
- Two articles about the Canadian federal elections in Science Magazine: In Canada, science campaigns for attention from voters and Editorial: A chance to get science right
- This website tracks how our elected mps vote
CIHR reforms questionnaire
View our member’s responses to the questionnaire about the recent CIHR reforms
