SSHRC to fund $100 million in research geared to better understanding and managing of New Economy

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) has unveiled a host of bold and controversial changes to the way it supports research with the release of details on how it plans to spend $100 million over five years on Initiatives on the New Economy (INE). The special allocation — announced last October in Finance minister Paul Martin’s economic update and funnelled through Industry Canada — will support SSHRC-oriented research in the areas of management, education and lifelong learning and issues specifically related to the New Economy. The programs were conceived and fleshed out by a specially convened design committee and moves SSHRC closer to the economic pulse of the nation than ever before.

The INE funding answers a growing chorus of calls for research into the social aspects of the knowledge-based economy that will help business and public policy-makers better understand, measure and disseminate the impact of technological change. It also partially responds to the increasingly desperate funding deficiency of SSHRC-related disciplines, although SSHRC officials are quick to point out that the drive for increased core funding will continue.

The vast majority of money will be directed towards programs adapted from existing SSHRC funding vehicles, including research grants, collaborative research initiatives, research alliances and joint initiatives. Over the five-year period, cash flow will begin modestly at $5 million in the current FY to approximately $30 million within three years, before shrinking to just under $20 million by year five.

“As a nation, we have made a huge investment in knowledge, particularly technological knowledge. But little has been invested to determine how to best utilize that knowledge,” asserts Janet Halliwell, executive VP of SSHRC’s policy and liaison branch. “It will help integrate social and human dimensions with technological research.”

The INE is aimed directly at strengthening the human, knowledge and network/ social assets considered critical to Canada’s future success in the New Economy. As outlined at a February/01 conference presented by SSHRC and the Canadian Federation of Business School Deans (CFBSD), research should focused on these areas as they are considered weak links in the New Economy.

A sampling of areas where INE investment could flow covers everything from the development of new indicators to measuring value in the New Economy to the role of the state, deregulation and globalization.

Many other issues were identified during the design phase of the INE program. A specially convened design committee consulted with representatives from business, labour, legal and voluntary/not-for-profit sectors, gathering input for where funding should be directed. A synthesis of those discussions is available on the SSHRC website at: www.sshrc.ca/ine/english/consultation.html.

The range of funding available through the INE ranges from small development and outreach grants under the Living Research Agenda program to large-scale multidisciplinary projects under the Collaborative Research Initiatives program.

PROGRAM RAISES CONCERNS

There’s general consensus that the INE is an urgently required mechanism to facilitate valuable participation by SSHRC-related disciplines in research relating to the New Economy. But prioritizing what issues require research has proved problematic. In the area of project selection, the INE has incurred incoming fire, particularly over the creation of a screening committee. It will work in conjunction with a new standing advisory committee and will be composed of representatives from the academic, not-for-profit and other sectors including business and government.

Although the individuals sitting on the committee have not yet been chosen, the decision to establish a committee to screen proposed projects for relevance to the objectives of the INE is not sitting well with some members of the SSHRC academic community. One press report went so far as to describe the screening process as a mechanism giving government and business veto power over research considered important by the academic community.

“It’s different from the way SSHRC has done business in the past,” acknowledges Halliwell. “It’s a means of mobilizing the talents of the SSHRC community on issues that will have a profound impact.”

The decision to create a screening committee was made in consultation with the departments of Finance and Industry, but Halliwell rejects the assertion that SSHRC and its research community have abrogated control over the INE agenda. She notes that all proposals are still subject to peer review and that the program is ultimately SSHRC managed and adjudicated, and the advisory standing committee retains final authority.

“The process is now more structured and transparent,” she says. “(The INE program) will provide a means for having a genuine research capacity outside of government in areas of the national public interest.”

BREAKS NEW GROUND

The INE also breaks new ground in two other areas. For the first time, SSHRC funding will be made available to cover direct costs of non-Canadian researchers in projects for which there is a Canadian principal investigator. Among other benefits, the inclusion of international researchers could boost the chances of SSHRC projects receiving additional support under programs such as the sixth framework agreement of the European Union.

The INE program also broadens the eligibility window to researchers from not-for-profit institutes, providing they meet certain criteria. Halliwell says this opens up funding opportunities to think tanks, labour organizations and public policy institutes for the first time, representing a significant opportunity for the academic community to foster new collaborative relationships.

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