NSERC warns of brain drain unless feds reaffirm commitment to research

By Debbie Lawes

The federal government could trigger a brain drain of top researchers and hinder its ability to attract foreign talent unless it moves quickly to reaffirm its support for university research, and safeguard the granting councils from a looming five per cent cut to their budgets over the next three years, the president of Science and Engineering Research Canada warns.

Dr. Tom Brzustowski says NSERC’s governing council was “dismayed and astonished” upon learning that funding for university research is included in the government’s $12-billion expenditure review (ER) process (R$, November 9/04). Even if the granting councils emerge unscathed, he says even hinting of such cuts is dangerous.

“When (researchers) get signals that things are going to change –—that there’s a hesitation in the funding — it doesn’t take long for the best of them to start going somewhere else. That’s my greatest concern,” he says, adding, “I’d like to think that this will be reversed, not just in time, but with enough visibility to avoid any serious damage for the long term.”

It’s still unknown if university research will ultimately benefit or lose as a result of a Cabinet-level plan to shift $12 billion over five years from low to high priority areas, such as health, cities and childcare. Conventional wisdom suggested it would benefit, considering the government’s — and the prime minister’s — repeated public commitments to research and innovation.

“This is an area that since 1997 has been proclaimed consistently as an area of top priority and the government’s actions have supported that,” says Brzustowski. “It’s astonishing that it’s included in the cuts … It seems inconsistent and counter-strategic.”

The ER process is separate from one led by Treasury Board which is cutting $1 billion annually from government spending (see box). It also differs from the program review of the 1990s in that there will be winners as well as losers. As Revenue Minister John McCallum told the House Finance Committee on October 28, “We’re not cutting government … We’re rearranging government.”

The granting councils, along with the National Research Council, the Canadian Space Agency, Statistics Canada, Technology Partnerships Canada and other science-based departments and agencies could see a 5% permanent cut to their base budgets.

UNIVERSITY RESPONSE

Universities worry that any cuts — whether real or proposed — will hurt Canada’s growing reputation as a supportive environment for conducting research. That’s what happened when the Ontario government temporarily suspended matching payments to the Canada Foundation of Innovation earlier this year through the Ontario Innovation Trust (R$, October 12/04).

“We lost some recruits because of that. Some went to the US or stayed in the UK,” says Dr. John Challis, VP research at the Univ of Toronto. “I am concerned that a federal government cut will have exactly the same repercussions. It takes a long time to build up confidence and faith in the system, but you can lose that credibility overnight with the wrong sort of messaging.”

Carleton Univ’s VP research & international is concerned that significant gains made over the past few years could be lost. “Any cuts to the granting councils’ funding will have significant long-term effects,” says Dr. Feridun Hamdullahpur. “It will take away the tremendous momentum that has been created over the past seven years with renewed levels of funding.”

The issue is also being followed closely by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada, which contends that universities need more research money, not less. AUCC president Claire Morris says any cuts to the councils “would be very unfortunate.”

“After years of Canada building up its stature and reputation internationally in research, this would send the wrong signal,” she says. “However, we are optimistic that a solution will be found, especially given the priority that the federal government attaches to university research. In his economic update of November 16, Finance Minister Ralph Goodale stated clearly that Canada must keep up its momentum on innovation and research. We believe that is a significant commitment.”

In a statement released to RE$EARCH MONEY November 17, Industry Canada says the government has invested $13 billion since 1997 in science and technology and that it “will continue to build on this strength.” It goes on to state that, “it is important to remember that Portfolio members, the Granting Councils in particular, have benefited from tremendous budget increases in recent years.” (see R$ website for full statement)

The 2004 federal Budget included $90 million in new A-base funding for the three agencies, an average 6.4% increase. NSERC received $39 million of that total, about half the amount it had said was needed to accommodate the growing number of grant applicants. NSERC is now facing a potential clawback of $40 million beginning in 2005-06 and ramping up to the full amount in 2007-08, as part of the $12-billion reallocation.

Insiders say comparable cuts have been proposed for the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Both agencies declined to comment on specifics.

POTENTIAL IMPACT

In response to the proposed cuts, NSERC placed a moratorium this month on its research network grants program, and Brzustowski says other decisions are being considered.

Despite year-over-year increases to its budget, NSERC has consistently argued that more funding is needed to support existing programs and the growing demand for research grants. The number of first-time applicants for NSERC discovery grants has grown from less than 400 in 1996 to 981 in 2004.

To meet this demand, NSERC says its budget would need to increase significantly, from $654 million to approximately $2 billion over the next decade.

“Either we’re going to play in this game or we’re not,” he says “The rest of the world is racing ahead of us. We continue to see the heels of the ones ahead of us, and the ones behind us want to climb over our backs.”

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