U15 Canada enthusiastically welcomes the release today of the Report of the Advisory Panel on the Research Support System. We thank the members of the Panel for their intense work and commitment to this important exercise aimed at ensuring our research system remains globally competitive. The Report highlights that Canada’s federal support for research is falling behind as peer countries make ambitious investments in their research capabilities, including in key areas. The Report calls for increasing funding levels by ten percent per year for five years, in line with U15 Canada’s own recommendations. These investments will be critical in ensuring Canada is able to remain globally competitive in research.
The report also contains important recommendations for enhancing strategy, intentionality, and efficiency in our system to ensure maximum return for Canada on investments in science and research. These include lessening the administrative burden on researchers, improving the granting agencies’ effectiveness, efficiency and coordination, and avoiding administrative duplication throughout the system. Moreover, the Report emphasizes the importance of inclusive excellence and compellingly uses the word “knowledge” in the proposed new governance structure to highlight the value of formally signaling this commitment. U15 Canada welcomes the Report’s call to create a national roadmap for Major Science Installations. U15 Canada specifically commends the Panel’s emphasis on urgency in implementing a systematic approach to increasing funding in tandem with structural changes during 2023 and 2024.
U15 Canada looks forward to working with the Government in acting on the principles articulated in the Report to build a stronger, more effective, and globally competitive science and research support system to benefit all Canadians.
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For more information, please contact:
Dylan Hanley, Executive Vice-President
Statement – U15 Canada welcomes Advisory Panel Report on the Research Support System