Collective Response: Canada Research Coordinating Committee Progress Report 2020-21

On this page

• Canada Research Coordinating Committee at a glance
• Canada Research Coordinating Committee strategic priorities
• Message from the Ministers
• Message from the Chair
• Priority: Supporting Canada’s research response to COVID-19
• Priority: Increasing engagement in interdisciplinary, international, high-risk / high-reward, rapid-response research
• Priority: Supporting early career researchers
• Priority: Enhancing interagency cooperation on international research
• Priority: Strengthening Indigenous self-determination, leadership and capacity in research and training
• Priority: Strengthening equity, diversity and inclusion in research
• Annexes

Canada Research Coordinating Committee at a glance

The Canada Research Coordinating Committee (CRCC) is a senior strategic forum that brings together the executive heads of key agencies and departments to advance collective priorities and coordinate federal research funding. Through the CRCC, members share information, build consensus and make decisions that strengthen Canada’s research enterprise—fostering world-leading research and advancing the country’s social and economic well-being.

Committee members

Canada Research Coordinating Committee strategic priorities

Message from the Ministers

On behalf of the Government of Canada, we are grateful to all the researchers and innovators across the country for their vital, collective response during the COVID-19 pandemic. Throughout this crisis, Canadians depended on research communities to understand the virus and its effects, to develop solutions to the many unprecedented medical, technical, and social challenges we faced, and to lead our country into recovery.

Today, Canada continues to look to our researchers and innovators to collaborate and advance Canadians’ health and well-being. We are confident in our prosperous future with the vast innovations trailblazing a path forward for a healthier, stronger and more equitable country for all.

We also wish to thank the members of the Canada Research Coordinating Committee (CRCC), and their organizations, for devoting their talents to aid the collective recovery efforts. From coordinating a rapid research response, to adjusting programs, to overseeing federal support to sustain the research enterprise, the CRCC supported Canadians throughout this difficult period of uncertainty.

While responding to the pandemic, the CRCC continued to look to a brighter future in tremendous ways: by working with Indigenous and community partners to help build Indigenous research capacity; by creating an inclusive research community and engaging emerging innovators; by tackling complex interdisciplinary challenges; and by positioning Canada as a valued partner in the international research ecosystem, to name a few.

This report highlights the key contributions of the organizations brought together on the CRCC over the past year. As we reflect on these accomplishments, we look forward to continuing to work with CRCC members in the year ahead as we seek to improve health, well-being, and prosperity for all Canadians.

Together with the Canadian research community, we will build back better.

Message from the Chair

In all manner of ways, in all parts of the country, the COVID-19 pandemic required the Canadian population to come together to address the country’s urgent needs—while keeping an eye on how the world might look when coming out of the crisis. Working together closely, the agencies and departments represented on the Canada Research Coordinating Committee (CRCC) mobilized rapidly to support Canada’s research enterprise.

In the first months, member agencies and departments provided funding to mobilize rapid-response research, extended application deadlines, topped up supports, made administrative adjustments, and managed emergency funds to mitigate the impacts of the pandemic and help sustain Canada’s research community.

On the CRCC, we broadened the scope of our collaboration to integrate perspectives from the Public Health Agency of Canada and the International Development Research Centre in “CRCC+” meetings. We championed a new way to advance evidence-informed decision making by linking government and the research community through the CanCOVID network and the Office of the Chief Science Advisor. We shared some of the first lessons learned with researchers, administrators and policy makers at the virtual Canadian Science Policy Conference 2020.

We can take pride in this collective response—and in the resilience shown by the Canadian research enterprise, and the staff of all member organizations, in the face of this crisis.

The pandemic has reinforced the importance of science, and the significance of our work for the Canadian population. It has created complex technological, organizational and societal challenges that demand action informed by research in all disciplines, engaging the research community in all sectors across Canada and abroad. Our collective response has rarely been more important, and will be essential to the coming recovery.

I look forward to working with my colleagues across government and across Canada’s research communities as we take on the challenges ahead.

Alejandro Adem
Chair, Canada Research Coordinating Committee (2021)
President, Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada

Priority: Supporting Canada’s research response to COVID-19

Critical funding in a time of need

The Government of Canada announced the creation of the CRCEF in May 2020 and established the CRCC as the program’s steering committee. The temporary emergency response program provided wage support for research personnel who did not qualify for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. It also reimbursed costs related to maintaining essential research-related commitments, helping the research community stay ready to ramp projects back up once public health restrictions were lifted. In the span of seven months, the CRCEF, through the Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat, delivered $416 million to approximately 32,000 individuals engaged in research, and helped ensure the continuity of 22,000 projects.

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Broad and inclusive support

Institutions across Canada could use CRCEF funds to support research-related personnel whose salaries were paid, in whole or in part, from nongovernmental sources and cover extraordinary direct costs needed to maintain or ramp up research, regardless of their funding source. Three rounds of funding were held, with the first deadline in July 2020. A fourth round was added in November 2020, in response to stakeholder feedback and evidence of the pandemic’s continuing effects on research.

To ensure the emergency funds were distributed equitably, recipient institutions were asked to form internal committees that reflected the diversity of Canada’s research community. They developed equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) strategies to reduce the influence of unconscious bias and systemic barriers in the allocation of funding.

Mounting and delivering a program on such a scale, so quickly, required a dedicated and experienced team drawn from across the federal research funding agencies. Team members were pulled together on short notice to design and launch the program, facilitate rapid review of applications, prepare and update web content, hold virtual engagement sessions in both official languages and respond to hundreds of institutional questions and concerns in a timely manner.

Priority: Increasing engagement in interdisciplinary, international, high-risk / high-reward, rapid-response research

Swift action to drive discovery

To ease financial challenges for research teams and help sustain their work, top-up grants and one-year extensions were offered to 2018 Exploration stream grant holders (all early career researchers [ECRs]) and to 2019 Exploration stream projects, 37% of which were led by ECRs. EDI and the support of ECRs are core elements of the program.^{Footnote 1}

Business as (un)usual

Alongside these urgent actions, the NFRF continued to carry out its planned granting program throughout the year. The results of the 2019 Exploration stream competition were announced in May 2020, with $46.3 million awarded for 186 grants. The 2020 Exploration stream competition led to another $29 million awarded for 117 grants in March 2021.

While the Exploration stream focuses on bold, high-risk, interdisciplinary projects, last year the first NFRF Transformation stream competition was launched to support large-scale, world-leading projects with potential to achieve real and enduring change. The NFRF received 347 letters of intent as part of the first Transformation call, with 31 proposals invited to the full application stage. In the International stream, 12 applications were submitted to the 2020 Horizon Global Platform Competition, which provides funding to members of the Canadian research community participating in large, international projects funded through the European Union’s Horizon 2020 program.

Priority: Supporting early career researchers

Continuity for Canada’s next generation of research talent

Recognizing the unique challenges and importance for researchers to establish a strong track record early in their careers, each agency introduced ways to recognize the disruptions caused by the pandemic when determining ECR status—effectively extending ECRs’ access to funding equalization measures in their flagship programs.

NSERC and SSHRC both included COVID-19 as an eligible delay in research in new proposals and extended the period of time over which grant funds could be used for existing awards by one year. NSERC also offered one-year funded extensions to all active Discovery Grant holders, including ECRs. Both NSERC and SSHRC committed to keeping COVID-19 considerations in place for 2021-22. CIHR extended eligibility by one year for anyone with ECR status as of March 1, 2020, or who secured their first academic appointment after that date. CIHR also extended the Authority to Use Funds period for all active grants by one year. NSERC and SSHRC took similar action, allowing academic institutions to approve extension requests of up to 12 months for grants ending between February 1, 2020 and March 31, 2021.

As part of overall federal support for postsecondary students and recent graduates, the three agencies allocated an extra four months of funding for scholarships or fellowships scheduled to expire between March and August 2020 and provided three months of funding to support trainees and research support staff paid through grants. The NRC created 56 postdoctoral fellowship opportunities to help ECRs facing hardships during the pandemic and give them opportunities to advance their careers.

Priority: Enhancing interagency cooperation on international research

A global enterprise

CRCC member organizations came together to support Steven Hoffman, scientific director of the CIHR Institute of Population and Public Health, and his team, working to develop the UN Research Roadmap for the COVID-19 Recovery. The Roadmap sets priorities and provides a framework for interdisciplinary, international cooperation that supports equitable socio-economic recovery and continued progress toward the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

At the same time, the CRCC reached out to the United Kingdom’s Research and Innovation (UKRI) to reinforce the longstanding science and technology relationship between Canada and the UK. Meeting with Dame Ottoline Leyser, chief executive of UKRI, in October 2020, CRCC members discussed their interests in the UN Research Roadmap and pandemic preparedness, and reaffirmed a shared commitment to advancing EDI in international research. At the meeting, the CFI entered into a formal agreement with the UK Science and Technology Facilities Council to facilitate access to research infrastructure.

A coordinated approach

Behind the scenes, a CRCC advisory subcommittee on international interagency cooperation recommended approaches to international collaboration that helped inform discussion at the CRCC-UKRI meeting. Building on that experience, CRCC member organizations worked with the CRCC secretariat to develop guidelines for a consistent and replicable “Team Canada” approach to the organization of future meetings with international research funding organizations.

Priority: Strengthening Indigenous self-determination, leadership and capacity in research and training

Reconciliation through research

In 2020-21, Canada’s federal research funding agencies moved toward implementing a strategic plan co-developed with Indigenous Peoples: Setting New Directions to Support Indigenous Research and Research Training in Canada 2019–2022. The plan identifies four key principles: self-determination, decolonization of research, accountability, and equitable access. It provides a holistic framework for an interagency approach to strengthening Indigenous research capacity.

An important first step, taken in concert with Indigenous Peoples, was the creation of the external—exclusively First Nations, Inuit and Métis—Reference Group for the Appropriate Review of Indigenous Research. The reference group’s 18 members were chosen by a committee of distinguished Indigenous academics, bringing together a broad range of experience and expertise. They include youth, Knowledge Keepers and academics at various stages of their careers. Going forward, the group will evaluate peer review models across Canada’s federal research funding agencies, and make recommendations on new methodologies to integrate Indigenous knowledge systems and ways of knowing into review practices.

Indigenous leadership in research

Following on the successful launch of the reference group, a similar process is underway to select membership for the Indigenous Leadership Circle in Research. The circle will advise senior management on the implementation of the strategic plan and matters related to Indigenous research. Canada’s federal research funding agencies will welcome members of the new advisory circle in the months ahead.

Priority: Strengthening equity, diversity and inclusion in research

An action plan for equitable opportunity

Fair access to tri-agency support

Since 2018, researchers seeking tri-agency funding have responded to a self-identification questionnaire to help each agency monitor the diversity of participants in its programs and design new measures to help achieve greater EDI in the research ecosystem. Last year, the agencies added new questions on sexual orientation and language; the questionnaire now covers eight dimensions of identity, including age, gender, disability, Indigenous identity and identification with a visible minority.

CIHR published baseline, disaggregated questionnaire data on its Project Grant and COVID-19-related competitions, while SSHRC and NSERC made data available through interactive dashboards. In 2021-22, all three agencies will implement the revised questionnaire across their respective application platforms. The resulting data will allow them to assess underrepresentation in their programs, and systemic barriers in their policies and practices, in more detail and more consistently.^{Footnote 2}

Equitable participation in research

In 2020-21, 15 more postsecondary institutions and other research organizations signalled their commitment to embed EDI principles in their policies, practices and culture, by signing the Dimensions charter—bringing the total number of signatories to 125. The agencies continued to work closely with 17 postsecondary institutions on the Dimensions pilot program to develop ways to advance and publicly recognize institutional efforts to increase EDI in the postsecondary sector. A Dimensions handbook, to help guide institutional efforts, is currently being developed.

The three agencies also announced the recipients of a second round of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Institutional Capacity-Building Grants to help postsecondary institutions identify and eliminate systemic barriers to recruiting, advancing and retaining researchers from underrepresented and/or disadvantaged groups.

Finally, significant progress was made toward realizing EDI objectives for the Canada Research Chairs Program as set out in the 2019 Addendum to the 2006 Canadian Human Rights settlement agreement. The program reached historic highs in the representation levels and nomination rates for members of racialized minorities, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities and women—marking important progress toward Canadian population-level representation of these groups within the program.