Author Archives: Dave

About Dave

David grew up in St. John's Newfoundland, completed a Bachelors degree in Genetics and English Literature (UWO, London, ON) and completed doctoral studies in stem cell biology at the Terry Fox Lab (UBC, Vancouver, BC). He coordinated the UBC Let's Talk Science Partnership Program from 2004-2007. David is currently completing postdoctoral research at the University of Cambridge, UK and also writes for the Canadian Stem Cell Network Blog

The Black Hole is Moving – Come join us at University Affairs

Last month, we were approached by University Affairs magazine (The award-winning magazine and website, published by the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada) to move the Black Hole blog to their site. After some lengthy discussions, we are excited to announce that we … Continue reading

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More time doing research, less time applying for money – sounds great, right?

As I’ve mentioned on here before – if you are involved in health research in Canada, you should read the CIHR’s proposed changes to its granting system.  This is a chance to assess and give your opinion before things are … Continue reading

Posted in Education and Training, Policy | 1 Comment

CIHR Updates: Budget 2012 and Science Policy Fellowships

Today’s post is actually two mini-posts – one on CIHR’s response to Budget 2012 and the other on the announcement of their Science Policy Fellowship program. Response to Budget 2012 Earlier this month, CIHR President Alain Beaudet released a message concerning … Continue reading

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Quarterly Summary: Jonathan Thon starts with a flourish

We were thrilled this quarter to welcome Dr. Jonathan Thon to the Black Hole in the capacity of regular contributor.    He’s enthusiastically launched himself into the online blogging world with several articles and I’ve tried to scatter in a … Continue reading

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CIHR Grant Reform: Speak now or forever hold your peace

Over the last months, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) have conducted an extensive review of their grant programs and have released a document to describe these changes.  In a demonstration of top tier accountability, they have opened a … Continue reading

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2012 Taxes for Postdocs: Dredging up the Past

A landmark decision was made late last month by the Ontario Labour Relations Board regarding the status of postdoctoral fellows.  Jesse Greener, President of the University of Toronto’s Postdoc Association has recently, and nicely, summarised the impacts of this ruling … Continue reading

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Who do universities want to hire – scientists or politicians?

In his article The Vanishing Voter, Harvard professor Thomas Patterson makes a statement about modern political campaigns that made me a little nauseous: Ambition, manipulation, and deception have become as prominent as issues of policy and leadership You might scoff at … Continue reading

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Quick Hit: CSPC online audio/video and our new Facebook Page

Just a couple of quick weekend updates: 1.  Full video/audio coverage of the 2011 Canadian Science Policy Conference is now online.  Our session was on the Education and Training of Scientists: many of the ideas driving the session are in these articles. 2. … Continue reading

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Google Scholar “My Citations” – Useful tool or the height of narcissism?

Since I first read about it on the Piece of Mind blog by UBC Professor Nassif Ghoussoub, I have been trying to figure out whether or not Google’s new “My citations” is a useful tool for researchers.  Essentially, this tool … Continue reading

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Quarterly Summary: A Busy Autumn + Goodbye and Good Luck to Beth!

Happy 2012 everyone. The end of 2011 was very busy, but it was worth it to gather some momentum behind the ideas and conversations from the site in the form of our session at the Canadian Science Policy Conference as … Continue reading

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