Tag Archives: money

What to do with all the Scientists… find out at the 2011 Canadian Science Policy Conference

In a break from normal lab routine, I’ll be dabbling in the black arts of science policy this November and running a session at the 3rd annual Canadian Science Policy Conference.  The conference runs from Nov 16th-18th and features an … Continue reading

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The 24/7 lab: Motivated scientists or slave-driving supervisors?

At the end of August, an article popped out from Nature News that sent many PhDs and postdocs into a tailspin.  After asking 11 labs with a reputation for “working hard” and being allowed to visit just one of them, Heidi … Continue reading

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Quick Hit: Recruitment of Policy Leaders Program to run Oct 3-17, 2011

The Government of Canada has released details of its 2011 Recruitment of Policy Leaders program.   We’ve written before about becoming a public servant which contains information about this program and others in the Canadian Public Service.  If you are aware of … Continue reading

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Final Notch in the STIC: How should we measure knowledge development?

With the goal of assessing the state of science and technology in Canada, it seems quite reasonable that the STIC report has identified the development of new knowledge as a key metric for assessing Canada’s relative and absolute performance.  The … Continue reading

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Notch 4 in the STIC – The 30 year old question: Why does Canada lag in R&D spending?

Many reports have been written over the past 30 years about Canada and its R&D spending, and they clamour one after the other about Canada’s relative lack of investment into R&D.  We’ve been through periods of deep cutbacks and periods … Continue reading

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Notch 2 in the STIC: Federal R&D spending, Direct vs. Indirect Funding

One of the most obvious statistics that jumps out of the Science Technology and Innovation Council’s report is the method by which the Government of Canada elects to fund research and development. Funding was broken apart into two categories: direct funding (grants, … Continue reading

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Notch 1 in the STIC: The Production of PhDs – What Do We Do With Them?

In this first installment of our summer series on the Science, Technology and Innovation Council’s 2010 State of the Nation report, I’m going to take a look at some of the data on who’s getting an education in science and … Continue reading

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2011 Summer Blog Series: Notches in the STIC

Over the last few weeks, Beth and I have been trying to identify a good topic for a summer series that our readers might enjoy.  Just in time, offering the glue to hold our scattered ideas together, the Science, Technology … Continue reading

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The storm is brewing: Postdocs are speaking out…

Lucie Low, newly elected Vice Chair, Finance of CAPS and a current non-Canadian postdoctoral researcher at McGill has just published in Nature a scathing critique of Canada’s system which promised her more than it delivered, and further suggesting that …Canada … Continue reading

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New Canadian Cancer Society Grant Programs (draft released)

The Canadian Cancer Society is the largest charitable funder of cancer research in Canada and they have undertaken a rather substantial redesign of their funding programs.  Late last week, I received a draft version of the Canadian Cancer Society Research Institute’s … Continue reading

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