Hot, dry weather and human carelessness have led to a huge burnt area — and to choking haze affecting millions of people. Smoke from wildfires raging in eastern Canada has been filling lungs and turning skies orange across the northeastern United States, most dramatically in New York City and the surrounding area, for the past […]
Canada
Canadian PhD students and postgrads plan mass walkout over low pay
Academics are demanding a significant boost to government-sponsored fellowships and scholarships, which haven’t changed for decades. Graduate students and postdoctoral researchers at dozens of universities and research institutions across Canada are planning to walk out on 1 May in protest at government-funded salaries that have remained flat since 2003. Read more in Nature.
Catching up on open access
A decade ago, Canada was at the forefront of open access publishing. Now critics say those policies are due for a drastic rewrite. The days of the traditional, subscription-based scholarly journal seem to be numbered. Around the world, research funders are adopting ever-more expansive policies requiring the researchers they fund to make the results of […]
Researchers decry a lack of clarity under national security risk assessments
Concern rises about potential research chill as new rules are extended across federal research-funding agencies. A pilot project by the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) to identify and minimize national security risks in federally funded research will soon roll out at all federal research-funding bodies. But researchers whose grants were rejected under the […]
In Canada, scientists are struggling with stagnant funding
Lackluster growth in federal spending squeezes research community Earlier this month, researchers attending Canada’s major annual science policy conference here got some seemingly good news when science minister François-Philippe Champagne announced the government would be awarding CA$1 billion to research projects. But disappointment soon set in. The $1 billion, scientists realized, was existing, not new, […]
Catching up with Canada’s chief science adviser
As she begins her second term, Mona Nemer weighs in on shaping the pandemic response, the battle against misinformation, and the push for open science. Molecular cardiologist Mona Nemer was first appointed Canada’s chief science adviser in 2017, to provide advice to the federal government on scientific issues and science-based policy. Recently reappointed for two […]
What’s happening with Canada’s superclusters?
After four years, the federal government’s billion-dollar superclusters are finding their feet, but they need more time. Canada has a long history of underperforming on measures of private-sector spending on research and development, and failing to capitalize on the commercial potential of scientific discoveries made in the country. And it has almost as long a […]
Huawei ban adds to concerns of a chill effect in research over national security rules
‘We punch above our weight in Canada because we collaborate,’ says one computer science professor, ‘and this has the potential to erode those collaborations.’ The federal government’s recent decision to ban Chinese electronics companies from Canadian 5G networks has highlighted concerns that tightening national security rules are having a chilling effect on research in Canada. Read […]
Canada announces new innovation agency — and it’s not modelled on DARPA
The unit will instead mimic Finnish and Israeli agencies. But some researchers worry Canada might be too big and regionalized for the scheme to succeed. The Canadian government has announced that it will invest Can$1 billion (about US$780 million) over the next five years to create a funding agency focused on innovation in science and […]
Taking stock of the Naylor report, 5 years on
Some say there’s been too little progress toward supporting Canadian research in fundamental science. In 2016, then science minister Kirsty Duncan convened a panel of experts to conduct a comprehensive review of Canada’s academic science and research ecosystem. Led by David Naylor, former president of the University of Toronto, it was the first such exercise […]