CRCC outlines plans to develop programs for priorities

Almost halfway through its establishment, the Canada Research Coordinating Committee (CRCC) is working to prepare to roll out an initial slate of programs to fulfill their mandate of harmonizing and coordinating research funding disbursed by the three federal research granting councils.

CRCC was established last fall with a mandate spelled out in an Open Letter from Science minister Kirsty Duncan outlining five priorities and instructions to prepare a work plan (see chart below) to carry out its work.

CRCC chair Dr Ted Hewitt, president of Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), tells RE$EARCH MONEY that some of the concrete deliverables coming out of the committee in the next few months will be to engage with Indigenous researchers and communities to develop an action plan and to develop funding opportunities that support research that’s multidisciplinary, international, high-risk and rapid-response.

SSHRC is the inaugural chair of the CRCC whose leadership is rotated annually among the presidents of the three granting councils, including the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR). Aside from the three councils, the DMs of Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and Health Canada are also members of the CRCC. The Canada Foundation for Innovation attends all CRCC meetings and the National Research Council and Canada's Chief Science Advisor are invited participants.

Hewitt says work around Indigenous research and funding for interdisciplinary research has become a top priority among those listed in the Open Letter as some of them need baseline data gathering before plans can be drafted. Examples are the mandates on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in research and the promotion of early career researchers. Nevertheless, the committee is working on all the priorities simultaneously with support from the CRCC secretariat.

Some funding announced in Budget 2018 has helped fast track the roll out of action plans that are also in CRCC’s mandate. For example, SSHRC received $3.8 million over five years in the Budget to strengthen Indigenous data and research capacity. In addition, Statistics Canada will receive $0.4 million per year to create the Indigenous Statistical Capacity Development Initiative. The money will go to activities to understand how best to engage with Indigenous peoples and organizations, and assist in building their own research capacities.

“At this point, we are talking about having these conversations and engaging with our partners in the Indigenous communities in order to develop ideas for programming that will best suit their needs,” says Hewitt. “The conversations have been excellent ... (and) we’re moving forward to secure the funding through the government process and to initiate that (process)."

Also included in the Budget is $275 million over five years for a tri-council fund that’s intended to support research that’s “international, interdisciplinary, fast-breaking and higher risk.” This Budget language is similar to one of CRCC’s priorities, “developing innovative programming across the granting agencies that supports international, multidisciplinary, high-residents and rapid response research.” SSHRC has been tasked with administering the tri-council fund on behalf of the granting councils.

Hewitt says CRCC is having discussions on a novel approach to fund interdisciplinary research without necessarily duplicating existing programs. Instead, CRCC is looking to optimize some of these existing programs or promote them to the research ecosystem.

“What we’re trying to do through the tri-council fund and through the CRCC is to develop a unique funding opportunity that would address that issue in the ways and in the direction that I’ve indicated — to promote international, high-risk, rapid-response and interdisciplinary research,” says Hewitt. “As that rolls out and as funding opportunities develop, researchers will be looking carefully at that. There is existing programming within councils that does allow for interdisciplinary approaches, that does promote novel and even particularly risky approaches to research. But they’re not well-known and they may not exactly be designed effectively to promote the kind of response we have envisioned,” he adds.

An example of a program that allows for cross-disciplinary collaboration is SSHRC’s Partnership Development Grants program, which is already focused on the formation of teams and includes different disciplinary perspectives, says Hewitt. But with the tri-council fund and the CRCC direction, the CRCC can further envision changes to the program that would make it even friendlier to interdisciplinary perspectives, he adds.

Another program that promotes interdisciplinary research is Collaborative Health Research Projects, a joint initiative between NSERC and CIHR, in which SSHRC is now collaborating through the recently announced artificial intelligence, health and society call.

“We’re going to optimize those programs so that researchers will have access to them in ways that are more broadly interdisciplinary than they are now or than researchers believe they are,” says Hewitt. “On top of that will be cutting-edge programming that we’re looking to develop through the CRCC to respond to the minister’s priority for funding that supports research that’s really cutting-edge and international, multidisciplinary, rapid-response and high-risk.”

As the CRCC continues to develop funding opportunities, Hewitt says the CRCC will continue to engage with stakeholders in the research ecosystem.

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CRCC Priorities

• Develop innovative programming across the granting agencies that supports international, multidisciplinary, high-risk and rapid-response research that generates new knowledge;
• Build Canadian capacity to identify and respond to emerging areas of research;
• Remove barriers faced by under-represented and disadvantaged groups to ensure equitable access across the granting agencies and establish Canada as a world leader in EDI within research;
• Develop, in partnership with Indigenous communities, an interdisciplinary Indigenous research and research training model that contributes to reconciliation with First Nations, Métis and Inuit; and,
• Establish Canada as a world leader in supporting the development of talent throughout the research career life cycle.