Vision to Action: Canada Research Coordinating Committee Progress Report 2018-23

Executive Summary

On this page

• Canada Research Coordinating Committee at a glance
• Message from the Ministers
• Message from the Chair
• Vision to action
• Providing leadership in interdisciplinary, international, high-risk / high-reward, rapid-response research
• Positioning Canada as a valuable partner in global research and innovation
• Enhancing equity, diversity and inclusion in research
• Championing Indigenous self-determination, leadership and capacity, in research and research training
• Supporting early career researchers
• Developing research training for a knowledge-based society
• Meeting the challenges of COVID-19
• A strategic forum for federal research support
• Annex I: Self-identification data collection in support of equity, diversity and inclusion
• Annex II: Early career researcher data for flagship investigator-initiated research grant competitions

CRCC at a glance

The Canada Research Coordinating Committee (CRCC) advances federal research priorities and the coordination of policies and programs of Canada’s research funding agencies and the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI). It is a senior strategic forum for building consensus, and providing advice, direction and oversight on forward-looking initiatives that strengthen Canada’s research enterprise.

The chair role rotates annually between the presidents of Canada’s research funding agencies. Committee members include:

Message from the Ministers

Message from the Chair

Vision to action

Since it was established, in late 2017, the Canada Research Coordinating Committee (CRCC) has looked to the research community and partners across the country to help shape the policies and programs needed to support an equitable, connected and innovative research enterprise. In spring 2018, the Committee organized national consultations engaging more than 1,500 people from 47 universities and four colleges. They called for bold measures to support an increasingly diverse research community, assist early career researchers (ECRs), recognize Indigenous Knowledges, and advance Canadian leadership in innovative interdisciplinary and international research.

The Committee, in collaboration with the Minister of Science, turned to the research community again in 2019-20, leading ministerial consultations on equity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) that produced the uniquely Canadian Dimensions Charter. At the same time, the Committee engaged First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities in a dialogue that enabled the co-development of a strategic plan to advance culturally relevant, respectful models of support for research by and with Indigenous Peoples.

Since then, Canada’s federal research funding agencies, in cooperation with other CRCC member organizations, have worked closely together at all levels, with guidance from external working groups and advisory bodies, to develop and align new policies and programs implementing CRCC priorities:

• providing leadership in interdisciplinary, international, high-risk / high-reward, rapid-response research;
• positioning Canada as a valuable partner in global research and innovation;
• increasing EDI in research;
• championing Indigenous self-determination, leadership and capacity in research and research training;
• supporting ECRs; and
• enhancing research training for a knowledge-based society.

When the COVID-19 pandemic swept around the world in late 2019 and early 2020, Canada’s research response became another—and immediate—priority, affecting implementation of every initiative.

Progress in all priority areas over the past five years, highlighted below, reflects the commitment of member organizations, and the Committee’s experience as a strategic forum, providing advice and direction on key initiatives to meet the changing needs of Canadian researchers and the Canadian research enterprise.

Providing leadership in interdisciplinary, international, high-risk / high-reward, rapid-response research

A game-changing program—with a global reputation

World-leading research is increasingly interdisciplinary and international in scope, as diverse research teams cross academic and geographic boundaries to meet local and global challenges. To address this shifting research landscape, the CRCC launched the New Frontiers in Research Fund (NFRF) in 2018, as a comprehensive funding mechanism for interdisciplinary, international and high-risk / high-reward research.

From its inception, the program has developed innovative merit review processes to achieve its goals. It led the way in applying Declaration on Research Assessment principles, using brief narrative CVs from applicants to focus evaluations uniquely on the quality of each proposed project. It experimented with ways to overcome the limitations of traditional peer review in funding interdisciplinary high-risk research. And it became the first interagency program supporting investigator-led research to require all applicants to implement EDI best practices in their research design and practice. As a result, researchers from the four federally designated groups (women, persons with disabilities, Indigenous Peoples and visible minorities) have success in NFRF competitions proportionate to their application rates, and ECRs lead almost half of all funded projects.

Over the past five years, NFRF has provided support, through three funding streams for more than 800 Canadian-led research projects, engaging co-investigators from more than 40 countries.

Exploration at the edge

Launched in 2018, NFRF’s Exploration stream provides funding for researchers to pursue high-risk / high-reward interdisciplinary research. The program prioritizes ambitious, outside-the-box projects, recognizing that higher risk can increase the potential for real impact. In five years, the NFRF program has awarded 650 Exploration grants, including 128 in the 2022 competition.

Transformative change

Launched in 2019, Transformation grants are unique in supporting large-scale, Canadian-led interdisciplinary, international research projects with the potential to create significant and lasting change. The program offers up to $4 million annually for six years, giving research teams sufficient time and resources for ambitious, moonshot projects. The 2020 competition awarded $144 million to seven projects, while the 2022 competition awarded $142 million to six projects.

International leadership on critical issues

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, the Government of Canada launched a call for rapid-response research to learn more about the virus and develop tools to combat it. NFRF provided funds to support 15 of these projects. Since then, NFRF has continued to support pandemic-related research through the innovative approaches to research in the pandemic context (2021) and research for postpandemic recovery (2022) competitions.

In response to global challenges posed by climate change, the CRCC launched the NFRF International Joint Initiative for Research in Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation in 2023. Engaging funding organizations from Brazil, Germany, Norway, South Africa, Switzerland, the United Kingdom and the United States, the initiative will enable interdisciplinary teams to develop climate change solutions in collaboration with affected communities around the globe.

To help researchers in Canada join international teams addressing societal challenges through Horizon 2020 and Horizon Europe, the three federal research funding agencies launched NFRF Horizon Global Platform competitions in 2020 and 2022.

Positioning Canada as a valuable partner in global research and innovation

Strengthening international connections

The CRCC has helped broaden member organizations’ relationships with international research funding agencies. These connections complement the organizations’ own international strategies, and facilitate interdisciplinary and intersectoral cooperation in key research and research policy areas. In 2020, the Committee set out shared goals for international cooperation in its International Framework: Statement of Objectives and Principles, and invited an interdisciplinary group of scholars to recommend approaches for developing international projects and programs.

The Committee signed a letter of understanding with UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) in 2019 and, since 2020, has held high-level meetings with the executive heads of the Centre national de la recherche scientifique (France), the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Germany), National Science Foundation (US), UKRI and four South African research funding agencies: the Agricultural Research Council, Human Sciences Research Council, National Research Foundation and South African Medical Research Council. In collaboration with the Fonds de recherche du Québec, the CRCC has also organized discussions with senior executives from international research funding agencies on open access publishing policies.

Such meetings and collaborations enhance the exchange of strategic business intelligence between Canadian and international research funders, and lay the groundwork for future cooperation through NFRF and other agency and departmental initiatives. They also create opportunities for Canadian leadership, bilaterally and multilaterally, on issues shaping international research. CRCC international meetings led directly to the formation of a permanent Canada-France joint committee on science, technology and innovation, and a CRCC-UKRI workshop on the promotion of EDI in research, engaging over 100 policy and program professionals from 17 UKRI and CRCC member organizations.

Enhancing equity, diversity and inclusion in research

Research excellence

Excellent research brings diverse perspectives to the ways questions are defined and pursued, creating new understandings and opportunities for people around the world. To support researchers in Canada as they strive for excellence in all fields, the CRCC has promoted adoption of measures to inspire and sustain EDI across the research ecosystem. The Tri-Agency Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan (EDI Action Plan), endorsed by the CRCC in 2018, provides a foundation for these initiatives, outlining measures to increase equitable access to research funding, and to support an increasingly inclusive and diverse research community.

Equitable access to funding

Canada’s three federal research funding agencies began collecting self-identification data in 2018 to underpin evidence-informed decisions about funding access in their programs. Updated in 2020, the harmonized tri-agency self-identification questionnaire gathers voluntary data from all applicants and nominees to agency programs. Disaggregated data is publicly available on interactive dashboards hosted by NSERC and SSHRC, online analyses of select CIHR competitions, and a review of the CFI’s 2020 Innovation Fund competition.

Since 2018, all three federal research funding agencies and the CFI have taken steps aligned with CRCC goals to identify and mitigate systemic barriers limiting equitable access to funding. The agencies adopted a harmonized EDI training plan requiring mandatory gender-based analysis plus training for all staff and bias in peer review training for all peer and merit review committee members.

NSERC produced a guide on integrating EDI considerations in research, while CIHR took steps to consistently integrate EDI considerations throughout its funding opportunities. CIHR, NSERC and the National Research Council Canada supported the Canadian Black Scientists Network’s BE-STEMM 2023 conference. CIHR established an Anti-Racism External Advisory Committee, while SSHRC launched its external Advisory Committee to Address Anti-Black Racism in Research and Research Training.

Consistent with the Accessible Canada Act, all three agencies published accessibility plans as a first step in identifying and removing systemic barriers that prevent persons with disabilities from participating fully in the research funding system. The CFI introduced a new EDI criterion in its 2023 Innovation Fund competition, focused on a research team’s consideration of: systemic barriers specific to the field, principles of equity and diversity in the team’s composition, and ways of ensuring an inclusive and collaborative research environment.

A diverse and inclusive research community

The CRCC also encouraged Canada’s federal research funding agencies and the Committee’s other member organizations to work in concert with postsecondary institutions to inspire and support an increasingly equitable, diverse and inclusive research enterprise. Initiatives include:

Dimensions

In 2018-19, Canada’s federal research funding agencies, through two rounds of cross-country consultations, worked with Canadian institutions and the Minister of Science to develop the uniquely Canadian Dimensions Charter. To date, 142 institutions have endorsed the charter, committing to embed EDI principles in their organizations to strengthen the quality, relevance and impact of their research.

The Dimensions pilot program complements the charter by recognizing the progress institutions make towards achieving comprehensive EDI goals that systematically address issues identified through community engagement, qualitative and quantitative data collection, and analysis. It offers four stages of recognition, assessed through a robust peer review process. The first institutions to be recognized were announced in April 2023.

The Dimensions program was developed in close collaboration with 17 postsecondary institutions over three years. Together, the agencies and institutions also developed a handbook to help institutions carry out critical self analysis, implement remedying actions, and apply to the program for assessment. Through the process, the group has created a community of practice with unique expertise in advancing EDI in the postsecondary research ecosystem.

Institutional Capacity Building Grants

To help smaller postsecondary institutions implement EDI initiatives informed by evidence and engagement with affected groups, the agencies launched the Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Institutional Capacity-Building Grant program in 2019. It held a second competition in 2020, investing a total of $10 million, assisting 27 institutions in all.

Canada Research Chairs Program

The EDI Action Plan included implementation of the 2019 Addendum to the 2006 Canadian Human Rights Settlement Agreement for the Canada Research Chairs Program (CRCP). The CRPC invests $311 million each year to help Canadian institutions attract and retain 2,285 outstanding researchers. It requires institutions to set and meet equity targets and implement measures to support greater EDI, transparency and accountability. In 2019, the CRPC required institutions to set and meet new, population-based equity targets, and offered a $50,000 stipend in 2020, 2022 and 2023 to support their work. As a result, the representation among chairholders of individuals who are women, Indigenous Peoples, persons with disabilities and racialized individuals has never been greater in the program’s 23-year history.

Capping these initiatives, the CRPC launched the Robbins-Ollivier Award for Excellence in Equity in 2022, in recognition of the contributions of Marjorie Griffin Cohen, Louise Forsyth, Glenis Joyce, Audrey Kobayashi, Shree Mulay, Susan Prentice, Michèle Ollivier and Wendy Robbins to increase equity in the program and Canada’s research ecosystem. Three awards, conferred annually, each recognize a researcher or research team leading bold, potentially game-changing projects that challenge the status quo, spark change, and take action to address persistent, systemic barriers to participation in the research ecosystem.

Canada Excellence Research Chairs / Canada First Research Excellence Fund

EDI was embedded as a foundational principle in these programs. Both help Canadian postsecondary institutions to attract leading international researchers, and to turn key strengths into world-class capabilities. Successful institutions must submit a comprehensive EDI action plan that includes measures to identify and mitigate systemic barriers, support ECRs, and integrate Indigenous-led research and Indigenous ways of knowing into their research wherever possible.

Canada Biomedical Research Fund / Biosciences Research Infrastructure Fund

By increasing domestic capacity to produce life-saving vaccines and therapeutics, these two programs help ensure Canada is prepared for future pandemics. Recipients must demonstrate leadership in supporting ECRs and promoting greater EDI in their research disciplines and in Canada’s research ecosystem. For additional information and data, see the EDI data annex.

Championing Indigenous self-determination, leadership and capacity, in research and research training

A Collaborative Research and Research Training Strategy

In response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada’s (TRC) Call to Action 65, the Government of Canada asked the CRCC to develop, in close collaboration with Indigenous partners, a strategy to increase the capacity of First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities to lead their own research and partner with the broader research community. With this goal in mind, the CRCC established an interagency initiative: Strengthening Indigenous Research Capacity (SIRC).

In 2018-19, SIRC awarded 116 Indigenous Research Capacity and Reconciliation Connection Grants. The grants provided Indigenous communities, collectives and organizations, as well as postsecondary institutions, resources to organize community gatherings, workshops and events, to mobilize and exchange knowledge on Indigenous research and reconciliation. In collaboration with First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, SIRC organized 14 regional discussions, followed by a national dialogue with grant recipients. These resulted in Setting New Directions to Support Indigenous Research and Research Training in Canada, an interagency strategic plan to advance culturally relevant and respectful models of support for research conducted by and with Indigenous Peoples.

Implementing the strategy, SIRC engages interagency working groups dedicated to reducing administrative barriers to Indigenous community-led research, ensuring equitable access to funding opportunities, and supporting Indigenous perspectives in peer and merit review, ethics and all aspects of research. At the same time, SIRC engagement with Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada and Justice Canada is raising awareness of the importance of Indigenous research in addressing the TRC’s Calls to Action, and in implementing the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act.

Recognizing the importance of work underway, despite the impacts of COVID-19, the strategy’s implementation has been extended to 2025-26. To ensure it stays rooted in Indigenous perspectives, and helps sustain collaboration with Indigenous Peoples, the agencies have also taken steps to support the following:

A Culturally Safe Environment for Indigenous Research

Central to implementing the strategic plan was establishing, in 2020-21, an external Reference Group for the Appropriate Review of Indigenous Research composed exclusively of First Nations, Inuit and Métis members. The group evaluates peer and merit review models across the agencies, to ensure the processes are culturally appropriate, inclusive and relevant for First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities, and that they advance proper recognition and respect for Indigenous Knowledge systems and values. The group has developed guiding principles for the appropriate review of Indigenous research, as well as recommendations to streamline, within agency application processes, the submission process for letters of support from Indigenous communities and organizations.

To complement these initiatives, SIRC has organized learning opportunities to raise awareness of the strategy and increase understanding of Indigenous realities in research.

Indigenous Leadership

The establishment of the Indigenous Leadership Circle in Research in April 2022 was another important milestone in the implementation of the strategy. The Leadership Circle, composed of First Nations, Inuit and Métis members, provides guidance and oversight, identifying issues and opportunities to ensure successful implementation of the strategic plan. The Leadership Circle met with the CRCC in July 2022. It held its first in-person gathering, with ceremony and community, at University nuxełhot’įne thaaɁehots’į nistameyimâkanak Blue Quills, in St. Paul, Alberta, in October 2022.

To champion First Nations, Inuit and Métis Peoples’ leadership in research, SIRC provided funding for the 2023 National Indigenous Citizenship Forum hosted by The First Nations University of Canada in partnership with the National Indigenous University Senior Leaders’ Association.

Supporting early career researchers

Renewing the research enterprise

Recognizing that ECRs play a vital role in renewing and diversifying the Canadian research enterprise, the CRCC called on Canada’s federal funding agencies and the CFI to provide targeted support for their work as they take up demanding positions while managing personal responsibilities and, in recent years, COVID-19 restrictions.

In 2018-19, the agencies allocated 250 new Tier 2 Canada Research Chairs for emerging researchers with an additional $20,000 research stipend each year for first term chairholders. At the same time, the agencies adopted a harmonized working definition of an ECR as a researcher within five years of their first independent research appointment, not including any eligible leaves (parental, medical, bereavement or other).

Proportional funding

In 2020, all three agencies began allocating funding for ECRs in their flagship programs (CIHR Project Grants, NSERC Discovery Grants, SSHRC Insight Grants and Insight Development Grants), proportional to their representation in the applicant pool. In 2020-22, the agencies allowed consideration of pandemic-related delays when determining an applicant’s status as an ECR—effectively extending their access to these funding equalization measures. ECRs now have success rates comparable to those of other researchers in programs essential for establishing their research careers.

Peer and merit review

The agencies also established ways for ECRs and postdoctoral researchers to gain experience and understanding of the peer and merit review processes in which they compete for funding. Since 2019, SSHRC recruits merit review committee members to ensure there is at least one ECR on each Insight Grants and Insight Development Grants committee. Since 2021, the CIHR Reviewer in Training Program has annually offered more than 200 ECRs the opportunity to participate on peer review committees with the support of an experienced mentor. NSERC recruits ECRs to ensure equitable participation of researchers at all career stages on its selection committees. ECRs now make up half of all reviewers for NSERC scholarship and fellowship programs.

In addition, all three agencies have taken steps to ensure unsuccessful first-time ECR applicants receive enhanced feedback from review committees. In its 2023-28 strategic plan, the CFI also reiterated its commitment to encouraging the training, recruitment and retention of new researchers, through programs such as the John R. Evans Leaders Fund.

Developing research training for a knowledge-based society

Student success

The need for people with advanced research training has never been greater. Organizations in all sectors are turning to new knowledge and technology to help guide their work in an increasingly competitive, diverse and international environment. In response, the CRCC asked Canada’s federal research funding agencies to develop a comprehensive strategy to support research training, with appropriate funding levels, that will help Canadian institutions attract and prepare a diverse population of students and postdoctoral fellows for careers in and outside of academia. The strategy’s development will be guided by an external advisory committee, and will focus on five cross-cutting themes: EDI, evolving career paths, Indigenous research and training, international mobility and globalization, and harmonization and streamlining efforts.

In the past year, Canada’s federal research funding agencies launched two initiatives aligned with this CRCC priority, to increase support for:

Indigenous scholars

Developed as part of the SIRC initiative, the Indigenous Scholars Awards and Supplements Pilot Initiative was launched in 2022, following discussions with national Indigenous organizations and the agencies’ Indigenous advisory bodies, as well as Indigenous students, professors and university administrators across the country. The initiative provides $17,500 awards and $5,000 supplements to support Indigenous students in the social sciences, humanities, natural sciences and engineering, through the Canada Graduate Scholarships—Master’s program.

Black scholars

With funding provided in the 2022 federal budget, the agencies will increase both the number and proportion of Black research trainees supported through their scholarship and fellowship programs at the undergraduate, master’s, doctoral, postdoctoral and post-health professional degree stages, starting in 2023-24.

Meeting the challenges of COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic posed an unprecedented challenge for the Canadian research enterprise: to contribute to the global scientific response while continuing much-needed research and training in all fields. In response, the CRCC became a forum for sharing information and advice among member organizations, other federal agencies, and international partners, offering standing invitations to the presidents of the International Development Research Centre and the Public Health Agency of Canada in 2020. The Committee initiated targeted NFRF calls, and the research funding agencies introduced the coordinated supports for trainees and ECRs described above. In addition, the CRCC played a role in the following:

Accelerating evidence-informed decision-making in government

At the start of the pandemic, the CRCC encouraged accelerated information-sharing between the federal government and the academic research community, through the CanCOVID platform. Federal engagement with the platform was managed by the Office of the Chief Science Advisor, with funding from Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada and Health Canada.

Sustaining the research community

When the pandemic shut down universities and health research institutions across the country, the CRCC was called on to oversee delivery of the Canada Research Continuity Emergency Fund. Consistent with the Committee’s priorities, the Fund incorporated measures to: reduce the influence of unconscious bias and systemic barriers in how funds were awarded, recognize how the pandemic affected people in different ways, and ensure fair access for untraditional research. In 2020-21, the Fund provided $416 million in temporary wage support for 32,000 research personnel ineligible for the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. In doing so, the Fund helped sustain 22,000 research projects across 126 organizations.

Canada’s federal research funding agencies also authorized COVID-19-related extensions for existing grants and research projects.

A strategic forum for federal research support

From the outset, the CRCC has worked consistently to build consensus and coordination within the federal research ecosystem and advance national priorities. Engaging researchers, building networks, striking committees and setting up advisory bodies, member organizations have worked ever more closely, learning from each other and their respective research communities, to advance common goals.

Since 2018, the CRCC and its member organizations have introduced coordinated initiatives to enhance Canadian leadership in interdisciplinary and international research, increase EDI in the research ecosystem, support ECRs, and strengthen Indigenous research capacity. The Committee, in addition, helped support the Government’s research response to the pandemic. The CRCC has also broadened its member organizations’ relationships with international funding agencies, launched a global initiative for research on climate change adaptation and mitigation, and is developing a comprehensive research training strategy for the knowledge-based economy. The Committee’s 2023-24 workplan includes each of these priorities, while adding new initiatives to: strengthen bilateral and multilateral international engagements, coordinate a Canadian approach to open access publishing, and advise the federal government on research security. The same plan also formalizes the operational principles of cooperation, consensus and transparency that have guided the CRCC from the beginning.

Today, CRCC initiatives are inspiring and sustaining an increasingly equitable, connected and innovative research enterprise. Recognition of these initiatives, and their growing impact, has established the CRCC as a strategic forum for delivering coordinated research policies and programs that benefit Canadians.