Granting Councils

The three granting councils provide funding for graduate students in Canada, both directly through scholarships and training programmes and indirectly through funds to students' supervisors. The Caucus maintains regular communications with representatives of the three councils.

In the 2007 federal budget, the government announced an increase to the number of Canada Graduate Scholarships (CGS). Additional funding will be provided to increase the number of CGSs from 4,000 to 5,000 in the next year. Of these, 400 will be distributed through NSERC, 400 through CIHR, and only 200 through SSHRC. However, this further exacerbates the disproportionate under-funding of research in the social sciences and humanities since most of the new funding announced in the 2007 and 2008 federal budgets targeted specific research areas or commercialisation initiatives.

Submission to the Standing Committee on Finance

The Caucus prepared a submission to the Standing Committee on Finance about policy on funding graduate research in Canada in August 2007. The brief outlines policy analysis and proposals dealing with: rising graduate tuition fees and associated accessibility issues; the Federation's concerns over the continued push towards the commercialisation of research and the lack of whistleblower protection; the under-funding of the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the new threats that the Council faces under the "innovation and commercialization" agenda; the need to increase the number of scholarships for graduate students and ensure that those scholarships are equitably distributed; and the need for the elimination of differential fees for international students.

The submission recommends an increase to the budgets of the federal granting agencies to support basic research with an additional asymmetrical increase to the SSHRC; to increase both the value and number of scholarships to graduate students through the granting councils supporting basic and applied research; and to extend eligibility for Canada Graduate Scholarships and granting council graduate scholarships to international students.

Whistleblowers Campaign

As research institutions have become more reliant on private sector funding, private corporations have come to influence both the direction and the reported results of research. Researchers who have been unwilling to tailor their work to the needs of private sponsors have become the targets of academic censorship and, in some cases, reprisals and public smear campaigns. Students are particularly vulnerable when trying to uphold research integrity because they lack the protection of mechanisms like collective agreements. The Caucus' Whistleblowers Campaign supports the work of those who stand up for public research by speaking out against corporate interference in research. The Caucus is also lobbying for federal whistleblower legislation to protect university researchers from reprisals when they attempt to expose research misconduct. The Caucus maintains a website (Whistleblowers) that includes background information on the issues of public/private partnerships in university research and academic freedom. The Caucus has also developed and distributed a poster encouraging graduate students to contact the Caucus if their industry sponsor has overstepped appropriate involvement in their research.

The Case of Christopher Radziminski

The Federation continues to support the efforts of former University of Toronto graduate student Christopher Radziminski in having investigations conducted into his allegations of misconduct in drinking water research. Radziminski approached the Federation in 2004 after the University of Toronto declined to investigate his complaints. Radziminski, who received a postgraduate scholarship from the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) for his master's work, alleges that his two supervisors plagiarised his thesis in two journal articles without his knowledge or consent and manipulated research results. Frustrated by the University's refusal to investigate his allegations and its subsequent threat of a defamation suit when he had contacted the journals in question, Radziminski is interested in pursuing legislation to protect whistleblowers in Canada with the Federation.

Indiana University undertook a formal inquiry into Radziminski's allegations in spring 2006, and the Federation provided assistance to Radziminski during the investigative hearing in Bloomington. At the conclusion of the investigation, Indiana University confirmed that the supervisor under investigation had engaged in wrongdoing with respect to both publications. In May 2006, formal letters of apology were written to Radziminski and the other students listed as authors on the articles, including another University of Toronto graduate student. Indiana University ordered copies of the letters to be sent to both journals. The conclusion of the investigation undertaken by Indiana University confirmed Radziminski's complaints of misconduct.

The Federation and Radziminski have sought retractions from the two journals that published the articles in question: Applied & Environmental Microbiology and Water Research. On September 13, 2006, the article in Water Research was officially retracted, with an accompanying explanation from the Editor.

Judicial Review of Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council Decision

In addition to the research misconduct arising from his Master's thesis, Radziminski has also made efforts to investigate the publishing of research results from an experiment testing a potential alternative disinfectant in Wiarton, Ontario's drinking water distribution system. Despite numerous complaints by Wiarton residents regarding the odour and taste of the water" all garnering national newspaper media attention "research results portrayed the experiment as "novel" and "successful", explicitly stating there were no complaints from residents. Health Canada has referenced these published results to update national drinking water quality guidelines. The Federation had requested on three separate occasions (July 2005, October 2005, April 2006) that NSERC initiate an inquiry into the Wiarton experiment based on the discrepancies between the academic reporting and evidence obtained through Freedom of Information requests. On June 15, 2006, NSERC replied again to the Federation that it had no intention of responding to the Federation's requests for a formal investigation into the allegations.

On July 26, 2006, the Federation filed an application with the Federal Court for a review of NSERC's decision. Supporting materials and an affidavit were filed with the Federal Court on October 20, 2006. Cross examination of the Federation's affidavit took place in December 2006.

A hearing was held in Federal Court on October 30, 2007, where the Federation's counsel argued that NSERC erred in interpreting their statutory obligations to respond to the complaint and that NSERC demonstrated a reasonable apprehension of bias by dismissing the Federation's request for an investigation.

Tuition Fees

The Campaign for the Restoration/Maintenance of the reduced fees of Post-Residency Fee systems. 'Post-residency fees' refers to a structure in which graduate students, upon completion of course work, pay reduced fees during the independent research and thesis writing stages of their degrees. Post-residency fees are known by a number of names that vary from university to university. Terms such as 'maintenance', 'continuing', 'continuance', 'post-program', 're-registration', and 'additional session' fees are synonymous with post-residency fees. Many universities in Canada have eliminated their post-residency fee systems, and others are currently in the process of doing so.

The campaign for the restoration and maintenance of post-residency fee systems was adopted by the Caucus in February 2004. In September 2004, a factsheet on post-residency fees was developed and circulated to members. A revised and updated version of the fact sheet was developed and circulated in the fall of 2005.

Central to the campaign for post-residency fees is a pledge form that has been developed for students to sign and deliver to the university's governing body. The pledge includes a commitment that, as alumni, the signatory will withhold donations to their university unless post-residency fees are restored (in cases where they have been eliminated) or unless post-residency fees are maintained (in cases where they have not yet been eliminated).

An additional poster has been developed to promote the campaign on campus. The poster asks graduate students "would you pay $XX for a library card?" where the value of $XX can be customised by Locals to reflect the increase in fees resulting from a loss of post-residency fees.

In-study Interest Relief

Student loan interest payment relief for students still enrolled is limited to between five and ten years, depending on the type of loan and the level of academic study. These limits can place graduate students and other students in protracted studies at risk of being forced into repayment before studies are completed. Further, the limits to in-study interest relief are not clearly conveyed in Canada Student Loan Program (CSLP) promotional materials. These issues have been raised at meetings with officials from the CSLP, and was raised at recent meetings of the National Advisory Committee on Student Assistance.

Renewal of the Copyright Act

Background

The federal Copyright Act has been undergoing review in light of the effects of new digital technology. The review of the Act is largely a consequence of digital technology and the availability of copyrighted works on the Internet.

New legislation was on the verge of being tabled in November (it was scheduled on the order paper), but was withdrawn at the last minute after an successful online campaign. The Federation has circulated a letter demanding public consultations before any changes to the Copyright Act. Legislation is expected soon, but it is unlikely that it would pass before an spring election.

Letter Writing Campaign

The Caucus has been involved in a letter writing campaign where members send a letter to their local MPs outlining the problems with the current legislation. The letter calls for balanced copyright legislation that takes into account distribution of information in the public domain and that does not criminalise users for accessing information under the provisions of fair dealing.

Creative Commons Movement

Creative Commons licenses allow authors, artists, researchers, and educators freedom to assign less restrictive copyrights to their creative works. Less restrictive copyrights allow the release of these works into the public domain while still allowing the creator to keep some control over attribution rights and the commercial use of their work. In the face of increased commercialisation of knowledge within post-secondary education and research institutions, Creative Commons licensing encourages collaboration, rather than competition, among academics and researchers. The Caucus is developing a strategy to advance knowledge and use of Creative Commons licencing and Open Access publishing.

Commercialisation of Research

The Caucus continues to monitor national developments with regards to the commercialisation of research in Canada, particularly with regards to federal policy developments. This campaign is tied intrinsically to both the Whistleblowers Campaign and the Caucus' efforts to increase research funding that does not require industry involvement or a commercialisation orientation.

Public Risk, Private Gain: An introduction to the commercialisation of university research

The Caucus has recently produced a research document (Public Risk, Private Gain) which is an introduction to the commercialisation of university research. The document provides an overview of the history of research funding in Canada, including commercialisation initiatives, analysis of the harmful effects of commercialisation on universities, and proposals to protect research in the public interest.

Federal Science and Technology Strategy

The Science and Technology Strategy was revealed by the federal government in May 2007. The strategy highlighted a number of ways by which commercialisation initiatives could be promoted in Canadian universities. The strategy aims to strengthen the relationships between public universities and private industry and facilitate commercially driven research at the graduate student level. This will be accomplished through the creation of research centres and adjusting the governance and role of the granting councils to further the commercialisation agenda.

The key recommendations that relate to research in post-secondary education institutions include directing public resources and research in targeted areas that will promote market driven research. Priority areas may include environmental science and technologies, natural resources and energy, health and related life sciences and technologies, and information and communications technologies; Increasing the transfer of knowledge and technologies from universities, research hospitals, and government laboratories to the private sector; realigning the granting councils to focus more on commercially oriented research; setting up the Centres of Excellence in Commercialization and Research program and creating new business-led research networks under the Networks of Centres of Excellence Program. Eight large-scale centres will be created to undertake research in areas where Canada has the potential to be a "global leader".

The Caucus continues to monitor the implementation and impact of the Strategy on campuses and on public research.