$328M Federal Scientific Research Funding Sliced Up Between Canadian Research Centers

Research funds allotted by the Canada Foundation for Innovation were sliced up among various research centers. Canadian federal Science Minister Kirsty Duncan made the announcement of the release of funding last Monday.

The main focus of the funding is to promote scientific research at the 17-key national scientific research facilities. The University of Saskatchewan received $69 million in total, which will be divided between its three research centers, including the Canadian Light Source, a powerful X-ray facility. The facility that helps researchers in studying molecular structures and processes was granted $48 million.

The International Vaccine Centre that functions under the aegis of the university received $19.3 million, which will be used in the process of infrastructure development necessary for the study of infectious diseases and development of vaccines.

$1.56 million was allotted to SuperDARN Canada, which is an initiative made by the University of Saskatchewan towards mapping of space weather in the Canadian region, Saskatoon Star Phoenix reported.

The allotment of such a huge amount of funding to the University of Saskatchewan research centers "affirms the value to Canada of the world-class science being done within these unique centres," said Peter Stoicheff, President of the University.

Globe and Mail reported that The Ocean Networks Canada center received $46.6 million, which is meant for the furtherance of research at sea floor observatories employed for monitoring of oceans. Canada's Genomics Enterprise, the collaborative genomic project that sequences numerous genomes every year was allotted $32 million.

Compute Canada received the highest individual grant of $70 million, which will be used to develop the facilities necessary for building high-speed computing access to scientists working on diverse fields. The research icebreaker ship named Amundsen was allocated $18.2 million to develop its infrastructure and facilities, which will in turn help in conducting highly advanced scientific programs in the Canadian Arctic region and undertaking health surveys of the northern communities.

As per the federal rules of Canadian government, 40 percent of each research grant is provided by the government, while the rest is collected from provincial and other sources. Scientists are of the opinion that this policy obstructs the furtherance of research and innovation in Canada and demand that it should be reformed as soon as possible.