Monthly Archives: July 2011

Dirigisme: Research prioritization and funds reallocation … by staff

Posted on July 29, 2011 by

Last December, during a lively public debate with Isabelle Blain, NSERC’s Vice-President for Research Grants & Scholarships, my colleague Martin tried to bring a positive note to the conversation by stating that at least NSERC’s new ways are not as bad … Continue reading →

Posted in Op-eds, R&D Policy | 5 Comments

The decline in Discovery Grants budgets also begs for an explanation

Posted on July 28, 2011 by

Encouraged by NSERC’s response to explain the reasons behind the drop in the numbers of their graduate scholarships and postdoctoral fellowships, we decided to push our luck and inquire for the reasons behind the substantial decline  in the budgets of almost … Continue reading →

Posted in Op-eds, R&D Policy | 5 Comments

NSERC explains the drop in 2011 CGS, PGS and PDF numbers

Posted on July 26, 2011 by

In response to our last blog post, “Piece of Mind” received the following memo from NSERC communications. NSERC offered fewer CGS-PGS awards in 2011 for two reasons: First, the Government of Canada’s Economic Action Plan (EAP) came to an end, … Continue reading →

Posted in R&D Policy | 7 Comments

NSERC’s scholarships and fellowships: Policy shift or collateral damage?

Posted on July 20, 2011 by

The following comment to this blog got my attention:  “I’m wondering if anyone else has noticed the most recent NSERC PGS (Post-Graduate Scholarships) and PDF (Post-Doctoral Fellowships) numbers: Across all disciplines from 2010 to 2011, Master’s awards are down 36%, … Continue reading →

Posted in R&D Policy | 12 Comments

“You cannot avoid the impression that science is for sale”

Posted on July 18, 2011 by

That was Michael Hartmer, director of the German Association of University Professors, commenting to Der Spiegel on the latest “textbook example of how not to manage the relationship between private industry and the academy”. A far cry from what was … Continue reading →

Posted in Op-eds, R&D Policy | 1 Comment

When an Ottawa bureaucrat calls!

Posted on July 13, 2011 by

“Just so you know, I fund your organization, so when I tell you to do something, I expect you to do it”. No, this was not an elected official. Politicians normally know better than to say such things. That was … Continue reading →

Posted in Op-eds | Leave a comment

Sleepless in Taiwan

Posted on July 10, 2011 by

I am in Taipei for a mathematics conference in celebration of the 60th birthday of a great colleague, a superior scholar, an enriching scientific collaborator, and a dear friend,  Chang-Shou Lin. What a treat it is to be here –notwithstanding … Continue reading →

Posted in Honouring friends | 1 Comment

Making a buck out of housing faculty

Posted on July 5, 2011 by

The University of California has a home loan program designed to support the university’s mission by facilitating the recruitment and retention of faculty and senior managers at all UC campuses (See below for details). But the true story is that UC may have collected a cool billion dollars by selling its home … Continue reading →

Posted in Board of Governors, UBC Housing Action Plan | Leave a comment