Comments on: Harper, Clement and university leaders “grasp olive branch”

By: Jim

Jim — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 12:38:08 +0000

Correction, 40 nominees for 20 ultimate CERCs awards. Still 50% attrition. My bad.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:43:21 +0000

They will announce 20 nominations today. There will only be 10 CERC awards. The 20 nominations (cut down from 130) will be given a chance to win one of those 10 chairs by nominating a candidate who will then be evaluated by a committee. Half of those nominated candidates will not be funded.

By: Bob

Bob — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 21:07:22 +0000

What is this? Can’t they wait to announce the 20 winners! Since when do you have a party to tell that half of those brilliant people will not make it?
In the old days, you could make 3 elections with one piece of road, one to announce it, one to start building it, one for cutting the ribbon. Now this government of neocons does that with research. Even the creationist chiropractor stood up to announce the results of NSERC Discovery program last week, which should be standard bureaucratic procedure.
Propaganda at its best.

By: Jim

Jim — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 20:23:47 +0000

A cynic might also suggest that the CERC program is a perfect example of encroaching government influence on research since it prescribes a variety of conditions and selective areas for support. Since the competition excludes existing Canadian researchers, it raises the spectre of alienating the internationally recognized and coveted researchers we already have. The insinuation is that these are not good enough, or at best, can be taken for granted. Which begs the question, what is the point of spending $100 million to recruit 20 researcher stars to Canada if 20 Canadian researcher stars leave as a consequences of being overlooked?

By: Harper, researchers grasp olive branch « Researcher Forum

Harper, researchers grasp olive branch « Researcher Forum — Thu, 23 Apr 2009 18:22:57 +0000

[...] … according to Today’s globe and mail. A more accurate title would have been “Harper and University Presidents extend olive branch to researchers” which is of course most welcome. Elizabeth Church captures exactly what’s on the mind of the [...]