Editorial - 21-19

News that a multi-agency working group is examining the issue of support for major science facilities is welcome news. As any administrator of Canada's dozen or so big science facilities — both physical and virtual — will tell you, the current system is complex, cumbersome, time consuming and fraught with so much uncertainty that it could be contributing to the loss of highly-regarded research talent.

Whether it's the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory, TRIUMF or the Canadian Light Source, the costs of running big science facilities keep its managers hopping on airplanes destined for Ottawa to deal with any number of funding agencies that contribute to their operations. How this impacts on the performance of an administrator's responsibilities for project management and the science itself is anyone's guess, but it certainly isn't positive.

As just one example, an award by the Canada Foundation for Innovation in support of big science infrastructure triggers the labourious chore of finding matching funding from at least two other sources.

One coordinator whose project was recently approved by the CFI says the tasks associated with finding the extra funding sources cost him one year away from his laboratory. Needless to say, he's a big supporter of the one-stop shopping concept of funding support and a fan of the framework developed two years ago by the Office of the National Science Advisor.

The way the system works now, senior administrators are wasting precious time making repeated treks to Ottawa, not to mention needlessly adding tons of carbon to the atmosphere.