Math and stats long range plan outlines strategy to enhance research impact

A new long range plan (LRP) for mathematical and statistical sciences is urging the government to ensure that the disciplines receive their fair share of research funding through the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council. The report — produced by a high-level panel struck at the behest of NSERC — also calls for NSERC's Research Partnerships Programs portfolio (RPP) to be re-jigged to make it more suitable for applications from mathematics and statistical sciences researchers.

Entitled Solutions for a Complex Age: Long Range Plan for Mathematical and Statistical Sciences Research in Canada 2013-2018, the plan was released in December at a meeting of the Canadian Mathematical Society. It focuses on the three pillars of people, research and discovery and innovation connections, arguing that each "must be robust and well connected to each other" if Canada is to achieve the necessary math and statistics capacity over the next decade.

The LRP was requested by NSERC in 2010 to address concerns from the mathematics research community that the two-stage conference model and binning system used for Discovery Grant applications (introduced in 2009) resulted in lower success rates and grants far smaller than the average. The concerns intensified following the 2011 competition, with 140 researchers signing an open letter asserting that the new system "could precipitate a reversal of all the gains that Canada made in the last decade". It called for an "immediate review … by an independent international panel" (R$, May 2/11).

"We gave it our best shot … We wanted to convey the need for a strong research effort in mathematics and the amount of funding should be targeted to research needs," says Dr Nancy Reid, a professor of statistics at the Univ of Toronto and chair of the NSERC Long Range Plan Steering Committee. "Under the new NSERC process (of determining Discovery Grant recipients) the research history of applicants was taken out of the equation but not the context of the allocation to the disciplines. This is inconsistent as other comparable disciplines get more. The average grant size in math is much lower than any other disciplines."

More specifically, the plan recommends that the RPP provide Mprime (the new name of the MITACS Network of Centres of Excellence) with $1.5 million to fulfill its role as a national innovation and knowledge transfer network. It was the only explicit request for increased funding made by the committee, which was instructed by NSERC not to include any asks for big increases.

"The power of the mathematical and statistical sciences lies in part in their ability to supply a common structure and language to science and technology. They are fundamental to the scientific method, facilitating interdisciplinary collaboration and the translation of discovery into innovation." — Math LRP press release

Dr Nassif Ghoussoub, Mprime's scientific director and a prominent blogger on science issues, says the RPP funding is essentially to provide a level playing field for mathematics. He notes that no math researchers currently receive funding under the program due to its inherent bias towards engineering.

"It's for industrial outreach but we need help and infrastructure to coordinate this … The $1.5 million will allow us to keep the infrastructure alive and help develop connection with industry," says Ghoussoub. "RPP programs are all geared to engineers where leveraging is almost automatic. For core scientists not working directly with industry, we need an extra step to motivate them to make connections ... Mprime and the three mathematics institutes would apply together and submit a proposal."

Ghoussoub says the Mprime board met January 15th and expressed its desire to hear NSERC's response by May 1st. If support is not forthcoming, he says Mprime "will go the political route" to make itself heard.

Key among its recommendations is the establishment of an LRP Implementation Committee (LRP-IC) to oversee the LRP's implementation — a recommendation already accepted by NSERC. Reid says that while the new entity will be advisory, the community is expecting NSERC to take its advice seriously.

"It's extremely important to be listened to by NSERC. In the past, our voices fell on deaf ears," she says. "It's the most important recommendation we made but the devil is in the details."

Another central plank in the LRP's vision is its strong support for the recently formed Canadian Statistical Sciences Institute (CANSSI), which aims to become "an equal partner in the national system of mathematical and statistical sciences institutes".

CANSSI has been seed funded by the three existing mathematics institutes — the Fields Institute, Centre de recherches mathématiques and Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences — and the Statistical Society of Canada. But it will need support from both NSERC and other sources to grow and thrive.

"The institutes showed great leadership by providing $200,000 each to jump start CANSSI and help statisticians to get on their feet and raise funds elsewhere," says Ghoussoub. "If this fails, it will develop and propose major initiatives that government can fund directly."

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