More flexibility in research projects sought

The forthcoming Innovation Agenda and an assessment of the National Research Council are being welcomed by the agency's research staff as a timely opportunity to address growing concerns over internal R&D capacity, research direction, career fulfillment and staff morale. NRC president Iain Stewart was hired for a two-year term to deliver an initial stocktaking of NRC operations to the government this month, followed by a complete assessment in mid-2017.

Last December, prior to Stewart's arrival, NRC researchers delivered a Call to Action: Keeping "Research" and "National" in the National Research Council to management. It outlined a list of concerns that include a reduction in employees and "aggressive revenue targets" that have "affected disproportionately staff working in the regions".

In September, another group of NRC researchers made a submission to the Innovation Agenda consultations, recommending greater collaboration and input by researchers in identifying "areas of potential research excellence leading to innovation". It also recommended a re-balancing between industry-directed projects and "use-inspired basic research (UIBR)" – the latter an area that was seriously diminished under previous NRC president John McDougall.

In an interview with Research Money last month, Stewart said he was aware of staff concerns and that they were part of the reason behind the government's decision to assess the NRC (R$, October 27/16).

The massive changes at the agency executed by John McDougall have left parts of the organization in flux, particularly those without direct contributions and connections to the needs of industry. Today, however, there are signs of a turnaround.

"There are grounds for optimism. There's a new government, the previous president is gone, there's a new president and there is openness which is something we haven't seen to this extent," says Susan O'Donnell, a research officer with the Information and Communications branch of the NRC (NRC-ICT) and part of the 15-member of the union-backed working group behind the Call to Action. "We would like to have input into the analysis of the consultation findings and see the draft before it goes to the minister. There's an openness now we haven't seen to this extent"

O'Donnell says there are no easy answers to NRC's problems and where it fits into the larger innovation ecosystem especially during a period of transition. She says an area which needs special scrutiny is the regional NRC centres, many of which were launched under a cluster initiative conceived and launched by former president Dr Arthur Carty, then eliminated when McDougall arrived.

"We lost the cluster mandate in 2010 and the regional offices went off the radar with no reporting function … The NRC is now looking at it and it's not a pretty picture," says O'Donnell. "Regina (Centre for Sustainable Infrastructure Research) lost all its research staff and NRC-ICT in New Brunswick went from 23 to just six staff … During the Stephen Harper era, there was a blind movement in a certain direction with no consideration for feedback from staff ... We were located on a university campus but how do we work effectively with universities? Stewart has to grapple with this."

"(NRC) programs are reactive, not proactive, attempts to fill a need. The rigid structure leaves little time for researchers to think about possible new directions, let alone develop testable ideas. As a result there are few new ideas in the research pipeline, and other conventional metrics of research productivity (scientific publications and patents among them) are dramatically lower than in years past." — NRC researchers' submission to Innovation Agenda

Within the assessment to determine which parts of the NRC are working and which need improvement, the current program and project structure is high on the list of issues researchers say require scrutiny.

"Over the last three or four years, the emphasis has been on undertaking a piece of research or answer a question that originated with a specific client. The answer is only relevant to that client as opposed to the broad category of UIBR. That's the process of doing research where you can apply new knowledge in different places," says Jennifer Veitch, a principal research officer with the NRC's Construction Portfolio and an author of the Innovation Agenda submission. "UIBR has been significantly decreased in the past few years so we need a re-balance. Don't move the pendulum all the way in one direction. We could also use more collaboration with the post-secondary sector."

"Over the past several years, project management procedures tied to approved research programs were introduced that centralized decision-making in Ottawa and at increasingly higher levels of management. Local staff have very little flexibility in how they manage projects and initiatives. Our highly-skilled research teams have almost no opportunities to conduct the kind of foundational and exploratory research that has made NRC successful in the past. Instead, efforts are focused on landing "research" contracts with industry that in most cases are applied R&D not tied to innovation opportunities. We have yet to see the evidence base that correlates NRC revenue from industry to innovation and economic growth." — Call to Action

Veitch, a 25-year NRC veteran, says her group used Pasteur's Quadrant —a classification of scientific research projects that seeks a fundamental understanding as well as social benefit, bridging the gap between basic and applied research — in its Innovation Agenda submission. She says it helps to illustrate how UIBR is essential to NRC's continued relevance and why the current rigid structure for greenlighting projects is "burdensome" and stifles creativity.

"There needs to be more flexibility to put resources in directions that don't always fit into the box," says Veitch. "You get better results with more flexibility so researchers and professors can chart a bit of their own course."

O'Donnell notes that NRC researchers are currently renegotiating their contracts through the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada and are seeking to have a scientific integrity clause included for the first time. PIPSC is also seeking to enshrine the commitment to unmuzzling scientists made by the Liberal government.

"The issue still hasn't been resolved," says O'Donnell.

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