York University Gazette Online



\| VOLUME 29, NUMBER 22 \| WEDNESDAY, MARCH 3, 1999 \| ISSN 1199-5246 \|

Federal budget boost to research is a boon to universities

By Beverly Else

The federal government's budget announcement on Feb. 16 held good news for research centres and social scientists at York.

University President Lorna Marsden welcomed the government's vision to create the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) which will draw together scientists from across the full spectrum of health research from biomedical research to the leading-edge work of social science researchers.

"The Finance Minister is calling on researchers from a wide range of areas to come together to explore solutions to national health challenges," Marsden said. "York University with its critical mass of researchers in Health Studies and its increasing concentration on health care policy is superbly suited to contribute to meeting that challenge." She was pleased as well that both undergraduate and graduate students will benefit as their professors share with them the knowledge and research promoted by these new opportunities.

While the CIHR proposal is being further developed, the budget provides for an increase of $150 million over the next three years for health-related research. On an annual basis, this money is allocated as follows:

$27.5 million to the Medical Research Council (MRC);

$7.5 million to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC);

$7.5 million to the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC);

$5 million to the National Research Council (NRC); and

$2.5 million to Health Canada's National Health Research and Development Program.

The budget notes that the MRC will become part of the CIHR once it is constituted in the year 2000.

Dr. Marc Renaud, president of the SSHRC, also welcomed this major investment in health research. "We are especially pleased that health is defined in its broadest terms," he said, and he encouraged his colleagues in the humanities and social sciences to think about how their scholarly work might be supported through the objectives of the CIHR.

President Marsden said that York University has the greatest concentration of social scientists and humanists of any university in the country. Both they and our cadre of top-notch researchers in the Faculty of Pure and Applied Science are eager to pursue the research this country needs to help guide decision-making, inform policy, and answer complex questions about how to improve the health and productivity of the nation.

Marsden said that she was further heartened by the increase in funding to the Canada Health and Social Transfer described in the budget, and she would be encouraging the provincial government to pass the education dollars on to the sector. Marsden also applauded the increase to the budgets of the vitally important granting agencies, and endorsed the expanded commitments to the Networks of Centres of Excellence, of which York's Centre for Health Studies is a part, and to the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Those interested in reading the details of the 1999 federal budget can find it on the Web at http://www.fin.gc.ca/budget99/toc/1999/buddoclist99-e.html

The major goals
of the CIHR are to:

promote the creation of new knowledge and its translation into improved health for Canadians, more effective health services and economic development;

forge an integrated health research agenda across disciplines, sectors and regions that reflects the emerging health needs of Canadians and the evolution of the health system;

encourage interdisciplinary, integrative research through the creation of thematic institutes that will encompass the disciplines of basic science, applied clinical science, health services and population health, and foster collaboration with stakeholders in the voluntary, community and private sectors and others with complementary research interests;

create a robust research environment in Canada, based on excellence as determined by peer review, to ensure that the best and brightest have opportunities to contribute to improved health in Canada;

anticipate emerging health threats and challenges, and accelerate discovery of cures, prevention and wellness strategies;

promote economic growth and job creation by encouraging innovation and enhancing the commercialization of Canadian research; and

ensure the transparency and accountability to the taxpayer for the federal investment in health research.

The major goals of the CIHR are to:

The major goals
of the CIHR are to: