The University of Lethbridge’s Associate Vice-President (Research), Dr. Claudia Malacrida, has been invited to take part in an independent review of the manner in which the federal government provides funding for fundamental science.
Malacrida is one of eight distinguished research leaders and innovators who have been invited to serve on the independent review panel. Dr. David Naylor, former president of the University of Toronto, will chair the panel.
“The Government of Canada understands the role of science in maintaining a thriving, clean economy and in providing the evidence for sound policy decisions,” says a Government of Canada news release. “To deliver on this role however, federal programs that support Canada's research efforts must be aligned in such a way as to ensure they are strategic, effective and focused on meeting the needs of scientists first.”
Launched by the Honourable Kristy Duncan, Minister of Science, the review will assess the program machinery that is currently in place to support science and scientists in Canada. The scope of the review includes the three granting councils, Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), along with certain federally funded organizations such as the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI).
"Our government must ensure its support for fundamental research is coherent, effective and agile enough to keep pace with the dynamic nature of contemporary science,” says Duncan. “I encourage all Canadians to participate in this review by submitting their thoughts to this esteemed panel. Science, after all, is everybody's business.”
Malacrida is regarded as one of Canada’s leading sociologists. As a Tier I Board of Governors Research Chair, she investigates questions of power and the construction of difference historically and in the present. In 2015, she released her fourth book, A Special Hell: Institutional Life in Alberta’s Eugenics Years, which examined eugenics and the institutionalization of individuals with disabilities.
“It is an honour to be able to contribute to this important evaluation of where research and knowledge production have brought us in Canada, and what our future directions can and should be,” says Malacrida.
The review will take place over six months.