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Optimising benefits from Canadian Research
CSPC 2016
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Janet Halliwell, Chair CASRAI; Co-Chair Admin Burden Canada collective; Chair CSPC
Dominique Bérubé, Vice-President Research Programs, SSHRC
Jim Woodgett, Director of Research, Lunenfeld-Tanenbaum Research Institute
The Panel
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THE GOOD - a strong and dynamic academic research ecosystem; much to celebrate
THE CHALLENGE - increasing concerns with research productivity and effectiveness due to undue administrative burden and associated barriers to effective research
THE QUESTION – how best to improve the research ecosystem and reduce admin burden without compromising quality and accountability of the research system
The issue
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Documenting research objectives and the investigator track record in proposals for research support
Engagement in the peer review process – both for research funding and for publication
Accountability for public funds Integrity in research (e.g. ethics) Reporting on outcomes Diversity and equity in the research system
Legitimate demands
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Structural – e.g. capacity of the system to deal with emerging researchers, inter-disciplinarity, coordination among programs
Administrative - e.g. efficiency of the process of application for funds and reporting throughout the research life cycle
Policy – e.g. managing compliance, tensions around balance of funding allocations, roles and responsibilities of researchers and institutions
But also Challenges
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Information Disconnects Span the Research Lifecycle
Duplication
Complexity
Change
FeasibilityMaturity
Comparability
Can’t reuse existing info - must re-key + across multiple requesters
Meaning/relevance of info needs more shared analysis
Granularity higher than warranted by business step
Info clearly useful but very hard to collect
Too frequent changes to info requests + across
multiple requesters Info cannot be compared across requesters and suppliers
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Early stage researchers finding this environment particularly challenging
Established researchers walking away from funding opportunities
Research partners declining collaborations New demands emerging, e.g. the move to an Open
Science environment Capacity of funding agencies to deal with competing
demands etc Collective interest in improving the life and
productivity of researchers (and perhaps even research administrators and funders)
Why do we worry?
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In part a victim of our own success - recognition of the importance of research◦ More and more comprehensive suite of programs◦ More sophistication and costs in research
In part divergence of demand and supply of resources for research
In part lack of collective engagement in, and commitment of resources to, tackling effective and innovative information management and system innovation
How did we get here?
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Context 1 – Structural changes
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1996
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1000
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Federal govtProvincial govtBusinessHigher EdPNPForeign
Context 2 – Funding challenges
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Two inevitable consequences (which we could manage better) New norms of accountability & expectations
(demonstrating ROI) Increasing admin requirements & regulations
(managing risk)And two perhaps not so inevitable consequences Lack of alignment of programs, processes and
policies Multiple proposals and low success rates
The fall out … challenges with structure, admin, policy, funding
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Personnel Recruitment Program Design Financial Compliance Non-Financial Compliance Post-Award Management Reporting Scholarly Communications
The landscape of opportunity
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Structural Improve funding opportunities for emerging
researchers Change modes of support for trainees, e.g.
living stipend, direct support Rebalance allocations to funding programs,
e.g. less to large prestige programs; more to discovery
Coordinate CFI, CRC and TC3 programs to align research positions and funding
What we heard in the mini survey 1
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Administrative Fix the CCCV (many times!) Harmonize and simplify application and
reporting processes X programs and agencies (many times; many variations)
Integrate systems to seamlessly share information on a need-to-know basis across individuals, institutions and funders
Improved and proactive institutional support services for researchers
What we heard in the mini survey 2
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Policy F2F meetings for peer review Shift balance of programming to more support for
investigator driven research ++ Consolidate funding agencies More responsiveness to distinctive characteristics
of SSH research Adopt/dictate a unified set of metrics with clear
definitions More funding for indirect costs of research Improve institutional research leadership
What we heard in the mini survey 3
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A partnership initiative led by post-secondary education (PSE) institutions and associations, supported by the Canadian national chapter of CASRAI.
Short-term goal of reducing undue administrative burden within the Canadian research life-cycleLonger-term goal of sustaining these reductions while enhancing the overall productivity and efficiency of the Canadian research ecosystem leading to enhanced research impacts.
ABC – bringing partners together
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Funding results – automated upload of data on awards from funders to institutions
CCCV – working towards a collaborative approach Financial audits/monitoring – applying a risk
management framework to low-risk, low-value transactions
ORCID – implementation of a persistent digital identifier for persons – by institutions and others
Building awareness
What ABC & partners are working on today
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Ecosystem Map - to assist stakeholders in knowing the various 'moving parts' in the Canadian research ecosystem for research data and research information.
Governance & stewardship practices for research information in Canada
Best practices for two-way exchange of research information within/between Canadian stakeholders (especially funder <> institution)
Possible ABC menu items for tomorrow
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What and how best to tackle ….
And your blank slate for suggestions
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Focus on the desired end state, then seek to get there as simply as possible
Work collaboratively among sectors and communities
Solicit active engagement of researchers Take lessons from those who have been
successful – in Canada and elsewhere
Factors for success
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So we can go from this…
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To this …
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http://docs.casrai.org/Admin_Burden_in_Canada/Organization
http://docs.casrai.org/Admin_Burden_in_Canada/Issues
http://docs.casrai.org/Admin_Burden_in_Canada/Defining_Success
https://casrai.org/abc_thinkpiece
Reference URLs
