Academics implore NDP to boost funding amid push to recruit U.S. researchers
More than 250 academics are calling on the Kinew government to reinstate funding to Research Manitoba if it is serious about recruiting scientists from south of the border and keeping them long term.
Against the backdrop of budget cuts at post-secondary institutions in the United States and professors’ concerns about political interference in their work, Premier Wab Kinew has hinted about plans to expand outreach.
Researchers from the University of Manitoba, University of Winnipeg and Brandon University have responded to the premier’s comments in an open letter.
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Dylan MacKay, assistant professor of nutrition and chronic disease at U of M, feels a Manitoba recruitment drive in the U.S. right now would set American professors up to be disappointed.
“Manitoba currently ranks last in Canada for provincial per capita research funding — a stark reality that contradicts the government’s recent enthusiasm for attracting international researchers,” states an excerpt of a letter sent to Kinew and his ministerial colleagues on Tuesday.
Dylan MacKay is among the signatories who flagged concerns about the limited provincial grants available to the existing pool of researchers.
“Researchers are like a seed. If you throw them on pavement, very few of them grow and our environment is a parking lot,” said MacKay, an assistant professor of nutrition and chronic disease at U of M.
As far as he is concerned, a recruitment drive in the U.S. right now would set American professors up to be disappointed upon arrival and subsequently search for work elsewhere.
Research Manitoba has lost about $35.5 million in cumulative spending power over the last decade.
The agency, which co-ordinates grants for research in health, natural and social sciences, engineering and the humanities, was allotted $17.1 million in 2015-16.
“Researchers are like a seed. If you throw them on pavement, very few of them grow and our environment is a parking lot.”–Dylan MacKay
Its allotment for the current fiscal year is just under $14 million, per data from the department of advanced education and training.
MacKay called recent years of cuts and stagnant funding “a real lost opportunity,” given economic modelling data has repeatedly shown that research dollars bring more money into the province.
Every dollar spent on research is estimated to yield upwards of $4 in economic benefits for Manitoba.
Research Manitoba has pegged the return on the dollar at $4.77, based on a review of its operating and establishment grants between 2010 and 2015.
More recently, an economic impact study commissioned by U of M found the province received a return of $4.10 on every loonie it spent on the only local member of the U15 — Canada’s top research-intensive campuses — in 2022-23.
U of M’s Meghan Azad attributes the launch of her award-winning research career to a $225,000, three-year investigator grant she received to study human breast milk prior to major cuts at the agency.
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U of M professor of pediatrics and child health, Dr. Meghan Azad.
The professor of pediatrics and child health said the findings she collected with the initial funding have allowed her to secure $15 million from other granting entities, such as the Canada Research Chairs Program and Gates Foundation.
Azad and her colleagues have asked the province restore funding to at least 2016 levels, adjusted for inflation, “to truly seize this moment” and capitalize on a wave of U.S. scholars who are considering employment opportunities in Canada.
Advanced Education Minister Renée Cable met with representatives from the group to hear their pitch on Tuesday.
Cable told the Free Press she agreed with many of their concerns and indicated the government has “stopped the bleeding” and is funding research through various channels.
Since the NDP was elected, it has pledged $350,000 in additional funding — $100,000 of which is included in the 2025-26 budget — to Research Manitoba.
The Tories froze or slashed annual funding for the agency during the majority of the time they were in government, from 2016 to 2023, although they did announce a $1.6-million injection in 2022.
“Researchers and scientists in this province punch well above their weight. They’re all doing phenomenal work and they’re not wrong that the research dollars were completely gutted under the previous administration,” Cable said.
The Kinew government has current plan to build on its campaign to incentivize U.S. health-care workers to move and assist universities with hiring in any formal manner, she added.
Clinical trialist Lauren Kelly said her department head at the U of M has been busy fielding emails from U.S. scholars who have started job-hunting in recent months.
“We have lots of positions that need to be filled and lots of growth that we want to see,” the assistant professor in pharmacology and therapeutics said.
Kelly said she hopes the open letter sparks a wider conversation about the state of provincially funded research and Manitobans’ priorities for local scientists.
maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca
Maggie Macintosh
Education reporter
Maggie Macintosh reports on education for the Free Press. Originally from Hamilton, Ont., she first reported for the Free Press in 2017. Read more about Maggie.
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