NSERC plan aims to improve funding and career paths of young researchers

Thousands of PhD graduates will have a better shot at landing careers in academia, industry and government if a proposal for a new suite of fellowships is accepted and funded by the new federal government. The Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) has developed a new initiative to expand opportunities for young researchers and reduce the time it takes for them to establish their careers.

The proposed initiative was added to the goals of NSERC's new strategic plan (see page 1) following cross-country consultations by NSERC president Dr Mario Pinto. They are explained in more detail in an internal document called Mend the Gap and aimed to coincide with Canada's 150th birthday in 2017. Countries such as the UK, Germany and Japan have already launched programs aimed at launching careers of young researchers.

New data show that a large percentage of recent PhD graduates are struggling to find employment, falling into an expanding gap between the culmination of their training and securing their first job or research grant. The average age for PhDs obtaining their first major grant in academia is 35 for NSERC disciplines and 42 for those within the realm of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR).

"Evidence from multiple sources indicates the system is failing to create enough opportunities for your researchers," states the NSERC report. "For recent PhD graduates, the prospects are simply not good."

Only 8% of NSERC Discovery grantees are under the age of 36, while for CIHR it’s 5% and 11% for disciplines supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

"This is a disaster in terms of research and innovation for the country. Going forward it will take decades if we don't mend this gap," says Pinto. "The innovative years — notwithstanding the contributions made by mature researchers — are not being fully utilized."

"Providing young PhD graduates with the opportunity to launch their independent research-based careers will strengthen the research and innovation ecosystem and maximize the knowledge transfer between universities/colleges and businesses, government and non-profits which are known to be best achieved through people-to-people exchanges.The result will be a re-energized research and innovation system where all stakeholders, playing to their specific strengths, can converge to drive Canada's prosperity." — Mend the Gap

The initiative has three separate streams — Canada 150 Innovation Fellowships, Canada 150 Discovery Fellowships and Canada 150 Discovery Frontiers Initiative. The two fellowship programs — delivered respectively through NSERC's Industrial Research Chairs and Discovery programs would provide support for up to 1,200 PhD graduates each by the time the program is ramped up in 2020. The proposed value of the new grants is still confidential.

The Frontiers Initiative would support researchers already receiving Discovery grants with additional support to pursue research described as high risk/high return, transformative/disruptive and paradigm-shifting that a) opens new fields or integrates existing fields in new ways or b) accelerates the establishment of expertise and capacity that is in demand.

What distinguishes the fellowships is their portability. They allow the holders to move between institutions or companies and even back and forth between academia and the private sector. Or the awardees can take advantage of accelerators and incubators established across the country or enter industry as independent fellows.

"(They) will empower the individual and they will be free agents provided they have a receptor group to take advantage of that stability," says Pinto.

Pinto says that in his discussions with grad students and post-doctoral fellows, many were "completely frustrated" with lack of opportunity exacerbated by the financial instability of their supervisors.

"There was a very strong plea ... Many of them said they were going to leave the country or leave the field, the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) field," he says. "There were very discouraged."

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