Full house hears SACPA talk on University of Lethbridge funding

By Alejandra Pulido-Guzman - Lethbridge Herald on September 13, 2024.

Herald photo by Alejandra Pulido-Guzman Dena McMartin, faculty member and vice-president of research at the University of Lethbridge speaks about the status of federal, provincial and private research funding at the university during this week's SACPA session Thursday at the Lethbridge Seniors Citizens Organization.

LETHBRIDGE HERALDapulido@lethbridgeherald.com

After breaking for the summer, the Southern Alberta Council on Public Affairs returned to a full house Thursday afternoon at the Lethbridge Seniors Citizens Organization.

SACPA hosted Dena McMartin, faculty member and vice-president of research at the University of Lethbridge to speak about the status of federal, provincial and private research funding at the university.

She began her presentation by saying that research funding is always a big topic of conversation at the university because there is never enough of it. And she went on to explain why it is important to receive funding.

“Research is really important because it helps to drive societal norms, information, knowledge, innovation and development affects the way we think about the world around us,” said McMartin.

As an example she used the moment when people first heard about the COVID-19 pandemic and how MRNA technology had been in research for about 40 years but have yet to find a purpose for it until then.

“And all of a sudden that fundamental research that had been conducted and allowed for 40 years became really, really relevant,” said McMartin.

 She added they also learned very quickly about people’s behaviours and changes in behaviours, of what stresses and big changes in expectations and restrictions would do to those behaviours.

 “And looking at social sciences, the psychology of how people behave became really important,” said McMartin.

In terms of research being conducted at the university and the importance of being able to receive funding, McMartin said the funds allows them to recruit students, to bring in great faculty and keep them.

“Also, to give our students an opportunity to really follow their passions, to identify something they’re super excited about and have a chance to contribute to what might actually have an impact at the global scale,” said McMartin.

She added that it was also important for the university’s reputation. She explained that when potential students or their parents are looking for a university to choose for their careers, they look at the type of research they are involved with as a way to determine where to attend.

“They look at the research activity because that’s also an indicator of how current and knowledgeable our faculty are. So, the quality of education is impacted by the research activity that our faculty members are doing.”

But research does not come cheap and that is something McMartin explained during her presentation. She indicated that research is actually quite expensive.

“There is a cost related to salaries of all the people who are conducting their research. We also spend a lot of money on student recruitment and to support students by giving them scholarships and salaries as well,” said McMartin.

 She added that it is also expensive for them to share their knowledge, like to go to a conference or to publish a paper costs a lot of money.

“Right now, we’re in a bit of an interesting phase in research dissemination or research publishing, where the only way I can make my research readily available to everyone would be to pay for it,” said McMartin.

When talking about the different levels and types of funding the university can apply to, she explained that the provincial funding is focused on four to six provincial priorities. Research can apply to competitive, formal, directed funding opportunities aligned with Artificial Intelligence, clean resource technologies, digital health critical minerals or smart agriculture.

When it comes to federal research funding, McMartin explained that it can be obtained from Tri Councils, Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI), Department and Ministry contracts and agreements or overhead funding.

McMartin expanded on the Tri-Councils by explaining they are made of Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC), and Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC).

McMartin said the way the funding from the Tri-Councils flow to the university begins by a faculty member applying for a NSERC discovery grant or SSHRC insight grant or CIHR project grant. Then the proposal is peer-reviewed and funding is highly competitive. Then awards are made to faculty members at the university, but not directly to the university. And the Trio-Councils provide overhead funding to the university to help administer the funds and support the research.

For the CFI funding McMartin said it requires provincial matching funds and institutional awards, and it is used for infrastructure and equipment funding.