Federal research priorities are misguided say students
Federal research priorities are misguided say students

OTTAWA--The recent announcement by the federal government to spend $163 million for the commercialisation of research shows that the Conservative government's priorities are being driven by special interests in the private sector. The national organisation representing graduate students says that this is not only inappropriate, but stifles real innovation."Innovation happens when public funds are used to support independent, peer-reviewed research," said Graham Cox, Chairperson of the National Graduate Caucus of the Canadian Federation of Students, "Innovation is stifled when you have the federal government and big business looking over your shoulder demanding results for the next fiscal quarter."The February 14 announcement is part of a larger shift of federal funding to a narrow range of academic pursuits that are determined to be commercially productive. Graduate students are concerned that the short-term needs of the private sector do not allow for a broader research agenda that includes the curiosity-driven research necessary for future innovation and scientific development."Handing over control of the public research agenda to industry is a significant departure from the academic principle of independent scholarly investigation-a foundation on which universities have operated for centuries," said Cox. "Graduate students are the workhorses for both basic and applied research in universities. The federal government should not interfere by using directed funding that undermines academic freedom and innovation."The National Graduate Caucus has been calling for the federal government to address the imbalances of the current research agenda through increasing grants for independent research, especially the social sciences and humanities.The National Graduate Caucus is Canada's voice of graduate students, uniting over 60,000 graduate students from all ten provinces.

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