Executive
Director Annual Report
June 2003 Annual Review
Jump to: Strategic Planning
Session | Society Membership | New
Services | HRAN | IUBS |
May Advocacy Visits | Website & CFBS
Alerts | Annual Meeting | Federation
Finances | CFBS Office
Introduction
The 2002-2003 year represented a period in which we witnessed a number
of events some of which were positive while others indicated to us that
some future modifications would be required to ensure that we provide
the services required by the life sciences community.
In this report we shall deal with:
- The 4th Strategic Planning Session held in November
- Society membership in CFBS
- New services provided and contracts signed
- Membership in Health Research Advocacy Network (HRAN) and collaboration
in the preparation of a report "Health Research: An Investment
in Canada's Well-Being"
- International Union of Biological Societies (IUBS)
- May 2003 visits to "decision-makers" and the issues discussed
- Website Functions and CFBS Alerts
- Annual Meeting and "Maple Leaf Conferences"
- Federation Finances
- The CFBS Office
The Strategic Planning Session took place with representatives of granting
councils, life science societies and umbrella organizations of which CFBS
is a member. Complete details of this meeting are present on the CFBS
website. http://www.cfbs.org/current.html What characterized this year's
sessions was the active contribution of the 23 individuals in attendance.
The subjects that were discussed included i) Canada's membership in IUBS
ii) role of CIHR Institutes in CFBS Annual Meetings iii) Location/themes
for future CFBS Meetings iv) CFBS services to the life sciences community
v) other forms of Canadian scientific meetings.
As a result of the conversations at the Strategic Planning session a
number of new initiatives have begun. These are briefly outlined in what
is to follow.
As of July 1, 2002 the Canadian Society of Immunology became a member
of CFBS. CFBS signed a contract with CSI. This now represents the fourth
Society to enter into this arrangement. The others are CSBMCB, CSEP and
CSZ. CSEPs first contract was for 2 years and they have (as of Jan 2003)
renewed their second contract with us for another three years.
Given CFBS' need to have greater representation in the area of environment/ecology
we have had discussions with the Ecology Society of America when they
visited us in April. Similarly, we are interacting with the executive
of Plant Physiology since this group has expertise required when we speak
to decision-makers about the Kyoto Protocol and Species Diversity.
Over the past decade Societies have experienced difficulty in finding
individuals with sufficient time to devote to running various society
functions. This has occurred largely because of the downloading of many
functions to individual scientists that had previously been carried out
by support staff within their respective institutions. With the evolution
of technology many societies have developed websites and inter-net connections
with their members. To keep these new facilities up-to-date and establish
the technology to allow members to register on-line for Society meetings
has put an additional strain on Society's executives. In response to this
situation, the CFBS office has developed contracts with CPS and CSBMCB
to provided the services requested by these two Societies. Both of these
contracts were initiated at the beginning of 2003. In this contract CFBS
collects dues on behalf of these Societies, keeps the membership list
updated, receives registrations for Society Annual Meetings, updates and
maintains website. An earlier on-going contract with the Canadian Council
of University Biology Chairs (CCUBC) has been in existence for 6 years
in which the CFBS office provides a number of services to this group.
To improve our ability to articulate the important issues that our members
wish to convey to "decision-makers," CFBS has recently developed
a relationship with 9 other volunteer organizations in an effort to coordinate
our efforts. This grouping called Health Research Advocacy Network (HRAN)
has over the past year developed two initiatives. The first was in helping
finance the writing of a review entitled "Health Research: An Investment
in Canada's Well-Being." This document is available in a PDF format
on the CFBS website http://www.cfbs.org/newsletterHealthResearach.html.
This review was distributed to "decision-makers" and helped
document the value of investing in research. The second was to participate
in advocacy sessions with other members of HRAN. CFBS had 6 representatives
(out of ~ 50) present for a one-day blitz on the Hill to present the issues
important to our community. Partnerships such as these are vital since
they allow organizations with similar interests to join forces and combine
their resources to underwrite projects that would be impossible to finance
alone.
Since the early 1990's Canada has not held membership in the International
Union of Biological Societies (IUBS). Given that many of the issues being
considered which include global warming, species diversity, genetically
modified crops and the Kyoto Protocol, to name but a few, are international
issues. It is, we believe, important that Canada have its views expressed.
We have, therefore, been in contact with the National Research Council
of Canada (NRC), the Canadian host for the various Canadian members of
International Unions, and with the President of IUBS, Dr. Marvalee Wake,
Stanford University. Dr. Wake has been very supportive and has encouraged
us to rejoin IUBS since she believes Canada has much to contribute to
this organization. Our recent efforts have been to attempt to garner support
for this initiative. At our Strategic Planning Session last November Dr.
Hamid Jorjani, of the NRC International Relations Office offered us advice
regarding our re-entry into IUBS. We have since been in communication
and will make further representation to NRC.
Our May advocacy meetings included visits to approximately 17 different
offices. The "team" this year was composed of 15 representatives
from CCUBC and from the following CFBS Societies: CSBMCB, CPS, CSNS, and
CSZ. For the first time we also had a representative from the Canadian
Society for Plant Physiology.
As a follow-up to our brief "Capacity
for Innovation " we focused on three major issues:
- How Parliament allocates funds to the Granting Agencies. In these
discussions we suggested that Parliament consider
a) allowing agencies such as NSERC, CIHR and SSHRC carryovers
of up to 10% of funds from one year to the next and/or
b) make allocations on a three year rolling average.
The point of these suggestions was to allow the Granting Agencies more
flexibility in forward planning and provide a more even playing field
for researchers regardless of the year in which they apply for funds.
In order to determine the difficulties inherent in these suggestions we
met, for the first time, with officials in the Auditor General's office
and also with individuals in Finance. The response we received from them
was encouraging. At the request of the Chair of the Caucus for Post Secondary
Education and Research we are communicating the results of these discussions.
- The second major issue was the "indirect costs of research."
In these discussions we encouraged the individuals to whom we spoke
to develop a monitoring system that was both transparent (to researchers
and government) and at the same time seen as a grant (with a reporting
mechanism) rather than a base-line budget item which could be "clawed
back" by Provincial Governments.
- During these visits we also encouraged federal decision-makers to
develop a partnership with provinces in creating a joint strategy for
the support of post secondary education in Canada. A complete summary
of MAY 2003 ADVOCACY
is on the CFBS website.
The "brief" produced by the CFBS office this past year "Capacity
for Innovation " was used in our various meetings with decision-makers.
It was published on both the CFBS and Industry Canada websites. This document
outlined the issues of major importance to the life sciences community.
During the past year the CFBS website continued to attract more hits
(see graph). We have continued to advertise job postings, upcoming scientific
meetings, links to other organizations and news items of importance to
the life sciences community.
CFBS Alerts continue to be issued on an irregular basis depending on
the evolving events that need to be transmitted.
After 1999 CFBS made a conscious decision to modify the format of its
annual scientific meeting. Instead of a mosaic of symposia on a number
of topics being presented, an approach was developed in which a number
of symposia were created around one or two themes. This approach we believed
would satisfy those individuals that wanted a more in depth presentation
of a particular subject. During the first couple of years this thematic
style of meeting appeared to meet with approval by the scientific community.
Unfortunately, the 2002 and 2003 meetings, although they involved an excellent
program failed to generate the audience that we had anticipated. Serious
consideration is being given, currently, to a series of small (less than
200 participants) specialized meetings in one location. These meetings
"Maple Leaf Conferences" would take place in a Canadian venue
in the winter and would be modeled after the Keystone type of conference.
These specialized conferences would be designed to attract not only outstanding
speakers but also a highly specialized international audience. Consequently,
those individuals attending would have the opportunity both of hearing
the leaders in the specialized field and interacting with those individuals
most active in the field. Currently, potential stakeholders interested
in this approach have been contacted and are being solicited for their
reaction.
In an effort to reach out to the broader life science research community
CFBS has developed a relationship with a number of CIHR Institutes. Over
the past several years we have involved these Institutes in helping to
formulate scientific programs and in sponsoring speakers and various events.
The overall goal of CFBS should be to develop partnerships so that we
can say we are truly representative of the Canadian researchers in the
Life Sciences.
The financial health of CFBS has improved markedly over the past four
and a half years (see graph). This is due to the initial support of individuals
such as Jim Fryer, David Brown, Judy Anderson and Peter Anderson who kept
the Federation afloat when it had every indication of sinking. At the
present time CFBS has a cushion of approximately $165,000. Although this
is an improvement we are still bedevilled by the fact that we are working
close to line as far as income and expenditures. Developing loose partnerships
has helped but I am beginning to believe that more drastic measurers are
required if we are to survive and maintain our ability to act as a voice
for the Life Sciences Community in developing policies for support of
research. The guideline for CIHR support of Meetings has changed and in
future we shall have interact directly with the individual Institutes
to obtain sponsorships rather than the "CIHR Central."
CFBS continues to run a financially efficient operation and to increase
the services it provides to the Life Sciences community. Ms. Wafaa Antonious
continues to play a vital role in the effective running of the Ottawa
office. Our sponsorships over the past several years have averaged better
than $100K each year. Without this type of income the Annual Meeting would
not have permitted us to generate sufficient funds to cover the costs
of the office. We are hopeful that we can develop other strategies as
indicated through the "Maple Leaf Conferences" and partnerships
with other organizations to promote more effective use of our resources.
Joining HRAN has been one effort in this direction. Others need to be
developed.
The CFBS Office has greatly appreciated the strong support of the executive
and the various local organizing committees in helping to provide the
underpinning required to support the "advocacy activities" that
the CFBS Office was established to perform.
