Introduction
The CFBS office was initially established to perform two major functions
1) To promote issues of importance to the Life Sciences community through
its “advocacy activities” and 2) To “showcase”
Canadian Life Sciences through its Annual General Meeting. In addition
to acting as the corporate memory CFBS has more recently, begun to act
as a secretariat for various societies.
During the past several years the CFBS office has had to devote a great
deal of effort organizing the AGM since those individuals who, in the
past, took on more of the meeting responibilities no longer have the
time available and/or secretarial help in their institutions to provide
the necessary backup. With increasing costs of running the CFBS office
success of the AGM has become a more important component in providing
the cash flow required for our advocacy activities.
At the AGM in 1999 the decision was made to modify the scientific sessions
at the annual meeting. The criticism, voiced for many years, was that
there was insufficient depth in the scientific content for researchers
attending the meeting and insufficient return on what they invested
in attending the meeting. Consequently, a “Thematic Approach”
was initiated with a focus on one or two major topics. Annually each
Society has been asked to suggest a theme and to develop a scientific
program surrounding the theme.
During the last 5 years the Themes of the Meetings were as follows:
- Year 2000- a) Apoptosis and b) Functional Foods
- Year 2001- a) Genetic Basis of Disease and b) Health & The
Environment
- Year 2002- a) Neurological Development and b) Physical Activity,
Nutrition & Chronic Disease
- Year 2003 Cardiovascular & Metabolic Disease
- Year 2004 a) Interface of Cancer & Development and b) Nutrition
& Genomics
To attempt to make the meeting more successful and to attract a larger
international audience CFBS has:
1) invested more dollars to obtain high profile speakers and
2) moved the annual meeting from university settings to conference centres
3) advertised the AGM more extensively to attract a larger national
and international audience and
4) broadened the base of researchers by involving the Institutes of
the CIHR in developing, when appropriate, the scientific program.
During the past 5-years the meetings were held at the following locations:
- Year 2000- Ottawa Congres Centre
- Year 2001-Ottawa Congress Centre
- Year 2002-Montreal Palais des Congres
- Year 2003-Ottawa Congres Centre
- Year 2004-Vancouver Convention Centre
Because not all Societies will find the themes of interest to their
members in any particular year CFBS has also acted to sponsor a speaker/symposium
for those CFBS Societies organizing their own scientific meetings. A
number of Societies have taken advantage of this offer. This has been
done in an effort to indicate a greater partnership with the individual
CFBS societies.
The “Thematic Approach” has had some successes. Those attending
have indicated that they appreciate the greater depth of scientific
content. Secondly, it has provided sufficient funds to effectively support
our advocacy program. It is vital, therefore, that Societies, when the
theme is appropriate, take ownership of the annual meeting and be supportive
of this CFBS function. We have reached the point, however, that it is
important to rethink our approach to the Annual Meeting and/or other
services to ensure that we have a healthy cash -flow to finance the
office and our “advocacy” activity.
Societies planning their own separate meeting are encouraged to communicate
their intention at the beginning of their planning process. This would
help to reduce avoidable overlaps, provide the opportunity for Societies
to recive financial help from CFBS and encourage Society members to
attend when in their scientific interest.
To elevate the level of our annual income, without raising Society
Fees, CFBS has instituted a number of new initiatives to allow us to
perform more effectively our advocacy activities. What follows are some
of these initiatives.
1. Website
To improve communication and to make the Societies aware of the activities
of the CFBS Office the website has been updated and made more “user-friendly”.
In addition, efforts have been made to recover the costs of running
the website. Under the category of Communication the website includes
summaries of “advocacy activities”, policy briefs written
by the Executive Director with input, concerning important issues, from
representaives of Societies. Summaries of the annual “Strategic
Planning Session” and notices of meetings provided by member societies
are posted on the web. Thus, the CFBS website becomes a valuable resource
for researchers.
To recover the cost of running the website the Office has instituted
the posting of job vacancies and various company take advantage of this.
The increasing number of hits on the CFBS website is making it an attractive
vehicle for advertising.
2. Society “Service” Contract
To provide additional services the CFBS Office has begun acting as
a secretariat for three of its member organizations. With each of these
groups contracts have been signed. The cost levied in each case depends
on the services rendered. The services include maintaining membership
lists, receiving membership fees, maintaining financial records, advertising
annual meetings, receiving registrations for annual meetings and abstracts,
maintaing their webistes and providing them with a secured server, etc.
Currently, the charges incurred for these services vary between $ 3,500
to $ 6,600. Given the busy schedules that most academics and other researchers
currently experience many Societies are finding it difficult to find
individuals to volunteer for the various tasks that have to be done
by a Society.
3. Society “Member” Contract
In addition to the above “service contracts” each Society
has the option of considering, in addition, a membership contract. In
brief, the membership contract is a fixed cost payed by the Society
for a 3-year period. The amount paid to CFBS is based on the average
membership over the past three years and and is fixed at that level
regardless of change in membership level. Several Societies have opted
for this type of mebership contract. Other variations of this type of
contract are available. This arrangement with Societies outlines more
precisely what CFBS provides to each Society for the funds allocated
to CFBS. One of the main comments we receive is “ what do we –as
members- get for the $ 45 we give to CFBS?”. The contract with
the itemized list can, at least, indicate where the money goes and thus
provides a Society’s executive with information that is more easily
passed on.
4. CFBS Membership
During the past several years CFBS has attempted to attract additional
members to the Federation. This has been done for two reasons: 1) to
improve our financial situation and 2) equally as important, to expand
our capacity to speak with authority on issues when visiting “decision-makers”.
We have been pleased, therefore, to count the Canadian Society for Exercise
Physiology (CSEP), the Canadian Society of Immunology (CSI) and the
Canadian Society of Zoologists (CSZ) as “new” members.
Currently, discussions are ongoing with the Agricultural Institute of
Canada (AIC). AIC is undergoing reorganization and has been in contact
with CFBS to determine how we can work together. A letter has recently
been received from AIC indicating their interest in developing a memorandum
of understanding (MOU) with CFBS.
The financial health of CFBS has, over the past 5 years, improved greatly.
In 1999 the organization had little or no cash reserves. Due to the
financial success of the Annual Meeting, new service contracts and the
increase in Society memberships CFBS is in a healthier condition. It
should, perhaps, be noted that for more than 6 years the Societies have
not been asked to increase their financial support of the CFBS office.
During this time, however, the office expenses due to the extra services
provided, have increased significantly. At present the member societies’
input accounts for approximately 40% of CFBS’ annual budget. The
remaining funds have been generated from services provided by the CFBS
office. Although the audited summaries recorded below are encouraging
the current 2004 budget is giving us cause for concern. Given the prospect
of a major change in the federal poitical landscape means that our efforts
in policy development and discussions with “decision-makers”
will have to increase. If the Societies value this function of CFBS
a larger financial contribution will be required to ensure that CFBS
can continue to function effectively.
| Fiscal Year |
1997 |
1998 |
1999 |
2000 |
2001 |
2002 |
2003 |
Net Assets
(in $ 000) |
-27.6 |
40.1 |
77.5 |
117.1 |
151.4 |
169.1 |
181.1 |
Advocacy and policy development have been the principal reasons for
establishing the CFBS office. Given the large number of different groups
on the Hill making their proposals to “decision-makers”
it is important that the voice of the Life Sciences community be heard.
In an attempt to be more effective CFBS has not only organized its own
visits to “decision-makers” but also formed partnerships
with other groups to ensure that Life Science issues are presented through
as large a forum as possible to MPs and senior government officials.
Some of the major issues that have been advanced in the various “Briefs”,
prepared with input from the CFBS Societies, are available on the CFBS
website www.cfbs.org. The most recent “Brief”, “Capacity
for Innovation”, also appeared on the Industry Canada website.
1. CFBS “Lobby”:
Visits to “decision-makers” include those organized by
CFBS for members of the various CFBS Societies. Normally these occur
in May of each year. This year has been an unusual one for the various
groups that are involved in activities such as ours. An election has
been in the “works” and with the uncertainty regarding the
date MPs and Ministers have been reluctant to set up meetings. Given
that after the election the players will have changed and new ministers
assigned to various portfolios the CFBS Executive Director and Society
policy advisors will have to invest time in calling attention of new
MPs and Ministers to the issues of impotance to the Life Sciences community
and how these relate to Canada’s economic and social well-being.
2. Canadian Consortium for Research (CCR)
This Consortium is composed of groups such as ours and a the broad
spectrum of the research community from social science to astronomy.
The number of members in this group is approximately 30,000. The CFBS
executive director (ED) serves on the steering committee of this group
and attends monthly meeting on behalf of CFBS. The CFBS E.D. takes part
in the visitis to “decision-makers” throughout the year.
CCR takes part the Federal budget briefing prior to release of the budget.
Each year as a member of the steering committee a response is prepared
to the Federal Budget.
3. “Tri-Council Lobby”
This grouping is composed of representatives from Biology, Chemistry
and Physics who in the fall of each year meet with various MPs and senior
government officials to voice the opinions of the scientific community
on issues related to policy development regarding Canadian research.
4. Health Research Advocacy Network (HRAN)
CFBS worked with various Health-oriented research groups to establish
HRAN two years ago. While HRAN has no formal structure it has be designed
to collaborate on projects that the individual members could not afford
to finance on their own. One of its first activities was to commission
the writing of a publication “Health Research-An Investment in
Canada’s Well-Being”. This publication was prepared to document
many of the benefits that have accrued from the Government’s investment
in research. In addition members of HRAN cooperated to meet MPs in a
research day on the Hill. Approximately 50 represetatives of HRAN took
part with 8 of them coming from CFBS Societies.
5. Leaders’ Forum on Future of Health Research In Canada
The CFBS Executive Director serves as a member of the steering committee
and the working group. The Forum is designed to bring together ~ 120
individuals from across Canada to discuss the current state of Health
Research and a vision for the future in an attempt to identify partnerships
that will strengthen Canada’s ability to move forward in this
area. Members of the group organizing the Forum include representatives
from the Health Charities, The Council for Health Research to name just
two.
6. Partnership Group In Science and Engineering (PAGSE)
This group was established with the encouragement of the Royal Society
of Canada. Members include those from both the physical, engineering
and life sciences communities. This group meets monthly and develops
policies that it believes will establish a forward looking framework
for research and development. PAGSE sponsors a series of breakfast lectures
on the Hill for MPs and an annual symposium. The CFBS executive director
was called upon to organize one of these symposia two years ago.
7. Issues of Importance to the Life Sciences Community
Each year a series of CFBS Alerts are published to inform the CFBS
membership of activities of interest to the members and to solicit input
regarding issues that are important to life science researchers.
1. Strategic Planning Sessions
Starting in 1999 each November a meeting was established designed to
identify issues of importance to the life science community and to obtain
suggestions on how CFBS can respond more effectively to the needs of
the Life Sciences Community. In addition to the member Societies other
representatives of the community were invited to attend to attempt to
broaden our base and to determine issues that might be overlooked by
CFBS. At these meetings representatives of the granting councils were
normally present as were individuals from government laboratories. At
each of these meetings the attendance has increased each year and has
leveled off at between 22 and 25.
2. CFBS-Alerts
On an irregular basis “CFBS Alerts” are e-mailed to the
membership. These have been an attempt to keep the membership updated
on issues of importance to Life Sciences.
3. Website
The website www.cfbs.org has been upgraded significantly over the past
5 years and serves as a vehicle for those wishing to be informed of
CFBS’ activities. At the same time it also is designed to assist
societies that wish to communicate with the wider community by providing
links, serving to advertise meetings, research positions etc.
The function of CFBS is evolving in an effort to adapt and address
issues in response to the Life Sciences Community. At the same time
we must reiterate our need for greater financial contributions from
the Societies. CFBS is open to helpful suggestions and welcomes feedback
to ensure that it is responding to the needs of the member societies.
