federal government

In what University of Toronto President Meric Gertler called “an historic investment in Canadian science and innovation,” the federal and provincial governments are joining with the university to provide almost $190 million to upgrade nearly half of U of T’s research labs over the next two years.

The announcement of the Lab Innovation for Toronto (LIFT) project was made this morning at U of T’s Medical Sciences Building by President Gertler, federal innovation, science and economic development minister Navdeep Bains and science minister Kirsty Duncan, and provincial ministers Deb Matthews and Reza Moridi. The university will provide $91.8 million, while the federal and provincial governments will contribute $83.7 million and $14.3 million respectively for a total of $189.8 million.

“These investments will help us attract and retain talent from around the world and across the country. It’s really critical,” President Gertler told reporters after the announcement. “We’re very well known as a research powerhouse but, as the ministers have said, if the [lab research] space is substandard it limits what this talent and faculty and student body can do. By modernizing that space the sky is really the limit.”

The LIFT project will lead to the renewal of 47 per cent of U of T’s research space, said Scott Mabury, vice-president operations. The labs to be renovated by the project are on average 50 years old and comprise more than 50,000 square metres of inefficient space, he said. Work has already begun and will be complete by the spring of 2018.

Using a square metre as a prop, he gave an impromptu lesson in what the scale of the infrastructure project really means. If you add up the current inefficient lab space, he said, it’s equivalent in total size to 15 soccer pitches. And, if U of T was building all-new labs instead of rejuvenating existing facilities, the total cost per square metre would be approximately $12,000, totaling close to $650 million.

“The renovations will modernize U of T’s research labs to increase usable space and enhance the quality of the research and learning environment,” Mabury said. “They will also improve air handling, climate, and electrical systems.”

Read more about how LIFT will impact U of T research

The federal contribution is part of the government’s Post-Secondary Institutions Strategic Investment Fund, Bains said. “This once-in-a-generation investment by the Government of Canada is a historic down payment on the government’s vision to position Canada as a global centre for innovation,” he said, adding that the funding would “create the conditions for innovation and long-term growth that will keep the Canadian economy globally competitive.”

Duncan, who has had first-hand experience of U of T lab facilities as both a student and instructor, agreed. “It’s a little extra special to be here today. I’m a proud UC graduate and a former faculty member. Being back at the university is bringing back wonderful memories,” she told the crowd. “Science has a central role in [Canada’s] Innovation Agenda. Through investments such as these, we are strengthening the foundation for building Canada as a global leader in scientific excellence.”

The Ontario government is proud to support LIFT, said Matthews, the provincial minister of higher education and skills development. “This important project will give University of Toronto students access to the renewed facilities they need to prepare for successful careers in science and research. We know that providing access to high-quality education and training facilities is critical to building the skilled workforce we need to support good jobs and economic growth for today and tomorrow and this investment will help us to do it."

President Gertler thanked the federal and provincial ministers for the government support. “The LIFT project will equip our brilliant scholars, students and staff with the cutting-edge facilities they need to learn, collaborate and discover. The modernization of these labs will also reduce our greenhouse gas emissions significantly. The University of Toronto greatly appreciates the federal and provincial governments’ support of postsecondary education and research, and their leadership in ensuring Canada secures its place among global leaders of science and technology.”

Students in a biochemistry lab at the University of Toronto Scarborough campus (Ken Jones photo)

Daniel Haas, dean of U of T’s Faculty of Dentistry, also thanked the ministers for the infrastructure funding, which will allow the faculty to sustain its excellence and to make much-needed repairs.

“Our research facilities are badly outdated,” Haas said. “Our primary building opened 57 years ago in 1959, and a number of our researchers are working out of a facility built in 1927. We have exceptionally talented people who are being limited in what they can accomplish, simply because of infrastructure. The funding announced today will allow our faculty to capitalize on their potential. It will help us modernize our existing facilities and sustain our position as leaders in health research.”

The LIFT project will affect all three campuses and nine academic divisions.

Read about the impact at U of T Scarborough

The facilities to be renovated include not only medical, dental, biology, chemistry and engineering labs, but also include a former horse barn north of Toronto now used for ecological research, a green roof on the historic 1 Spadina Avenue building (the new home of the John H. Daniels Faculty of Architecture, Landscape, and Design), an electro-acoustic music studio at the Faculty of Music and many others. For example, at the University of Toronto Scarborough, the campus vivarium and the S-Wing research labs will undergo $17.8 million in renovations, while the University of Toronto Mississauga’s Davis Building will get a $17.1 million upgrade.

In total, 546 labs will be fully renovated, providing state-of-the-art research facilities to an estimated 1,100 researchers and 5,500 students.

Read about the impact on Engineering

Mario Ostrowski is one of the researchers affected. A renowned HIV scientist affiliated with St. Michael’s Hospital and U of T’s Faculty of Medicine, Ostrowski says there is fierce competition among research institutions for graduate students and post-docs. State-of-the-art labs will help U of T recruit the best and the brightest students, he said, and will also inspire existing researchers and students to greater achievements.

“Just like great architecture inspires people every day to achieve excellence, if you’ve got a nice lab that’s state of the art, rather than something old and decrepit that’s falling apart, it inspires and stimulates people to produce excellence.”

Read about the impact on Medicine

Science minister appoints U of T's David Naylor to head fundamental science review

lavende4 — Fri, 17 Jun 2016 19:24:16 +0000

Science minister appoints U of T's David Naylor to head fundamental science review lavende4 Fri, 06/17/2016 - 15:24

Cutline

Graduate student research at the University of Toronto: “I'm concerned about our young researchers," Kirsty Duncan told U of T News (James Poremba photo)

Terry Lavender

Author legacy

Terry Lavender

Topic

Earlier this week, federal science minister (and University of Toronto alumnus) Kirsty Duncan announced that former U of T President David Naylor would head a blue-ribbon panel that would look at the federal government’s support for fundamental science. The panel, which also includes Naylor’s predecessor Robert Birgeneau, UBC interim president Martha Piper, Research in Motion co-founder Mike Lazaridis and others, has been asked to answer two questions:

Are there any overall program gaps in Canada’s fundamental research funding ecosystem that need to be addressed?
Are there elements or programming features in other countries that could provide a useful example for the Government of Canada in addressing these gaps?

The panel’s appointment has been greeted with enthusiasm by Canada’s scientific community. U of T News talked to Dr. Naylor and Minister Duncan about the panel and its work.

Kirsty Duncan: “It’s all about how we can do better”

Why is this review of support for fundamental science important?

Our government values science and the work of all our scientists. In the many meetings I’ve had with researchers across the country, the need for such a review came up often. We want to be sure the programs we have are meeting the needs of our scientists, whether from natural sciences, engineering, health sciences, social sciences or the humanities.

I think it’s really importantthat we bring back science and scientists back to their rightful place in government.

Why did you select David Naylor and the other members of the panel?

As you know, Dr. Naylor brings an incredible wealth of experience to this panel – he’s a physician, he’s a medical researcher, he’s the former president of U of T, he’s been the chair of the national advisory panel on SARS and chair of the advisory panel on health and innovation. I was delighted he’s agreed to do this.

In terms of the panel, we wanted to ensure that it reflected the disciplines of the three granting councils, that it had geographic representation across the country, that we have close to gender parity and also that we have representation from a young researcher. I’m very concerned about our young researchers: getting your first grant at 41 or 43 is unacceptable. They’re our future and we’ve got to get it right.

The panel has some impressive members on it (including two former U of T presidents and a former UBC president). Was it difficult convincing these busy people to serve on the panel?

No. the members were all enthusiastic in their willingness to work together on this review. I think it’s important that people understand that they are volunteering their time. We all want the same thing. We want to ensure we’ve got the right ecosystem to support our scientific community. We want to hear from the scientific community, I want to know what their challenges are, where they see the gaps and how we can do better. It’s all about how we can do better.

The panel is looking at fundamental science. Will you also be looking at applied science in the future?

Fundamental science obviously leads to new discoveries. We want those tight links through to commercialization of new products and new processes as we announced in Budget 2016, I think there is real concern that the pendulum in the past 10 years swung too far in one direction, but absolutely we’ll also be looking at applied research. In fact, yesterday Minister Navdeep Bains [minister of science, innovation & economic development] announced his innovation agenda [Building an inclusive and innovative Canada], and that will be a little more focussed on the applied side but there are no boundaries here. It’s a continuum.

David Naylor: “The Government wanted to send a signal that Canada is going to renew its commitment to free and open inquiry”

Were you surprised to be asked to head the panel?

I am always surprised to be asked to lead anything. Even our border collie, Oscar, makes it clear on any walk with me that he is leading and I am following.

Why is the panel important?

A lot of programs have been added to the federal research funding eco-system over the last 30 or so years, and there hasn’t been a comprehensive review of the major funding agencies for as long as I can remember. Meanwhile, global competition in investigator-initiated research is intensifying, boundaries of disciplines are changing and dissolving, and there is wider recognition of the importance of basic science and scholarship in all fields as an engine for innovation at the societal level.

More generally, a culture of free and open inquiry is the cornerstone for a free and successful democratic society. The Harper Government was supportive of research and innovation in many ways, but struggled a bit with that principle of open inquiry. As its term went on, there was growing criticism from the research community about the extent of earmarking or fettering of grant funding and the degree of emphasis being placed on application and commercialization of knowledge rather than generation of new knowledge and ideas. The evergreen question of the balance in support for emerging versus established researchers also surfaced more often. All those considerations, I think, are relevant to the panel’s work.

Why did the minister initiate this exercise?

Minister Duncan and Prime Minister Trudeau have both signalled a keen interest in supporting basic scientific and scholarly research. The minister also has a special concern about support for young scientists and scholars based on her wide consultation with the research community. More generally, I think the Government wanted to send a signal to the research community and to the world that Canada is going to renew its commitment to free and open inquiry.

Should the government make the panel – or a similar body – a permanent structure?

No. We already have national advisory bodies like the Science, Technology and Innovation Council. And I expect that, in the year ahead, the Minister and her cabinet colleagues will sort out what advisory bodies make the most sense for the remainder of the government’s mandate.

You have a tight deadline – a final report by the end of the year – have you hit the ground running on this?

Not fast enough! The key is to get a secretariat up and running as soon as possible. From past experience, I can attest that is not always an easy task.

federal government

U of T lab retrofit “an historic investment in Canadian science and innovation”: Meric Gertler

Read more about how LIFT will impact U of T research

Read about the impact at U of T Scarborough

Read about the impact on Engineering

Read about the impact on Medicine

Science minister appoints U of T's David Naylor to head fundamental science review

Kirsty Duncan: “It’s all about how we can do better”

David Naylor: “The Government wanted to send a signal that Canada is going to renew its commitment to free and open inquiry”

Read more about the fundamental science review