Amid upheaval abroad, universities urge Ottawa, Quebec to invest in attracting talent
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'As political and social tensions weaken the global research ecosystem, Quebec and Canada have a unique opportunity to position themselves as havens for rigorous and independent research,' the group, calling themselves Polaris, said in a statement released Saturday that highlights a number of moves, including co-ordinated steps at the provincial and national level to attract talent.
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The four universities — Universite Laval, McGill University, Universite de Montreal and Universite de Sherbrooke — hope to leverage political and social tensions affecting researchers around the world to lure them to Canadian schools.
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The group of universities have put together a series of proposed options and opportunities under the Polaris platform and argue both Quebec and Ottawa have a role to play in making them happen.
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Vincent Poitout, vice-rector of research and innovation at Universite de Montreal, says there is a window to transform a very unfortunate situation in science, particularly in the United States, into an opportunity for Canada.
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'The goal is to reposition Canada as a superpower in research and innovation and to restore its place among the world leaders,' Poitout said in an interview.
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'Canada must seize the moment, and the moment won't necessarily last very long (…) It's a global competition, so the time to do it is now.'
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The universities note a recent survey published in the journal Nature that found 75 per cent of researchers in the United States are considering leaving the country.
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The Quebec institutions are suggesting the creation of new research chairs in strategic sectors such as artificial intelligence, health and biodiversity. There is also a call to offer targeted scholarships in order to recruit prospective doctoral and post-doctoral students.
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In addition, the group is calling for supports for early-career researchers and investment in modernizing research infrastructure.
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Dominique Berube, vice-president of research and innovation at McGill University, said there has been much discussion in Canada's research community about how best to support American colleagues and maintain collaboration while balancing provincial and national priorities of ensuring sovereignty in research and other domains.
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The universities describe their proposals as 'well-considered' and 'scalable.'
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'As much as we do recognize that there are a lot of priorities that need to be addressed — and we don't want to diminish in any in any way the many challenges that the governments are facing — nevertheless, all nations across the world are investing massively at this moment in technologies and in science,' Berube said.
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