Scientists call for better funding

A few hundred scientists and researchers gathered in Parliament House on Thursday to demand increased science funding from the federal government.

One of the main demands of the Support Our Science event organizers is a nearly 48% increase in the value of graduate scholarships and post-doctoral fellowships awarded by Ottawa-funded organizations.

According to the protester’s group, funding for graduate students has not increased since 2003. The alleged increase would equal the value of the inflation seen since that year, the association said.

“Most of our salaries have almost doubled since 2003, so it is unimaginable to live with a [revenu] “20 years ago,” said Janet Whitton, a professor in the University of British Columbia’s Department of Botany who attended the march.

The latter claimed to hear “often” about financial concerns from young scientists she meets.

“I currently have a female student who has a bachelor’s degree and wants to do a master’s, but she can make more money planting trees in the summer than she can in a whole year, even with a prestigious scholarship.” given as an example.

In his view, the scientific community risks becoming less diverse and representative of the entire population because only young people from more affluent backgrounds will be able to continue to have the means to study science.

Anh Khoi Trinh, a student present at Thursday’s rally, noted that many young people are considering continuing their careers somewhere other than Canada in order to find better conditions there.

« Depuis 2003, la valeur des bourses est à 21 000 $ par année et si on compare avec d’autres pays comme les États-Unis, on voit qu’il ya des universités où le salaire minimum est à environ 48 000 $US per year . So we are less than half of our colleagues in the United States,” summed up the man who was a doctoral student in physics at McGill University.

trust me Canadian Press You have this thought for himself. For now, he said he would prefer the idea of ​​continuing his career in Canada, but chose to stay away from research because he considers this option too risky.

The organizers of the rally presented an open letter addressed to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Science and Innovation François-Philippe Champagne. The document will be 60 meters long due to the collected signatures of thousands of Canadian scientists.

Protesters argued that many graduate students and postdoctoral researchers receive funding from three federal agencies, but that often these scholarships do not reach the value of the minimum wage.

They are calling for the establishment of an additional 50% scholarship for graduate students and postdoctoral researchers.

Let’s see in the video