http://bear.ras.ucalgary.ca/CASCA/w94/nserc.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)

To: CASCA members

From: W. E. Harris, President

Those of you who rely on NSERC funding in particular will be interested in the results that have just come down from NSERC Council about the global funding re-allocation exercise. You can find full details through the NSERC gopher (gopher gopher.nserc.ca) or probably through your Research Services office. However, some important items are the following:

First and foremost, for the Research and Infrastructure Grants budget, all grant selection committees were ranked by:-

Quality of research
Discipline dynamics
Highly qualified personnel (= perceived need for same)

In category (1) Space and Astronomy was ranked SECOND out of 20 disciplines, behind only Psychology. In categories (2-3), it was ranked 13 and 14 respectively. The net result of this is predicted to be a net gain of 2.4% in the total budget for Research and Infrastructure grants, or a bit more than $100,000.

Numerous smaller programs deemed to be 'non-central' to the mandate of NSERC are going to be phased out over the next 4 years; including 1967 Science Scholarships, WFA's, International Fellowships, Conference and Publication Grants, and several other things.

Our community can clearly take pride in the level of our work both nationally among other disciplines, and internationally among other astronomers, and it is gratifying to see this recognized by our most important funding agencies once again. I urge you to consult the NSERC news bulletins for the full information.

Back to Winter Solstice 1994 Index.

REPORT ON NOVEMBER 1994 SAC MEETING

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Please e-mail any suggestions/comments to Jack Penfold (jpenfold@mtroyal.ab.ca)