As a result of their deliberations committees may make recommendations which they include in their reports for the consideration of the House of Commons or the Government. Recommendations related to this study are listed below.

Recommendation 1

That the Government of Canada implement the recommendations of the report from the Advisory Panel on the Federal Research Support System, and that it ensure that the composition of the future advisory council on science and industry is representative of the entire research ecosystem.

Recommendation 2

That the Government of Canada review the funding criteria used by the granting agencies and the Canada Foundation for Innovation and stop using criteria based on past grant amounts awarded, in order to avoid penalizing small and medium-sized post-secondary institutions.

Recommendation 3

That the Government of Canada review the system for allocating Canada Graduate Scholarship quotas to post-secondary institutions in order to take into account the number of graduate students enrolled in each institution’s research programs.

Recommendation 4

That the Government of Canada maintain peer review as the foundation for allocating research funding awarded by the granting agencies, namely the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research.

Recommendation 5

That the Government of Canada, through the granting agencies, namely the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, look at the composition of review committees evaluating funding applications and improve unconscious bias training in order to avoid penalizing post-secondary institutions based on their size or region.

Recommendation 6

That the Government of Canada, through the granting agencies, namely the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, review the funding application merit review criteria, in line with the San Francisco Declaration on Research Assessment, to take better account of the diversity of researchers and types of research.

Recommendation 7

That the Government of Canada, through the granting agencies, namely the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, experiment with new approaches to allocating some of its funding, such as anonymizing funding applications or randomly distributing part of the funding.

Recommendation 8

That the Government of Canada review and simplify the funding application processes for the programs of the granting agencies, namely the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, and the Canada Foundation for Innovation.

Recommendation 9

That the Government of Canada review how the Research Support Fund operates so as to better support small and medium-sized post-secondary institutions and colleges in covering the indirect costs of research.

Recommendation 10

That the Government of Canada amend the rules governing the granting agencies, namely the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, to encourage collaboration between post-secondary institutions, particularly between colleges, CEGEPs, college centers for the transfer of technology in the domain of innovative social practices, Technology Access Centres, polytechnics and universities, in current and future research funding programs.

Recommendation 11

That the Government of Canada increase the share of research funding allocated to colleges, institutes, CEGEPs, CCTTs, TACs and polytechnics through the College and Community Innovation Program and other programs of the granting agencies; that it adapt the current funding programs open to these institutions in order to better reflect their unique features and contributions and to facilitate the transfer of research and innovation they produce to the benefit of society; and that it give greater consideration to these aspects when developing future programs.

Recommendation 12

That the Government of Canada, through the funding agencies, namely the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, ensure that funding applications submitted in French are treated equitably, and that it provide support measures for research and scientific publication in French.

Recommendation 13

That the Government of Canada, through the funding agencies, namely the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, take necessary measures to estimate the number of francophone researchers outside of Quebec and that it recognize francophone researchers and students as a minority group for research funding purposes.