Manitoba needs ‘scientific talent strategy’: open letter

Premier Wab Kinew’s invitation to disgruntled U.S. scientists to relocate north has prompted another warning — this time, from students — about status quo research funding and workforce challenges.

Against the backdrop of budget cuts at post-secondary institutions in the United States and professors’ concerns about political interference in their work, Kinew has hinted about plans to expand outreach.

Now, more than 160 undergraduate, graduate and post-doctoral researchers have signed an open letter urging the Kinew government to top up funding for Research Manitoba.

The agency, which co-ordinates grants to support breakthroughs in health, natural and social sciences, engineering and the humanities, was allotted $17.1 million in 2015-16.

The amount is just under $14 million for the current fiscal year.

“The lack of continued funding and pace with at least inflation for Research Manitoba affects people like me the most,” said Jarrad Perron, a PhD candidate in biomedical engineering at the University of Manitoba.

“I feel very strongly that it’s students — specifically, the research students — that do actually man (Manitoba’s) laboratories and actually push a lot of research forward.”

Given primary investigators are swamped with managerial and administrative duties, the main petition author noted that students carry out the bulk of their experiments.

Research suffers when managers do not have the means to regularly maintain and purchase modern equipment for their labs or hire students at living wages, he added.

Perron’s petition echoes earlier calls to action that U of M faculty members sent to the government about three weeks ago.

Both documents — which are dated April 8 and 16, respectively — highlight Manitoba’s last-place ranking in per capita research funding in Canada.

(That dubious distinction is based on Statistics Canada’s 2022-2023 roundup of provincial government allotments for research and development.)

They each appeal to Kinew and his cabinet colleagues to reinstate funding for Research Manitoba to pre-2016 levels, adjusted for inflation.

In his letter, Perron described Manitoba as “a stop-over province for scientific training.” He cited limited graduate stipends, undergraduate summer research positions and poor pay for post-doctoral fellows.

The specific demands include matching Research Manitoba “studentships,” stipends for early career researchers, to national funding levels and launching specialized funding tracks to help post-doctoral fellows transition to permanent positions.

Manitoba also needs an overarching “scientific talent strategy” and concrete plan to improve elementary and secondary students’ science and math scores, per the student proposal.

“Without a stronger K–12 foundation, we cannot sustain a local pipeline for the next generation of bioscience and neuroscience researchers, engineers and clinicians,” the letter states.

Signatories argue public-awareness campaigns about local researchers’ contributions to the Manitoba economy are critical to recruit and retain future trainees.

As far as Perron is concerned, Manitoba needs to rebrand itself to promote the up-and-coming scientific hub that it is and make investments to support and grow existing industries.

“When I tell people that Winnipeg is a mecca for neuroscience, they look at me like I’m crazy,” said the scientist trainee, who uses neuroimaging data to train artificial intelligence-based models to predict cognitive decline in pre-symptomatic Alzheimer’s patients.

Bioscience Association Manitoba estimates there are 770 affiliated companies and organizations that generate nearly $6 billion to Manitoba’s gross domestic product every year.

Advanced Education Minister Renée Cable told the Free Press she agreed with faculty members’ concerns about Research Manitoba after she met with them last month.

At the time, Cable said the province had “stopped the bleeding” in the wake of the previous government’s cuts.

The agency’s overall funding dropped by $3.5 million between 2016 and 2023. The cost of living grew about 20 per cent during that period.

The Kinew government has topped up funding by $350,000 since the last provincial election.

Budget 2025 accounts for $100,000 of that sum — an injection that Perron said is welcome, although he noted it only covers about three PhD stipends for a year.

Cable’s office did not provide an updated comment Thursday.

maggie.macintosh@freepress.mb.ca