The Canada Research Continuity Emergency Fund (CRCEF) was announced on May 15, 2020, as part of the Government of Canada’s COVID-19 Economic Response Plan. The temporary program has been established to help sustain the research enterprise at Canadian universities and health research institutions that have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. It is expected that the program will help reduce negative impacts of the pandemic and ensure that the benefits of significant investments to date in universities and health research institutions are protected. This will maintain Canada’s international competitiveness in the global, knowledge-based economy, and contribute to Canadians’ health and social and cultural life, as well as the health of Canada’s natural environment.
CRCEF is a tri-agency program and is administered by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) on behalf of the three federal research funding agencies: the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and SSHRC. The Canada Research Coordinating Committee (CRCC) provides strategic oversight for the program and approves awards. The Tri-agency Institutional Programs Secretariat (TIPS) provides administration.
Program objectives
The program, which has a total budget of $450 million, has two objectives:
- as a priority, to provide wage support to universities and health research institutions, both of which are ineligible to the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy (CEWS), to help them retain research-related personnel during the course of the COVID-19 pandemic (up to $325 million); and
- to support extraordinary incremental costs associated with maintaining essential research-related commitments during the COVID-19 pandemic, and then ramping-up to full research activities as physical distancing measures are eased and research activities can resume ($125 million).
Description of the program
The program consists of four stages. Institutions must apply for funding at each stage. The funding allocated at stages 1, 2 and 4 must be used exclusively for income support for eligible research staff. Stage 3 funding covers the costs incurred for the maintenance and resumption of research activities. Applicant institutions must demonstrate that they require emergency funding at every stage.
Institutions must use the funds allocated at stages 1, 2 and 4 exclusively for income support for research staff whose salaries are paid in whole or in part by non-governmental sources and whose pay was negatively impacted by COVID-19. All reasonable efforts must be made to avoid laying off or to rehire eligible research staff. Applicant institutions must ensure that the people for whom income support is being requested do not apply for any other income support (e.g., Canada Emergency Response Benefit).
Universities are responsible for distributing the funds among their researchers. They must present the method used to divide up the funds at each stage of the program and must also post this method on their public website. Funded institutions cannot keep any part of the subsidy to cover administrative or indirect costs.
Management of the program at HEC Montréal
To manage this program, a decision-making committee (hereafter “the team”) was formed to have a better overview of the community affected by the program and ensure a fair and respectful distribution of diversity. The composition of the committee satisfies the diversity and inclusion criteria.
The senior university official who will be responsible for ensuring that program requirements are met:
Caroline Aubé
Director of Research and Transfer
Caroline.aube [at] hec.ca (Caroline[dot]aube[at]hec[dot]ca)
Caroline.aube [at] hec.ca (514-340-6255)
We believe that these measures are especially important in a crisis situation such as a pandemic, since unconscious bias is more likely to have an impact on decision making if it is done quickly and under stressful conditions.
Institutional committee members
Members of the committee who determine the use of funds were chosen primarily based on their roles and responsibilities within the organization. Caroline Aubé, Director of Research and Transfer at HEC Montreal, also made sure that the committee was representative of the diversity of HEC Montreal's staff.
The members of the committee are:
- From the HEC Montréal Executive Committee:
- Caroline Aubé, Director of research and knowledge transfer office
- From the General Secretariat:
- Karine Parent, Coordination and information processing Agent for equity, diversity and inclusion
- Lisanne Tremblay, Advisor - equity, diversity and inclusion
- From the Research and Knowledge Transfer Office:
- Sophie Briand, Director of operations
- Suzanne Lapierre, Financial management Officer
- From the Accounting and Treasury Services:
- Luc Savaria, Director
- Mariam Moussaddak, Director
- Gilda Paduano, Interim Director of accounting and financial information
- Raphaëlle Boulanger, Financial management Officer
- Jérôme Pépin, Manager - administrative systems
- From the Budget Services:
- Carole Boudreau, Director
- Stéphane Migneault, Officer - administrative systems
- Professors (without conflict of interest):
- Yossiri Adulyasak, Chairholder of a Canada Research Chair
Strategies and principles aimed at ensuring quity, diversity and inclusion (EDI) in decision making related to funding use
HEC Montréal believes that diversity is an asset that should in no way be compromised. That is why it fully supports the principles of equity, diversity and inclusion. To achieve this, HEC Montréal has implemented ambitious strategies to offer an inclusive environment for working and studying and to resolve any inequities experienced by the designated groups in its community.
HEC Montréal’s 2019-2022 equity, diversity and inclusion action plan is a reference point for all efforts made by HEC Montréal to honour this commitment.
HEC Montréal has therefore committed to taking serious measures to adopt the highest standards of equity, diversity and inclusion when it comes to making decisions involving funding use. The committee, a diverse and inclusive team made up of individuals from underrepresented groups, is responsible for the equitable distribution of funds. To help the committee fulfill its duties, members have all taken mandatory training on unconscious bias to offset the impact of such bias when making decisions.
To limit the effects of unconscious bias and systemic barriers, the team has developed a strategy that includes the following measures:
- Carefully analyze the program requirements.
- Use only eligible structured field combination (SFC) accounts. This strategy limits the negative impact of unconscious bias and systemic barriers by making it more difficult to identify the research staff/researchers associated with each account.
- Ensure that all disciplines and programs are taken into account.
- Ensure that all eligible staff is considered, based on the program criteria.
At stage 1, decision making regarding funding use required no arbitration, making it easier to respect our commitment with regard to equity, diversity and inclusion. The amount of the subsidy allocated at stage 1 ($1,065,691) was greater than the amount granted ($739,370). The strategy of selecting only eligible accounts based on program requirements made it possible to limit the negative impacts of unconscious bias and systemic barriers. Because we eliminated the SFC accounts not eligible for the program and followed the program guidelines, research staff members at HEC Montréal impacted by COVID-19 during the specified period were able to receive a portion of the emergency funding.
However, it may be necessary to assess researchers’ files at stage 3 if the eligible requests received exceed the amount allocated by the CRCEF. If that is the case, HEC Montréal will take the following measures:
- The evaluation criteria adapted to the diverse skills and contributions will be defined prior to assessing the applications to ensure a fair evaluation process.
- The same evaluation criteria will be applied consistently for all applicants.
- Enough time will be allocated to assessing each applicant to avoid favouring one applicant over another.
- EDI experts will be consulted as needed to avoid making decisions based on biases.
- Career interruptions will be taken into account to avoid penalizing applicants with an unconventional career path.
- Research that is off the beaten path and diverges from the dominant disciplines or that focuses on issues related to gender, race or minority status will be factored into the decision making.
- Scientific production negatively affected by the pandemic will be taken into account when assessing files (for example, a researcher’s inability to work during the pandemic because he or she has to care for one or more children or family members, or because he or she is at greater risk of contracting COVID-19).
Moreover, it is possible that, if the funds received do not adequately satisfy the requests, the amounts allocated will simply be calculated on a pro rata basis according to the amounts obtained. This will ensure that the process is fair for everyone and that no bias occurs (e.g., if we receive 80% of the amount, we will allocate 80% of the amount calculated/eligible for all requests). The committee will therefore adopt the method that several granting agencies use for various competitions.
Stage 1
The funding obtained by HEC at stage 1 is greater than the amount allocated for income support for eligible research staff.
The amount obtained was $1,065,691, and the amount allocated for income support totalled $739,370. This funding made it possible to provide financial support for 209 employees (113 graduate-level students, 4 postdoctoral fellows and 92 research staff members).
