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Inter-Agency Collaboration

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) recognize the value of working together to increase their effectiveness and to reduce community duplication of effort. Collaboration between the agencies also enables the support of cross-cutting, multidisciplinary research initiatives designed to address important scientific opportunities and problems that matter to Canadians. The agencies have a number of long-standing interactions, and some more recent ones, that involve two or all three agencies. These include joint oversight mechanisms, policies, and funding programs. These are reviewed and evaluated on an ongoing basis with the goal of maximizing the benefit to the research community and ultimately to Canadians. This document highlights these interactions.

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Formal and Informal Interactions among Presidents and Senior Executives

Meetings of the Presidents and Vice-Presidents

The Presidents of SSHRC, NSERC and CIHR have created a forum for ongoing dialogue and decision-making. Dubbed TC3, (for Tri-Council Coordinating Committee), the three Presidents meet every two weeks to discuss issues of common concern, advance common program and collaborative initiatives, and explore opportunities for better service to the research community. The President of the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) is included, as appropriate.

Meetings among the Vice-Presidents of the three agencies occur on a regular basis to follow-up on issues raised by the Presidents, to initiate and contribute to collaborative activities, and to explore strategic issues. Similarly, Vice-Presidents from CFI are also included, as appropriate. The “round table” reports on issues at these meetings have been very useful for information exchange.

With shared responsibility for the Networks of Centres of Excellence (NCE), Canada Research Chairs (CRC), and the Indirect Costs Program, formal structures exist among Presidents and agency Vice-Presidents that provide a periodic and effective forum for discussion on common program issues.

The Presidents have observer status on the board of their sister agencies. In addition, there is a position on the board of the CFI that is filled by the President of one of the agencies, on a rotating basis.

Updated: 8/25/2008 1:33:14 PM