Stringent and result-oriented training requirements at the heart of research funding opportunities: the case of the CSA FAST funding activity and the HiCIBaS project
ABSTRACT
Funding opportunities in science are essential to the research and development ecosystem. Numerous and competitive, the vast majority focus on scientific accomplishment. While the advancement of science remains a top priority, some funding agencies started to reshape their programs to include strict training requirements, from training plans included in proposals to regular evaluations of training progress. At the centre of this change is the recognition of the universities and colleges educational mission through research, and the need for a highly qualified workforce serving industry, science, and research. It is this need for applied research training, expressed by the Canadian aerospace community, that led to the creation of the Canadian Space Agency’s FAST (Flights and Fieldwork for the Advancement of Science and Technology) funding activity in 2011. Among the three main objectives of the 2017 opportunity, two target training the next and current generations of scientists and engineers for space-related areas in Canada by (1) developing and maintaining a critical mass of researchers, and (2) increasing the level of student employability by exposing them to practical experiences. In this paper, we report about the context behind CSA FAST’s creation, the funding opportunity model, and the impact of the funding activity. Concrete results are also shown for the HiCIBaS project, funded by CSA FAST 2015, an ambitious balloon-borne mission with an optical payload for wavefront sensing and exoplanet imaging that was led by 5 graduate students as part of their master’s program, and that culminated with a stratospheric balloon flight in August 2018.
1. CONTEXT: SPACE RESEARCH AND INDUSTRY IN CANADA
Canada’s involvement in space exploration is not new, from the launch of the Alouette satellite in 1962 to the participation in the NASA shuttle program that led to the rollout of Canadarm in 1981. Several Canadian astronauts participated in space missions, including Chris Hadfield, who commanded the International Space Station in 2013, and fascinated the planet with his interpretation of Space Oddity. The Canadian Space Agency (CSA) was established in 1989 to support the national space industry and provide government funding to bolster innovation in the field. Its mission to this day is to advance the knowledge of space and use its discoveries for the good of Canadians and of all humanity.
In 2010, CSA held a community-led workshop on suborbital platforms and nanosatellites that brought together more than 180 researchers, students and CSA managers, mostly from Canada, but also from Europe and the United States [1]. The 2010 Workshop on Suborbital platforms and nanosatellites was motivated by previous activities, including a CSA-led Nanosatellites Workshop (2004) and a meeting of the user community for suborbital platforms in 2007. One of the key elements that came up from these meetings is the recognition of the value of graduate training. It is therefore not surprising that discussions on various types of suborbital platforms (aircrafts, balloons, sounding rockets) and nanosatellites in 2010 focused not only on research activities to further knowledge, but also on research training opportunities to train the next generation of scientists and engineers with skills in instrument design, data analysis and project management. The 2010 CSA workshop led to the creation of the CSA-FAST funding initiative the same year. Section 2 briefly describes the FAST funding activity, a research funding opportunity with strict training requirements, while section 3 depicts the HiCIBaS project, a Université Laval-based research project funded through the FAST funding activity in 2015. Section 4 presents the results of the training plan of HiCIBaS with quantitative and qualitative data gathered among HiCIBaS’ participants. Section 5 highlights the efforts made to reach out to the community regarding the science and engineering behind HiCIBaS.
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