Quote:
Originally Posted by fotze
I thought publically funded things were not actually employees, they just get funding in terms of grants. If they are direct employees then I would agree, but if they do not get all the other benefits that employees get then they should not be bound by the same things.
So a NSERC grant to a professor at a university (that may have many many other grants from other sources going) is being muzzled?
|
In this case the scientist is with the National Research Council (NRC), which is actually a government funded institute. Salaries are paid directly from the government, and in the old days, a lot of operational funding as well (although that has changed in recent years).
Researchers at Universities are typically the folks who hold NSERC grants, and you're right, often this isn't enough to sustain a research program so they'll apply for multiple grants. The media policies at most uni's is quite liberal, and to date I haven't heard of any professors being muzzled based on funding source.
The irony in this whole situation is that Nature is one of the most prestigious journals to be publishing in, and having work accepted there adds a great deal of credibility (within the scientific community) to the NRC's efforts. Suppressing these efforts, which will receive significant press abroad, is really counter-productive.
