For Immediate Release

March 19, 2025

(Fredericton, NB) ResearchNB is pleased to announce the release of the 2025 Insight Report: What We Heard from the Research New Brunswick Program Optimization Project.

“Over the past year, the ResearchNB team has been collecting feedback from the province’s research community, working to better understand how we can best serve New Brunswick researchers and research institutions,” said ResearchNB Chief Executive Officer Candice Pollack. “We’re incredibly grateful for the opinions and ideas shared by our community, which will be critical to our collective efforts going forward. While overall the feedback we heard from the research community was positive, we received an incredible amount of information that we plan to use to inform our work.”

Pollack explained that the feedback was collected through surveys, interviews and in-person stakeholder sessions and the organization received many important suggestions about how it can become more efficient, responsive, fiscally responsible and supportive as a funder in the research ecosystem. In all, more than 200 voices contributed to the work.

Some of the key insights ResearchNB heard include:

• The need for more efficient processes related to application, awarding and reporting processes
• More funding is needed to support the talent needs of the research ecosystem
• ResearchNB needs to be better able to support research across the full spectrum of capabilities in the province, for example, from fundamental to applied, and social sciences to STEM.
• Research NB could also potentially play a stronger leadership role in science communication
• As a research funder, the organization is uniquely positioned to connect the dots between the research it supports and the people who can put that learning into action.

The optimization project responses directly influenced the development of a new suite of funding programs being launched on April 1 that will put over $8.5M of research funding into the New Brunswick research ecosystem.

“In the months to come, we’ll continue to share updates on other improvements and actions we’re taking, and work that’s still underway, in response to what was learned through our consultations,” Pollack said.

Research has impact and plays an integral role in helping New Brunswick to grow and thrive. Research enables us to grow our knowledge base, test new ideas, and implement new solutions that can tackle some of our most pressing challenges in our province. It leads to new products and innovations that support economic growth, builds a greener future, improves our healthcare system and strengthens our social supports. By powering discovery together, we can take our new ideas from research to action, for the betterment of New Brunswick.

To learn more about ResearchNB’s funding programs click here, or contact our Research Services Team at researchservices@researchnb.ca.