Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Thank you to the members of this committee for allowing us to present some of the research we do as part of the networks of centres of excellence.
Just to remind members, the networks of centres of excellence is a program that is about 20 years old. It's a federally funded initiative supported by the tri-council funding agencies NSERC, CIHR, and SSHRC. Its mission is to mobilize Canada's research talent in the academic, private, and public sectors and apply it to developing the economy and improving the quality of life of Canadians. So as NCEs, we're charged with that onerous task.
The Advanced Foods and Materials Network is the only national network dealing with food and bio-materials. It is unique in the world, with a range of expertise ranging from food science, physics, and nutrition to ethics and consumer attitude. Our focus is really on food and health, and I'll be addressing that a little later.
Presently we're funded at a level of $5.4 million a year, and this represents research that we support at 25 universities with 75 researchers. One of our strongest applications is our students, and we train about 150 of them. We fund 25 multidisciplinary projects, and like all networks of centres of excellence, we're charged with leverage and doing complementary research based on active dialogue with industry and government to help us define the research agenda.
The network is one that turns challenges into opportunities, and hopefully in this brief presentation I'll talk about the challenges and opportunities we see as a network. I'm glad that my colleague Peter is here from AUTO21. I'm sure you'll hear similar messages.
As I indicated, we are charged with looking at food and health, so we feel that Canadians must be empowered to play a responsible role in their own health management. AFMNet supports research that is key to empowering our population, preserving health in Canada, and preventing an overwhelming health care demand by promoting preventative health care. I understand that members visited the St. Boniface facility and saw some of the research there on flax, so I won't reiterate that. But we look at such chronic diseases as type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, which are in epidemic proportions these days. We're hoping to use food as a preventative means for keeping the health of Canadians at a good status.
One of the challenges in the research agenda is commercialization. As members may appreciate, taking something from the bench to a product or a technology is a challenge in an academic environment. We've worked closely here with industry and the government to identify the research agenda, but we've also supported our researchers in “proof of concept” funding.
In our discussions with industry, it's very difficult for industry to participate in anything that's pre-commercialization. We felt that as a network we needed to support this, and a really strong aspect of our network is that industry is able put their hands around some of the products and technology. Our role is really to get to enabling knowledge and technology. It also gives our students a real look at life in the commercial world and helps them transition into the real world.
We also have a challenge with the regulatory system in Canada, and it's not due to a lack of effort with our collaborators from the Canadian Public Health Institute, Health Canada, or Agriculture Canada. We're working closely with our colleagues in these agencies to identify the science and technology we need to improve our regulatory system. AFMNet provides a resource of expertise and knowledge regarding regulatory issues.
On communication, one of the challenges as an academic entity is translating science and research into language that the public and consumer can understand. We think we've made great gains here. In their packages before them, members have a copy of Advance magazine. It takes some of the stories and research we do as part of our network and puts it into language that the public and consumers can understand. It's been a wonderful thing because it has also allowed our students to be trained in science journalism. This magazine is produced wholly by students in the network. If it had been left up to professors, I don't think we would have come out with such a good product.
Finally, on training, we have a strong commitment to the training of our students. That ranges from undergraduate students all the way through to post-doctoral fellows. This is really the training of the next generation of scientists and regulators. We offer them a multidisciplinary training experience by moving them around the country in various disciplines. It's not unusual for a physics student or a food science student to spend time in an economics lab or an ethics lab.