Science and Research committee  This program has only been in place for three years, so I can speak about it. Right now, we're seeing off-the-shelf technologies that can be modified to perform in the conditions—

Science and Research committee  Certainly. For the research that the National Research Council has carried out in the north, we need to be mindful of the costs associated with doing things in the right way with our indigenous and northern partners. That could be costs to ensure that corporations, for example, have adequate data storage for large amounts of data that may be collected through fieldwork or observation studies.

Science and Research committee  I think we do talk about it. There was a recognition in the 2018 ministerial mandate to create a research program on the north to take these funds to create this research. It should also be noted that the NRC does do a lot of Arctic research outside of our programs as well. We work very collaboratively with the military and the Coast Guard.

Science and Research committee  Could you repeat the question? Are you talking about the Arctic Council?

Science and Research committee  We do a lot of collaboration internally with federal government departments, academic organizations, Arctic and northern peoples and municipalities. At an international level, we do coordinate in particular and by choice with the United Kingdom. In terms of the other polar nations, most of that is through networks, research dissemination and having conversations about how we can learn best practices from each other, because technologies and tools that may have been developed, as you mentioned, in Norway, Sweden and Finland may not work in the Canadian Arctic.

Science and Research committee  That's a good question. However, we are performing research in a very particular area, which is applied science and technology and engineering. This is not the scope of all the research that is happening globally. Of course, there are many different disciplines that need to come together for that research.

Science and Research committee  In terms of underfunding of Arctic research, I suppose, in my opinion, there can be challenges in terms of who's filling that space to fund research. However, there are also opportunities, as I mentioned, such as the Canada–Inuit Nunangat–United Kingdom research program. By doing that collaboration, we tripled the amount of investment that we put in, because the United Kingdom was very interested in supporting climate change research.

Science and Research committee  Yes, it is, very much. In addition to our internal processes within NRC, we have a mid-program review to see how things are moving along. We're also doing a bit of a pilot project right now with Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. For that CINUK program I mentioned, those projects will be coming to an end.

Science and Research committee  I'd say at this point that we do not have that level of coordination, in my opinion. Our funds tend to help with some of that coordination, so we tend to be coordinated around funding sources. However, there are networks of excellence that we've had in the past that help with some of that coordination to see who is doing what research.

Science and Research committee  Since the invasion of Ukraine, the National Research Council has not had any coordinated research with Russia. That has been stopped at this point.

Science and Research committee  Certainly. I will say that, as mentioned, this is only year three of a seven-year-long research program, so our projects are still under way. Our first suite of projects is shortly coming to an end. These are projects that were developed under the Canada-Inuit Nunangat-United Kingdom research programme, which is a collaboration with United Kingdom Research and Innovation, Polar Knowledge Canada, Parks Canada, Fonds de recherche du Québec and Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami.

Science and Research committee  I can take that question. I can't speak to Polar Knowledge Canada's funding, but for the program—

Science and Research committee  Yes. However, grants and contributions have many different types of terms and conditions. Within the National Research Council and our Arctic and northern challenge program, the direction really comes from northerners. You could have an organization, like Queen's or another university, that may be the project lead.

Science and Research committee  I can't comment on that. We're not a granting council in that respect. NRC's grants and contributions are there to enable NRC researchers in our facilities to come together with northerners in this particular program to advance research. We also have our industrial research assistance program, which provides funds for small and medium-sized enterprises.

Science and Research committee  Thank you for the opportunity to participate. The creation of the NRC's Arctic and northern challenge program stemmed from a ministerial direction in 2018 to create a research program on the north. Through extensive northern engagement, this program has been aligned with the needs of northerners—and endorsed by them—throughout its design, launch and delivery.