Predictors of Tri-council Funding Among Nutrition Researchers in Canada

Purpose: Barriers in research for women and dietitians have been documented. We sought to describe tri-council funding awarded within the nutrition discipline according to institution type, academic rank, gender, dietitian status, and primary research methods used.Methods: Using an online search methodology, faculty members with research appointments were identified from nutrition departments offering accredited dietetic programs and/or at Canada's collective of research-intensive universities known as U15. All data regarding faculty members, their institutions, and funding were collected through publicly available websites and Scopus. Tri-council funding associated with the nominated principal investigator, from a 5-year period, 2013-2014 to 2017-2018, was extracted. Binary logistic regression was used to test for predictors of receiving any tri-council operating funds within the 5-year period.Results: Faculty members (n = 237) from 21 institutions were identified for inclusion. Those from U15 institutions, at the full professor rank, nondietitians, men, and those who engaged in primarily quantitative research methods (vs. qualitative or mixed-methods) were significantly more likely to hold any tri-council funding during the eligible period. Dietitians (n = 76) were significantly less likely to hold tri-council funding, independent of institution, rank, gender, and primary research methods utilized.Conclusions: The apparent under-funding of academic dietitians from federal tri-council sources requires exploration.