Archived - This content has been developed for the transition binder for the NRC President, December 2020
Media coverage
In September 2020, 317 news items directly mentioned the National Research Council of Canada (NRC), its programs, its researchers or the secretariat hosted by the NRC.
Source of coverage and topics discussed
The NRC and NRC‑related topics were covered by traditional (television, radio, print), and online media. Coverage was generated by international, national, regional, and local media.
Topics of interest for traditional and online media included:
- Former President of the NRC, Iain Stewart, was appointed as the new President of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC). This story made national news and was shared by The Globe and Mail, National Post, CBC News and Presse Canadienne.
- Kraken Robotics of St. John's received $3 million in funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP) to develop an autonomous underwater vehicle named Thunderfish XL that will be able to sustain a whole year underwater. The announcement was covered by CBC, St. Johns Telegram, I Connect 007, Canadian Defence Review, Cape Breton Post, Charlottetown Guardian, New Delhi Times, Canadian Manufacturing, Janes, St John's Telegram.
- Kontrol Energy Corp continued to receive coverage for its COVID‑19 detector named BioCloud® that received funding from the NRC IRAP. The story was covered by BBC News, CBC, The London Free Press, Microcap Daily and Market Watch.
- A team of researchers from McGill University, the NRC, and industry partners Polycontrols, Hatch, and 5N Plus, are developing an anti‑viral coating for high‑touch metallic surfaces to reduce the rate of SARS‑CoV‑2 transmission. McGill and NRC researchers will develop and test the coating at the NRC's cold spray facility. The topic was covered by Mirage News, McGill News, Education News Canada and Design Engineering.
Most of the media coverage in September was neutral and informative in tone, apart from 26 articles that were negative in tone, and 22 articles that were positive in tone.
- The Hill Times, Le Droit, La Presse, Money Control, published positive articles following Prime Minister Trudeau's announcement that the federal government will provide $126 million in funding over the next two years to NRC's Human Health Therapeutics (HHT) Research Centre to increase production capacity of up to 2 million doses of a vaccine per month next year.
- BBC News, Q107, IBTimes, Market Watch, published neutral articles about Southwest Ontario‑based company, Kontrol Energy Corp. who has developed a technology named BioCloud that is able to detect COVID‑19 particles. The company received $50,000 in funding from NRC IRAP.
- Victoria Times‑Colonist shared a neutral toned article about CryoLogistics Refrigeration Technology Ltd., a Victoria clean‑tech company that is hoping to play a key role in the food and pharmaceutical supply chain, including the distribution of COVID‑19 vaccines, as it starts production next month of its temperature‑controlled shipping units. The B.C. Fast Pilot Program is funded NRC IRAP.
- The Globe and Mail and Maclean's published neutral articles of the full federal throne speech transcript where Governor Julie Payette mentions the Vaccine Task Force when discussing Canada's vaccine strategy.
- Waterloo Region Record, Hamilton Spectator published a neutral toned article about the two‑day cabinet retreat that occurred between September 14 and 15 where Ministers heard presentations from Canada's chief public health officer, Dr. Theresa Tam along with the two co‑chairs of the COVID‑19 Vaccine Task Force, Dr. Joanne Langley and Mark Lievonen.
- Reuters, Cape Breton Post, St. John's Telegram and Daily Mail published a short neutral article about an announcement that VBI Vaccines has entered into an agreement with the government of Canada to develop a potential COVID‑19 vaccine by 2022. This follows last month's announcement of the collaboration between VBI Vaccines and the NRC to support the VBI‑2900 COVID‑19 vaccine candidate in preclinical trials.
- Waterloo Region Record, Hamilton Spectator, published a negative article which claimed China is not a trustworthy partner for Canada. The collaboration between the NRC and CanSino Biologics is used as an example.
- The Hill Times published a statement by NDP MP Don Davies criticizing the federal government's decision to quietly appoint a task force and not reveal its members potential conflicts of interest.
- The former collaboration between CanSino Biologics and the NRC continued to receive negative coverage in early September in articles published by Moncton Times & Transcript, Toronto Star and The Daily Gleaner. Clinical Trials Arena published an article reporting Russia and Saudi Arabia have received approvals to conduct a Phase III clinical trials of CanSino Biologics' COVID‑19 vaccine candidate.
Media coverage from interviews and enquiries
The following news items resulted from media enquiries to the NRC, the majority of which concerned the COVID‑19 Vaccine Task Force (VTF):
- Global News published an article by Amanda Connolly discussing the COVID‑19 Vaccine Task Force's and conflict of interest declarations.
- Radio‑Canada's Christian Noël, Le Devoir's Pauline Gravel, and Global News all published articles regarding the VTF's conflict of interest declarations following the Secretariat's decision to make them public.
- Toronto Star's Kate Allen discussed with VTF co‑chairs Dr. Joanne Langley and Alan Bernstein about the dangers of vaccine nationalism and how global cooperation is crucial to effectively fight against the COVID‑19 pandemic
- Dr. Joanne Langley was featured on a CBC Radio segment named The World at Six with Susan Bonner and on CBC television's The National. Both interviews requests resulted from the AstraZeneca clinical trial pause following some complications experienced by a trial participant in the UK.
- CBC Radio's Cross Country Checkup held an expert panel on who should be prioritized once a safe and effective vaccine is found, VTF co‑chair Dr. Joanne Langley joined the discussion.
- Radio‑Canada's Les Années Lumières hosted by Gino Harel interviewed COVID‑19 Vaccine task force member André Veillette along with other experts. The segment gave listeners an understanding of clinical trials in general and what cause might have halted AstraZeneca's clinical trials.
- iPolitics' Kevin Dougherty published an article on the COVID‑19 VTF regarding transparency regarding vaccine agreements.
- André Laroche was interviewed by Radio‑Canada about upcoming changes to the National Building Code related to wood structures.
Announcements
- The NRC issued 3 news releases in September 2020.
News releases
- Recognizing the scientific impact of Dr. Frank Graham's HEK 293 cell line (September 25)
- This news release was picked up 96 times by various website with a potential audience of 11.2 million.
- NRC IRAP and Innovate BC invest in British Columbia businesses through B.C. Fast Pilot Program (September 17)
- This news release was only issued on Canada.ca
- Tronosjet Manufacturing Inc. receives funding from Government of Canada to develop testing swabs for COVID‑19 (September 3)
- This news release was only issued on Canada.ca
Media relations
The NRC received 40 media enquiries in September from international, national, regional, and local outlets. Four requests were for television, 5 requests came from radio, and 31 came from print and online media.
Figure 1 - Text version
The image is of a table, with data about media requests by topic on a scale from 0 to 30. The data points are as follows: Human Health Therapeutics – 23; Construction – 4; Other (Referred Calls) – 4; NRC in General – 3; Industrial Research Assistance Program – 2; Metrology – 2; Digital Technologies – 2; Oceans, Coastal and River Engineering – 2; President's Office – 2; Automotive and Surface Transportation – 2
Topics of interest to media included:
- Conflict of interest reporting for the COVID‑19 Vaccine Task Force (Global News, Radio Canada)
- The National Building Code 2020 publication timeline (ICI Radio‑Canada Première)
- The collaboration between the NRC and China's CanSino Biologics (Dalhousie Gazette, Chemistry World)
- Vaccine confidence and equitable vaccine distribution, and how differences in coverage for a COVID‑19 vaccine globally might affect Canada (Toronto Star)
- Mass Timber building construction and National Building Code changes (ICI Radio‑Canada Première)
- The NRC and AstraZeneca collaboration (CBC The World At Six, Radio Canada Première)
- China's '1000 Talents' program and the NRC's collaboration with CanSino (Global News)
- Basic questions about the work the Vaccine Task Force is doing with respect to the procurement and potential distribution of COVID‑19 vaccines (CBC Radio – Cost of Living)
- COVID‑19 Q&A with several experts including Dr. Joanne Langley (CBC Radio ONE)
- The NRC and VIDO‑Intervac collaboration (CBC The Nature of Things, iPolitics)
- GPHIN system and its used prior to COVID‑19 (CTV)
- NRC IRAP advice and research and development funding to Kontrol Energy Corp for BioCloud (The London Free Press, Global News)
- The relationship between the NRC and JYS Technologies (Global News)
- Vaccine hesitancy (Toronto Star)
- Mr. Iain Stewart appointed as President of the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) (CBC News)
- Air exchange rate is for office buildings, schools or hospitals (NPR Station in Boston WBUR)
- Radon gas and what homebuilders need to do to keep Canadians safe. (Canadian Contractor Magazine)
Social media
The NRC published 59 tweets and 36 LinkedIn posts in September 2020. The NRC Twitter account earned 83.8K impressions for the month of September. [REDACTED]
Figure 2 - Text version
The above is an image of a LinkedIn post on the NRC website, which includes images of two NRC researchers: Dr. Pavel Cheben and Dr. Laura Ferrarese, along with this text:
Congratulations to two of our very own researchers on being elected as Fellows to the Royal Society of Canada: Dr. Pavel Cheben and Dr. Laura Ferrarese.
Dr. Cheben, Principal Research Officer with the Advanced Electronics and Photonics Research Centre, is widely regarded as the father of subwavelength integrated photonics. His many discoveries have fueled fundamental advances in several technologies, including optical communications, biomolecular sensing and on‑chip spectrometry, and brought global attention to Canadian research. His invention of metamaterial waveguide has revolutionized integrated photonics and launched the new research field now followed by many academic groups and adopted by leading industry players. He is the most actively published NRC scientist of the last decade.
Dr. Laura Ferrarese, Astronomer with the Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre, has transformed our understanding of galaxy evolution by providing conclusive evidence of the existence of supermassive black holes (SBHs) in galactic nuclei, and discovering fundamental connections between SBHs and their hosts. Her work on SBHs and on the expansion rate of the Universe has made her one of the most cited astronomers, worldwide.
On September 1, the NRC twitter shared a behind the scenes photo of Prime Minister Trudeau's visit to the NRC Royalmount facility in Montréal. The caption accompanying the photo highlighted the federal funding the NRC will receive to upgrade the Human Health Therapeutics (HHT) facility in Montréal. [REDACTED]
The NRC LinkedIn account generated 254.6K post impressions during the month of September. These posts covered:
- Congratulations to NRC researchers who have been elected as Fellows to the Royal Society of Canada: Dr. Pavel Cheben and Dr. Laura Ferrarese.
- NRC Astronomer Patrick Côté and his team recently conducted the Next Generation Virgo Cluster Survey (NGVS) by using the Canada‑France‑Hawaii Telescope and discovered that galaxies are impacted by the company they keep. The program to image the largest collection of galaxies within 35 megaparsecs resulted in two papers, demonstrating that extremely large or small galaxies were impacted by their interactions with neighbouring galaxies.
- NRC Aerospace and Construction research centres' work to improve the safety and lifespan of cable bridges.
- Promotion of the call for experts for the NRC IRAP and Global Affairs Canada upcoming #CIIP mission to Germany in January 2021.
- NRC Aerospace research centre's development of a nanocomposite that can be applied to a morphing wing prototype. In addition to reducing noise during plane operation, the improved aerodynamic performance of morphing wings is expected to have major impact on airplane fuel consumption.
- Promotion of NRC IRAP international opportunities.
- NRC Automotive and Surface Transportation research centre teaming up with McGill University, and industry partners Polycontrols Technologies Hatch and 5N Plus Inc. to advance the development and validation of a high‑performance antiviral coating to fight against the COVID‑19 pandemic.
- NRC Nanotechnology research centre working closely with Edmonton's Gastops on an application that monitors the health of its heavy machinery so they can support their clients.
- NRC Security and Disruptive Technologies research centre and 1QBit devising "Controlled Online Optimization Learning (COOL)", an artificial intelligence method to control annealing, an optimization process. They trained an AI agent that drives an optimization algorithm without human intervention.
- NRC Health researchers are developing a bio printed blood vessel that will recreate the anatomical, structural, and functional properties of brain vessels.
- A research team comprised of Dr. Sergey Gusarov from the NRC's Nanotechnology research centre and Dr. Stanislav Stoyanov from Natural Resources Canada have been awarded the use of top‑level computing systems to accelerate the fight against COVID‑19.
- Promotion of the NRC's Dr. Phil De Luna, Program Director of the Materials for Clean Fuels Challenge Program, who is speaking at the first‑ever free and virtual TEDxUofT conference.
- Announcement of the NRC's collaboration with Nuclear Waste Management Organization and Polycontrols Technologies to advance Canada's plan for the safe and long‑term management of used nuclear fuel.
The NRC Instagram account posted 4 times in September and by the end of the month had 2,850 followers, up from 2,693 in August. The most popular post on Instagram was the announcement of the NRC's collaboration with McGill University to produce a cost‑effective, production ready antiviral coating that aims to reduce the rate of COVID‑19 transmission on high‑touch surfaces.
The following table shows the top‑five NRC social media posts according to engagement rate:
| Platform | Post | Date Posted |
|---|---|---|
|
Congratulations to two of our very own researchers on being elected as Fellows to the Royal Society of Canada: Dr. Pavel Cheben and Dr. Laura Ferrarese. Dr. Cheben, Principal Research Officer with the Advanced Electronics and Photonics Research Centre, is widely regarded as the father of subwavelength integrated photonics. His many discoveries have fueled fundamental advances in several technologies, including optical communications, biomolecular sensing and on‑chip spectrometry, and brought global attention to Canadian research. His invention of metamaterial waveguide has revolutionized integrated photonics and launched the new research field now followed by many academic groups and adopted by leading industry players. He is the most actively published NRC scientist of the last decade. Dr. Laura Ferrarese, Astronomer with the Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre, has transformed our understanding of galaxy evolution by providing conclusive evidence of the existence of supermassive black holes (SBHs) in galactic nuclei, and discovering fundamental connections between SBHs and their hosts. Her work on SBHs and on the expansion rate of the Universe has made her one of the most cited astronomers, worldwide. |
9 Sept | |
|
Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Navdeep Bains announced our Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre is receiving $126M over two years to build a new biomanufacturing vaccine facility in Montréal. This new facility will produce up to two million vaccine doses per month by this time next year. The Government of Canada has also committed $20M in ongoing funding for the operation of the new facility. In the short term, the new facility will focus on vaccine production, once a COVID‑19 vaccine is approved by Health Canada, to ensure that first responders and front line workers have access to vaccines. In the longer term, the facility will ensure the Government of Canada can access and supply future vaccines domestically for Canadians; ensure Canada is prepared to safely manufacture large quantities of vaccines using Good Manufacturing Practices; and support and grow Canada's biomanufacturing production capacity, knowledge and collaboration. Learn more: http://ow.ly/TNJ750Bei3I |
1 Sept | |
| Yesterday, @CanadianPM, Min Bains and Min Joly visited our Royalmount facility in #Montréal, where our Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre will be producing vaccines for Canadians. #DiscoverTheNRC #NRCHealth #COVID19 @ISED_CA photo: ©Adam Scotti pic.twitter.com/8ffjSgnzYt | 1 Sept | |
| Carolyn Watters, dirigeante principale de la Recherche numérique à #TechNumériquesCNRC, s'est adressée aux participants au @BIGDATASummitCA pour parler d'#IA et d'#ApprentissageMachine. Découvrez les services consultatifs et techniques que nous offrons: ow.ly/zZqQ50BsvKV pic.twitter.com/e4y00U3fv6 | 16 Sept | |
| Congrats to our very own Pavel Cheben, #NRCPhotonics Principal Research Officer, for being elected as a senior member of the International Society for Optics and Photonics! http://ow.ly/P1TF50Bnv24 | 10 Sept |
[REDACTED]
The following table shows the highest performing social media post according to impressions:
| Platform | Post | Date Posted |
|---|---|---|
|
Today, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry Navdeep Bains announced our Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre is receiving $126M over two years to build a new biomanufacturing vaccine facility in Montréal. This new facility will produce up to two million vaccine doses per month by this time next year. The Government of Canada has also committed $20M in ongoing funding for the operation of the new facility. In the short term, the new facility will focus on vaccine production, once a COVID‑19 vaccine is approved by Health Canada, to ensure that first responders and front line workers have access to vaccines. In the longer term, the facility will ensure the Government of Canada can access and supply future vaccines domestically for Canadians; ensure Canada is prepared to safely manufacture large quantities of vaccines using Good Manufacturing Practices; and support and grow Canada's biomanufacturing production capacity, knowledge and collaboration. Learn more: http://ow.ly/TNJ750Bei3I |
1 Sept |
[REDACTED]
Interpreting social media metrics
Overall, social media engagement is measured through:
- Impressions (how many users saw a message);
- Photo/video views (how many users interacted with media attached to a post— for example, how many users watched a video or expanded a photo to view it fully);
- Total engagements (how many times a user interacted with a message, including re‑tweets, replies, follows, and likes);
- Engagement rate (which posts resonate the most— number of engagements divided by impressions. In other words, out of everyone who saw the tweet, the percentage of people did something with it);
- Link clicks (number of users who clicked on a link included in a tweet); and
- Link click‑through rate (ratio of users who click a link to the number of total users who saw the tweet).
The average engagement rate for an English NRC Twitter campaign is 1.1%, and 0.5% for a French NRC Twitter campaign. It is important to note that as the number of impressions on a post go up, the engagement rate will naturally go down.
NRC website
The following web statistics for the month of September 2020 were collected using Google Analytics:
- Unique page views: Represents the number of browser sessions during which a page was viewed one or more times.
- Page views: are defined as the total number of times the piece of content was viewed during a given period of time.
News releases on Canada.ca
- Sept. 3: "Tronosjet Manufacturing Inc. receives funding from Government of Canada to develop testing swabs for COVID‑19" (508 page views).
- Sept. 17: "NRC IRAP and Innovate BC invest in British Columbia businesses through B.C. Fast Pilot Program" (303 page views).
- Sept. 25: "Recognizing the scientific impact of Dr. Frank Graham's HEK 293 cell line" (341 page views).
Note: More than 50% of their page views were generated in the first 2 days of posting.
Overall data (% change from previous month in parentheses)
| Total | Total | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NRC website (all pages) | Unique page views: | 271891 (↑19.3%) | Page views: | 389837 (↑16.4%) |
| Research centres | Unique page views: | 3496 (↑2.6%) | Page views: | 4758 (↓0.4%) |
| NRC IRAP | Unique page views: | 12745 (↓14.5%) | Page views: | 14767 (↓15.1%) |
| Research facilities | Unique page views: | 3748 (↓6.3%) | Page views: | 4519 (↓4.2%) |
Top 10 web pages visited
| Page title | Unique page views | Page views |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Home - National Research Council Canada | 37025 (13.62%) | 45771 (11.74%) |
| 2. Drone site selection tool | 9841 (3.62%) | 22208 (5.7%) |
| 3. National Building Code of Canada 2015 | 9156 (3.37%) | 13787 (3.54%) |
| 4. Web clock (Official times across Canada) | 5490 (2.02%) | 12971 (3.33%) |
| 5. Sunrise/sunset calculator | 4276 (1.57%) | 9952 (2.55%) |
| 6. Virtual store | 6661 (2.45%) | 7847 (2.01%) |
| 7. CODES‑GUIDES online library | 5047 (1.86%) | 7558 (1.94%) |
| 8. Support for technology innovation | 5393 (1.98%) | 7475 (1.92%) |
| 9. Features (Codes Canada) | 5005 (1.84%) | 7293 (1.87%) |
| 10. Calculatrice des levers et des couchers du Soleil | 2284 (0.84%) | 6538 (1.68%) |
Research centre web pages visited (English only)
| Page title | Unique page views | Page views |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Nanotechnology Research Centre | 502 (0.18%) | 660 (0.17%) |
| 2. Human Health Therapeutics Research Centre | 420 (0.15%) | 637 (0.16%) |
| 3. Aerospace Research Centre | 344 (0.13%) | 447 (0.11%) |
| 4. Construction Research Centre | 318 (0.12%) | 439 (0.11%) |
| 5. Energy, Mining and Environment Research Centre | 325 (0.12%) | 436 (0.11%) |
| 6. Digital Technologies Research Centre | 234 (0.09%) | 346 (0.09%) |
| 7. Herzberg Astronomy and Astrophysics Research Centre | 238 (0.09%) | 299 (0.08%) |
| 8. Metrology Research Centre | 200 (0.07%) | 278 (0.07%) |
| 9. Ocean, Coastal and River Engineering Research Centre | 207 (0.08%) | 264 (0.07%) |
| 10. Advanced Electronics and Photonics Research Centre | 183 (0.07%) | 251 (0.06%) |
| 11. Automotive and Surface Transportation Research Centre | 153 (0.06%) | 218 (0.06%) |
| 12. Aquatic and Crop Resource Development Research Centre | 125 (0.05%) | 194 (0.05%) |
| 13. Medical Devices Research Centre | 153 (0.06%) | 178 (0.05%) |
| 14. Security and Disruptive Technologies Research Centre | 85 (0.03%) | 100 (0.03%) |
Top 10 NRC IRAP web pages visited (English only)
| Page title | Unique page views | Page views |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Financial support for technology innovation through NRC IRAP | 3445 (1.27%) | 3922 (1.01%) |
| 2. NRC IRAP Innovation Assistance Program (IAP) | 2038 (0.75%) | 2221 (0.57%) |
| 3. NRC IRAP funding to hire young graduates | 1785 (0.66%) | 1983 (0.51%) |
| 4. About the NRC Industrial Research Assistance Program | 1467 (0.54%) | 1872 (0.48%) |
| 5. NRC IRAP across Canada | 634 (0.23%) | 876 (0.22%) |
| 6. NRC IRAP Innovation Assistance Program (IAP) - frequently asked questions | 770 (0.28%) | 866 (0.22%) |
| 7. The Industrial Research Assistance Program‑Innovative Solutions Canada COVID‑19 Challenge Program | 622 (0.23%) | 738 (0.19%) |
| 8. EUREKA | 493 (0.18%) | 568 (0.15%) |
| 9. NRC IRAP advisory services | 484 (0.18%) | 556 (0.14%) |
| 10. NRC IRAP international collaboration | 269 (0.1%) | 326 (0.08%) |
Top 10 research facilities web pages visited
| Page title | Unique page views | Page views |
|---|---|---|
| 1. Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory research facility | 593 (0.22%) | 714 (0.18%) |
| 2. Advanced materials research facility | 205 (0.08%) | 263 (0.07%) |
| 3. Dominion Astrophysical Observatory research facility | 229 (0.08%) | 255 (0.07%) |
| 4. Human health therapeutics research facility - Montréal: Royalmount | 123 (0.05%) | 159 (0.04%) |
| 5. Research aircraft fleet | 132 (0.05%) | 147 (0.04%) |
| 6. Fire safety testing facility | 99 (0.04%) | 119 (0.03%) |
| 7. Manufacturing and Automotive Innovation Hub research facility | 83 (0.03%) | 112 (0.03%) |
| 8. Canadian Photonics Fabrication Centre | 80 (0.03%) | 106 (0.03%) |
| 9. 9 m wind tunnel research facility | 87 (0.03%) | 102 (0.03%) |
| 10. Microbial fermentation pilot plant research facility | 80 (0.03%) | 87 (0.02%) |
Questions?
Please contact the media relations team at NRC.MediaRelations-RelationsMedias.CNRC@nrc-cnrc.gc.ca.