As annus horribilis 2020 ends I would like to reflect on what lessons I hope the world has come to understand about the need for greater resources for research, diversity of research, importance of government/societal reliance on evidence-based research & the power of cooperation

Let's make no mistake, for any current global or upcoming crisis we need all research not just medical research to be funded- biology, physics, chemistry, humanities, language, cultural studies, gender studies, medicine, etc. Why?

It's quite obvious we need science, medicine and knowledge translation experts to be involved in solving the global pandemic but perhaps less obvious we also need expertise from many other areas (one ex https://jkms.org/DOIx.php?id=10.3346/jkms.2020.35.e415
of collaboration with aeronautic engineering)

Vaccine development is key, but so is understanding the best delivery systems (from drug delivery systems to road transport) for getting these vaccines to the public, & for getting message out to the public on the safety and efficacy of the vaccines with the understanding that..

the diverse public needs diverse messages. We need a greater understanding of how vaccine hesitancy differs between communities (indigenous, black, LGBTQ2S etc) so public health officials can get the message out effectively.

Another lesson I have learned along the way is that many of us may all use English - but the same word may not mean the same thing to different people/disciplines/communities - (think TNG's Darmok episode or the movie Arrival where a linguist is needed to communicate)

2020 has taught us that science matters, science communication matters, diversity matters, we don't know where the next global challenge will come from - could be another pandemic, grey tsunami, climate change, but no doubt there are many challenges ahead we CANNOT anticipate

That's why we need diversity of thought & we need governments/funders/reviewers to resist urge to throw all resources in one basket. There are many stories of how research went unfunded or was considered fringe only now to understand its importance https://www.wired.co.uk/article/mrna-coronavirus-vaccine-pfizer-biontech

TBH scientists are not always great at recognising the importance of research, until many years later, that's why it is better to have greater funding levels + diverse research (we must resist the urge to believe that one form of science trumps another)

Obviously there are times - such as now - that we need to throw $$ at the situation but never at the complete expense of other research areas. That's why it's so important that we have stable & large research funding levels in Canada and worldwide

The world has done an amazing job at getting out vaccines earlier than expected but this is all due to how far along scientists were already with SARS/MERS - we cannot discount the importance of continual sustained levels of funding for diverse research.

We need to fund diverse ideas/people, not just the science du jour. We also need to highlight research education, & integrate SGBA at earlier stages, as doing will mean better science and will build stronger and healthier communities

It takes a village - cooperation of science is so important to lead global efforts to overcome pandemics and other global challenges. let's not forget...

Lastly there are many more lessons to be learned during this pandemic on how we can do science better & @edyong209 wrote about many eloquently a couple of weeks ago https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2021/01/science-covid-19-manhattan-project/617262/