Over the past year, the ISSP has published multiple member blogs about how we need to transform decision-making to more effectively address grand challenges, such as transforming teaching, training and the science enterprise; fostering equity, diversity and inclusion in decision-making; putting into practice new decision-making models, and reframing how we think about science and technology in domestic and international policy. The compilation also includes a dedicated section on the grand challenges of COVID-19 and climate change.
Research Director, ISSP & Positive Energy, uOttawa
Climate change is a daunting policy challenge, where decision-makers must respond to a high-uncertainty and high-risk problem in an environment featuring a diverse multitude of stakeholders and deep-seated ideological controversy. In this situation, making policy decisions based on the best available science is often considered a desirable objective. But empirical studies – including Positive Energy research – have identified the flaws of this technocratic model of policymaking. The link between science and policy is complex, shaped by politics, and coloured by decision-makers’ worldviews. Two Positive Energy studies examine these complexities in greater depth and reveal ways to promote consensus about Canada’s energy future in an age of climate change.
Our U.S. neighbours have been lamenting the dissolution of their shared sense of reality for years. The trucker convoys that overtook Ottawa and several other Canadian cities this winter appear to have ushered in similar anxieties on this side of the border.
There is no doubt that, for future humans to have a habitable planet to call home, it is imperative that we decarbonize energy systems (including electrical, thermal, and transport energy) as quickly as possible. It’s also clear that, if we care about other people, we should do this in a way that does not disproportionally benefit or burden any particular group of people (like benefitting those who already have more than they need and disproportionately contribute to climatic change through their carbon intensive activities or burdening those who can hardly afford to pay their energy bills today).
On Wednesday, June 15th 2022, from 8:30AM to 5PM, the ISSP and Positive Energy will host a conference featuring a variety of speakers and industry representatives to discuss the findings of our latest research. This conference will be held in person at the University of Ottawa and offered virtually.
On Thursday, May 12, at 12:00 PM, the Institute for Science, Society and Policy hosted Prof. Louis Simard, Faculty Affiliate, ISSP and Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Sciences - Public Administration, uOttawa, to discuss social acceptability and distributive justice. Please note, this event will be taking place in French.
On Wednesday, April 20, 2022, at 4:30 PM, the Institute for Science, Society and Policy at the University of Ottawa and the Institute for International Science and Technology Policy at the George Washington University was delighted to host Dr. Mona Nemer, Chief Science Advisor of Canada, as part of the 2022 Bromley Memorial Event.
On Thursday, March 31, at 12:00 PM, the Institute for Science, Society and Policy hosted Prof. Eda Kranakis, Faculty Affiliate, ISSP and Full Professor, Department of History, Faculty of Arts, uOttawa to discuss Monsanto’s research practices, intellectual property designs, commercial aims, and strategic scientific rhetoric.
On Wednesday, June 15th 2022, from 8:30AM to 5PM, the ISSP and Positive Energy will host a conference featuring a variety of speakers and industry representatives to discuss the findings of our latest research. This conference will be held in person at the University of Ottawa and offered virtually.
A new study from the University of Ottawa’s Positive Energy program examines the work of the Ecofiscal Commission of Canada, an organization that aimed to depoliticize the debate about carbon pricing in Canada by using one specific tool: infusing the debate with non-partisan, academically rigorous research and evidence.
This Positive Energy study explores limits to consensus-building on energy and climate—specifically limits that flow from partisan politics. It identifies key drivers and events that have contributed to the polarization of certain energy and climate issues along partisan lines, and offers advice for decision-makers looking to navigate polarized contexts on the way to net zero by 2050.
New survey results from Positive Energy and Nanos Research evaluate how Canadians perceive the level of public consensus on a number of climate and energy issues. The survey asks Canadians about the current level of agreement on these issues, as well as the level of agreement relative to five years ago.
The fruit of eighteen months of engagement with our members, it is grounded in the ambitious vision of helping Canada to transform decision-making to meet the grand challenges of our time. The plan lays out multiple research, teaching and outreach goals, activities and target outcomes to realize this vision.
