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.
Over the past six months, the ISSP has published multiple member blogs providing concrete advice to decision-makers about the myriad impacts and dimensions of COVID-19 – everything from science advice and government responses, to data collection and modelling to the cultural dimensions of superspreader events, the future of air travel, and the impacts on human rights.
That Canada leads the world in vaccination uptake is certainly impressive, but it took a lot of work to get here. It will take even more work to increase our numbers further. At the root of that work, however, is the not-so-secret ingredient public health authorities everywhere are trying to cultivate: trust. It takes a lot of trust—between Canadians and their governments and industries, between Canadians and their public health authorities and experts, and between Canadians and their own neighbours—to have appreciably high vaccination rates.
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.
Drawing from COVID-19 mitigation measures, smart climate change policy will seek to change behaviour most effectively in toto, meaning it must incorporate potential social feedback and other costs. Both policy responses – at the level of the individual and the collective – have a role to play in tackling the COVID-19 and climate crises.
As we turn to evaluating government performance during the pandemic, we need to consider not just the choices made by elected leaders but also the role of the CMOH and whether changes are necessary for the next time this happens. Because there will be a next time.
This summer on the first day of the workshop reading of my latest play, veteran Ottawa actor Paul Rainville asked me: How do I play a robot? He was referring to his character, Adam, the husband and father in The Anniversary. It’s a near-future tale about three adult children who return to the family home to celebrate their parent’s thirtieth anniversary. Key detail: Adam’s a robot.
On Thursday, October 28, at 12:00 PM, the Institute for Science, Society and Policy will host Prof. Chibuike Udenigwe, Faculty Affiliate, ISSP and Full Professor, School of Nutrition Sciences, Faculty of Heath Sciences, uOttawa, to discuss the sustainability of global food systems.
On Thursday, November 25, at 12:30 PM, the Institute for Science, Society and Policy is pleased to support the University of Ottawa and the Office of the Vice-President, Research in organizing a Partner Panel at the 2021 Canadian Science Policy Conference: The Mission-Driven Economy: How governments can spur growth and innovation to solve their greatest challenges
On Thursday, October 14, at 12:00 PM, the Institute for Science, Society and Policy hosted a panel to discuss the successes and failures of COVID governance and what they mean for trust in expertise and public sector decision-making over the longer term.
The Chief Scientist of Québec, Rémi Quirion, and the Chief Science Advisor of Canada, Mona Nemer, will have the pleasure of hosting the 4th International Conference on Science Advice to Governments, INGSA2021 — Build Back Wiser: Knowledge, Policy and Publics in Dialogue, from August 30 to September 2, 2021. This free event took place in a hybrid format from the Palais des Congrès de Montréal, Canada. The ISSP was a diffusion partner of the event.
On Thursday, July 22nd 2021, at 11 AM, the Science and Policy Exchange, the Institute for Science, Society and Policy (ISSP), National Research Council (NRC) and the International Institute for Applied System Analysis (IIASA) hosted a science diplomacy event to introduce early-career scientists to real global science-policy issues and to guide them through various evidence-informed policy scenarios.
From Monday, May 31 to Thursday, June 3, 2021, Positive Energy hosted a virtual conference exploring the roles and responsibilities between and among public authorities making decisions about Canada's energy future in an age of climate change. The conference convened senior leaders from business, government, Indigenous communities, civil society and the academy for a series of online, interactive, 1-hour sessions.
On Thursday, May 27, at 12:00 PM, the Institute for Science, Society and Policy hosted Prof. Handan Tezel, Faculty Affiliate, ISSP and Full Professor, Department of Chemical and Biological Enginnering, Faculty of Enginnering, uOttawa, to discuss how we can capture carbon dioxide from combustion gases or from air and recycle it back to make fuels and other useful chemicals, instead of releasing it into the atmosphere.
The BBC article, with a quote by Professor Jackie Dawson, Core Member and Canada Research Chair in Environment, Society and Policy at the ISSP uOttawa.
