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.
Assistant Professor, Political Science, University of New Brunswick
Former Postdoctoral Fellow with Positive Energy
The New Brunswick government recently announced that it is “leading the country” in the reduction of its GHG emissions, “well on its way to meeting the national target of 40-45 per cent below 2005 levels.” New Brunswick’s electricity sector is currently fueled by 80% non-emitting sources. This accomplishment is unexpected because it comes from a traditionally fossil-fuel dependent province, with similarities in its energy mix to Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Nova Scotia. Is New Brunswick’s success too good to be true?
Postdoctoral Researcher, SUNLAB Solar Research Group, University of Ottawa
As scientists and engineers in the energy sector, we have a responsibility to share our expertise by engaging with energy decision-making in Canada and with the public at large to help build consensus on the path to net zero.
MA Student in International Science & Technology Policy, George Washington University
The Bromley Memorial Event brings together graduate students from the United States and Canada to exchange ideas about science and technology policy, examine country-level policy differences, and to learn from senior policy advisors in both countries. I was honoured to provide brief remarks following Dr. Nemer’s keynote on The Complex Role of Science Advice in Informing Policy. The following is an adaptation of my remarks.
PhD Candidate in Biochemistry, specializing in Human and Molecular Genetics, University of Ottawa
My team at the Ottawa Science Policy Network (OSPN) and I had the opportunity to join this year's Bromley Memorial Lecture as student participants. This is a joint event featuring trainees and professors interested in science policy at the University of Ottawa (uOttawa) and George Washington University (GWu). After hosting this event virtually the last 2 years due to the pandemic, this was our first event back in-person at uOttawa.
This blog summarizes the Keynote Lecture by Chief Science Advisor of Canada, Dr. Mona Nemer, at the 2022 Bromley Memorial Event. It focused on the complex role of science advice in informing policy, Canada-US science relations, the evolution of science policy advice and the role of young scientists.
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).
A worldwide movement, citizen science is a phenomenon in which people without formal scientific credentials participate in scientific investigation. Citizen science is becoming important to environmental policy, because data collected by ordinary people can extend science’s field of vision to places and times that scientists would not be able to cover. It can increase the frequency of measurements and observations. It can speed up large-scale, labor-intensive tasks that computers don’t do a good job of, like identifying animals in images. These extensions of science can bolster the knowledge base of environmental science and make it possible for environmental agencies to make better decisions.
Physician & Founder, Digital Epidemiology and Population Health Lab (DEPtH Lab)
At the Digital Epidemiology and Population Health Laboratory, one of my first goals was figuring out how to build a research program that addresses existing and emerging population health issues. To do so, we need a seat at the “big data” table, playing a greater role in developing innovative digital health platforms.
The opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ISSP or its staff.
