Many governments, including Canada’s, have taken too long to recognize the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic when even days of delay can have large effects on the ultimate death toll. Our governments are only now recognizing that successfully flattening the epidemic curve means that we could be self-isolating for more than just a month or two.
Core Member and Science Advice Research Cluster Lead, ISSP
Full Professor at the Department of Geography, Environment and Geomatics, Faculty of Arts, uOttawa
We all know the risk of crying wolf: if we do it too often then people will stop believing us. As a result, risk communicators must not cry wolf too often—but not too rarely either.
In troubling times, sound and timely science advice matters. It helps if you have trusted structures and institutions to rely on for such advice. Canada has been fortunate to have a public that largely trusts its knowledge and science actors.
Core Member, ISSP
Professor of Evolutionary Biology, Faculty of Science, uOttawa
‘Don’t panic’ says the cover of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Sage advice in any time. Especially now. To say COVID-19 has changed our lives seems a gross understatement. We are all feeling the impacts of social isolation, whether it is as benign as working from home or as drastic as quarantine, and wondering how long this will last. Anxiety is the new normal. Panic feels just steps away.
Senior Fellow and former Fulbright Research Chair in Science and Society ISSP, uOttawa
We’ve all observed the halting and surprisingly diverse approaches of governments around the planet to the emergence and spread of SARS-CoV-2 - the official name of the virus causing the coronavirus disease COVID-19. (And yes, it would help all of us if WHO could take the advice of the weather services and come up with simple names for these things.)
Senior Fellow, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs University of Ottawa
Adapted from a Keynote Speech, CN-Tellier Forum on Business and Public Policy: “Working Together to Improve Canada’s Competitiveness”
I arrived in Ottawa in 1972. My first task was to evaluate the industrial R&D promotion programs of the then Industry Trade and Commerce and Defence departments.
Artificial Intelligence has skyrocketed into public attention with stories of promise and peril for humanity. This is the second instalment of a blog post in two parts that discusses AI’s origins and evolution to the present day.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has suddenly appeared from ‘erewhon’. What is it? Where did it come from? Why is it important? This blog post in two parts will provide context and answers to these questions.
Inaugural Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Science and Society, Winter/Spring 2015, ISSP, University of Ottawa.
Current President of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society.
The Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, of the Office of the United Nations Commissioner on Human Rights will hold a general discussion on article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, in Geneva on 9 October 2018. This blog continues the discussion on the “right to science” begun in the first blog installment on this topic.
Inaugural Fulbright Visiting Research Chair in Science and Society, Winter/Spring 2015, ISSP, University of Ottawa.
Current President of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society.
On 9 October 2018, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, of the Office of the United Nations (UN) Commissioner on Human Rights will hold a general discussion on article 15 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Geneva. This blog is adapted from a submission to this meeting.
The opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ISSP or its staff.
