Senior Fellow, ISSP
Former federal Assistant Deputy Minister in NSERC, NRCan and Department of Finance
Canada has some of the best and the brightest scientists in the world. Take for instance Gilles Brassard in quantum cryptography, Paul Corkum in attosecond physics, and Barbara Sherwood-Lawlor in earth sciences who are international leaders in their fields. There is little doubt that Canadians are performing well given our modest resources. The question is: are we supporting our top talent effectively to allow them to collaborate with top researchers around the world, and to allow our companies to realize value from our research investment?
Inaugural Director and Core Member, ISSP
Associate Professor,Department of Geography, University of Ottawa
Even holistic thinkers need to broaden their scope sometimes. This is my impression from the First Annual Conference on Governance of Emerging Technologies: Law, Policy and Ethics (Phoenix, May 20-21, 2013). This international event was organized by the Center for Law, Science and Innovation at Arizona State University, and the ISSP was among the fourteen sponsoring organizations. I hope that it will become an annual event – it was, without any doubt, a great success.
Faculty Affiliate, ISSP
Associate Professor at the University of Ottawa and NSERC Chair for Women in Science and Engineering
What a treat to meet the Hon. Marc Garneau! As NSERC / Pratt & Whitney Chair for Women in Science and Engineering, I had the privilege of being invited by Barbara Orser (Deloitte Professor in the Management of Growth Enterprises at uOttawa Telfer School of Management) who organized a briefing with the former Liberal Party of Canada Leadership Candidate and past astronaut. Assembled were a dazzling collection of women experts on the state of Canadian women in technology, law, management and small business, who advised Garneau on much needed strategies to make women a centerpiece of a vibrant Canadian digital and global economy.
Distinguished Researcher, Autodesk
Co-chair of Biotechnology and Bioinformatics, Singularity University
Co-founder,Pink Army Cooperative
Forget math and physics. Biology is the hardest science. Engineers in other fields have built quantum computers whose operations come uncomfortably close to magic. They’ve made the Large Hadron Collider (LHC), a gigantic instrument for studying physics at its limits. And they’ve landed a 2,000 pound rover on Mars using a complicated, never-before-tested sky crane system. These projects were difficult but clearly doable.
Core Member, ISSP
Associate Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, University of Ottawa
Long ago and far away I took a course in philosophy of the social sciences. Surprisingly, this philosophy course involved a field trip and a very peculiar one indeed. On campus there was a small office in a bit of commercial space that housed, if memory serves, Technocracy Inc. The organisation was committed to advancing the cause of a rational and scientific approach to life in general and government in particular.
Core Member, ISSP
Associate Director, Graduate Studies, Institute of the Environment
Associate Professor, Department of Biology, University of Ottawa
In 2007, I attended a workshop to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Bruntland Commission's publication of "Our Common Future". During a panel discussion devoted to a retrospective analysis of the impact of Bruntland on public policy, the audience was pinned down by a perfect fusillade of references to "the policy process". Bleeding from a dozen wounds (granted, mostly superficial, or so it seemed at the time), I pleaded for clemency. Said I: "I am but a humble natural scientist, so please forgive my ignorance, but what, precisely, is the policy process?"
The opinions expressed in these articles are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the ISSP or its staff.
