Nations constantly make decisions about national security in the face of uncertainty or incomplete information. The outcomes of these decisions are often unpredictable, and success is often invisible.
Mark Salter explains how the national security apparatus is built to withstand disruption and why Canadians’ sense of what constitutes a national security threat is a reflection of our culture and values.
On our latest epiusode, divided into two parts, Ian T. D. Thomson talks with Positive Energy Faculty Members Professor Stephen Bird of Clarkson University and Professor Erick Lachapelle of the Université de Montréal. Their latest survey report, co-authored with Dr. Monica Gattinger, examines the nature of public opinion across a range of energy contexts in Canada.
This includes the distinction between polarized and fragmented opinion on several key energy policies, including carbon pricing and the energy transition. The survey assesses attitudes towards energy across several demographic groupings, including political affiliation, region and age.
Misinformation is influencing public opinion, decision making, and even geopolitics. And it’s not just coming from Facebook and Twitter—it’s coming from our political leaders. Yet our ability to detect misinformation is diminishing.
Kimberly Girling discusses the disruptive influence of misinformation on societies, and explains what individuals can do to help stem the tide of misinformation.
Canada-China relations are in uncharted territory. To understand the current tangle of trade disputes and hostage diplomacy, it helps to go back to the beginning.
Margaret McCuaig-Johnston traces Canada's relationship with China back to the establishment of formal diplomatic ties in 1970, discusses China's scientific ambitions, and lays out the stakes of Huawei's 5G bid.
In the latest podcast episode, divided into two parts, Ian T. D. Thomson interviews Positive Energy Research Team member Duane Bratt,who discusses the history of the Alberta Climate Leadership Plan: an ambitious policy program developed by the previous NDP government to address climate change in the oil and gas-rich province.
Positive Energy will publish Dr. Bratt’s case study in the coming weeks as part of its ‘What Works’ series exploring various efforts to address polarization over energy and climate.
Big data can dramatically improve decision-making, but the design and imagining of what we can and should use big data for is happening largely outside of the purview of public debate.
Kelly Bronson explains big data's arrival in the public sphere and—using Canada’s agricultural sector as case study—discusses how the use of big data is pushing us towards specific types of food production, and how more inclusive and effective use of big data can produce better social outcomes.
Congratulations to Professor Melike Erol-Kantarci, Faculty Affiliate of the ISSP , University of Ottawa, for being selected for the 2019 list of “N2Women: Stars in Computer Networking and Communications”.
