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.
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.
In recent public opinion survey work, Positive Energy has identified that Canadians are polarized along partisan lines on a number of key energy and climate issues. At the same time, we have seen the negative effects of partisan politics on broader society. Against this backdrop, policymakers must consider how to build consensus in intensified partisan settings. This blog post discusses how consensus processes can help facilitate policymaking in divisive contexts.
It should come as no surprise that politics have played an outsized role in polarizing key energy and climate issues. Partisan politics appear to impose three key limits on consensus-building. This blog unpacks them one by one.
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.
On Wednesday, June 15th 2022, from 8:30AM to 5PM, the ISSP and Positive Energy will host a conference featuring a variety of speakers and industry representatives to discuss the findings of our latest research. This conference will be held in person at the University of Ottawa and offered virtually.
New survey results from Positive Energy and Nanos Research evaluate Canadians' appetite to meet established climate commitments, whether it is the right time for Canada to be ambitious in addressing climate change and drivers of views on timing to address climate change. It also evaluates Canada's international credibility on environmental policies.Canada's international credibility on environmental policies.
A new study from the University of Ottawa’s Positive Energy program examines the work of the Ecofiscal Commission of Canada, an organization that aimed to depoliticize the debate about carbon pricing in Canada by using one specific tool: infusing the debate with non-partisan, academically rigorous research and evidence.
This Positive Energy study explores limits to consensus-building on energy and climate—specifically limits that flow from partisan politics. It identifies key drivers and events that have contributed to the polarization of certain energy and climate issues along partisan lines, and offers advice for decision-makers looking to navigate polarized contexts on the way to net zero by 2050.
New survey results from Positive Energy and Nanos Research evaluate how Canadians perceive the level of public consensus on a number of climate and energy issues. The survey asks Canadians about the current level of agreement on these issues, as well as the level of agreement relative to five years ago.
The fruit of eighteen months of engagement with our members, it is grounded in the ambitious vision of helping Canada to transform decision-making to meet the grand challenges of our time. The plan lays out multiple research, teaching and outreach goals, activities and target outcomes to realize this vision.
