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.
Drawing from COVID-19 mitigation measures, smart climate change policy will seek to change behaviour most effectively in toto, meaning it must incorporate potential social feedback and other costs. Both policy responses – at the level of the individual and the collective – have a role to play in tackling the COVID-19 and climate crises.
As we turn to evaluating government performance during the pandemic, we need to consider not just the choices made by elected leaders but also the role of the CMOH and whether changes are necessary for the next time this happens. Because there will be a next time.
This summer on the first day of the workshop reading of my latest play, veteran Ottawa actor Paul Rainville asked me: How do I play a robot? He was referring to his character, Adam, the husband and father in The Anniversary. It’s a near-future tale about three adult children who return to the family home to celebrate their parent’s thirtieth anniversary. Key detail: Adam’s a robot.
On Thursday, February 25, at 12:00 PM, the Institute for Science, Society and Policy hosted Prof. Stacey Smith?, Faculty Affiliate, ISSP and Full Professor, Department of Mathematics and Faculty of Medicine, to discuss how modelling potential COVID-19 outcomes on campus helped uOttawa.
On Tuesday, February 23, 2021, at 12:00 PM, the Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue Project on AI for Healthy Humans and Environments at the AI + Society Initiative, in collaboration with the Centre for Law, Technology and Society, the ISSP and the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics, presented a panel with Prof. Kelly Bronson, Core Member and the Canada Research Chair in Science and Society at the ISSP uOttawa, Ranveer Chandra, Chief Scientist of Microsoft Azure Global, and Partner Researcher at Microsoft Research and Giuliano Tolusso, Deputy Director within the Innovation and Growth Policy Division of Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s Strategic Policy Branch.
On Thursday, January 28, at 12:00 PM, the Institute for Science, Society and Policy hosted Prof. Rukhsana Ahmed, Faculty Affiliate, ISSP and Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University at Albany, State University of New York, to discuss Minority health disparities and Covid-19.
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.