Health Innovation Initiative, imagine ideation, and Science & Policy Exchange are pleased to present our first report on the collaborative landscape of health innovation in Canada following our panel discussion, “Catalysing Collaborations: Exploring the Future Based on Lessons Learned.”Throughout the event and in follow-up discussions with the broader community, we identified barriers to and actions for enabling effective collaborations between the government, researchers, and healthcare workers during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. This report provides an overview of some of the themes that emerged.

In early 2021, reports by the Canadian Council of Academies and CCUNESCO were published detailing the challenges of PhD graduates in Canada as they transition towards the labour market.

​

Building upon this report, Science & Policy Exchange held a virtual panel discussion

on February 18, 2021, to elaborate on these challenges while also highlighting promising practices to address them. Key recommendations are found in this report.

Science & Policy Exchange (SPE) held a public forum entitled “WASTE STREAMS: Can We Stem the Plastic Tide?” with the goal of bringing the public together with researchers and professionals involved in addressing plastic pollution in waterways. This report summarizes the perspectives of our panelists, as well as the concerns raised by the general public during the question period.

Training the next generation of scientists and researchers is very important. We believe that research excellence requires understanding the impact of research on the community, in particular, the impact of research on policy. This workshop provided a selected pool of students and early career researchers (ECRs) with experience in government advice and interaction with key stakeholders at the government. 

The past few years have been a time of heightened attention for equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in academic institutions and in the larger community. This has resulted in a greater awareness of the barriers and challenges faced by under-represented groups in academia. In order to harness this heightened awareness to truly make academic institutions more diverse, inclusive, and equitable, it is necessary to create and enact action plans that create meaningful and concrete change in policy.

​

​

The internet and social media have increased the accessibility of health information but have also fostered the spread of potentially damaging health misinformation online, associated with risks at the personal and societal level.

SPE organized a public forum with experts in science communication and information literacy applied to health contexts, and addressed the topic of misinformation by reviewing the factors that play a role in spreading it, contrasting the effectiveness of different approaches to promote access to accurate and reliable information, and delineating relevant recommendations and strategies that can potentially be useful from a public policy perspective. 

Science & Policy Exchange (SPE) and Climatable hosted a two-hour public forum “SPEForum: Zero Waste Cities - Reality or Fantasy?” on June 4, 2019, at BAnQ, Montreal, to learn and discuss the challenges and opportunities that come with transforming into a zero waste city. This was an opportunity for the public to ask questions and engage with leading experts in research and policy to help answer them. The panelists were Alex Tyrrell, leader of the Green Party of Québec; Mariève Isabel, Montreal Urban Sustainability Experience, McGill University; Sophie Bernard, Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering, Polytechnique Montréal. The forum represented a policy, production, and consumer perspectives - to address how we can achieve
    our ambitious sustainability goals.

It is with great pleasure that we present to you this report, summarizing fruitful discussions on the role of students in science diplomacy. In advance of Canada’s G7 presidency, numerous discussions in Québec and Canada highlighted the intersection of science and diplomacy and pointed to a key recommendation which remains unexplored: to advance science diplomacy, we must engage students and early career scientists. 

L'équité, la diversité et l'inclusion (EDI) ont fait l'objet d'une attention accrue ces dernières années dans les établissements universitaires et plus largement, dans la communauté. Cela s'est traduit par une plus grande sensibilisation aux obstacles et aux défis auxquels sont confrontés des groupes sousreprésentés du milieu universitaire. Afin d'exploiter cette prise de conscience pour rendre les établissements universitaires plus diversifiés, plus inclusifs et plus équitables, il est nécessaire de créer et de mettre en œuvre des plans d'action qui apportent des changements de politiques significatifs et concrets

Dialogue Sciences et Politiques (DSP) a tenu un forum public intitulé « FLUX DE DÉCHETS : Pouvons-nous endiguer la marée de plastique? » dans le but de mettre en contact le public avec des chercheurs et des professionnels qui participent à la recherche de solutions pour contrer le problème de pollution par le plastique des cours d’eau. Le présent rapport résume les points de vue de nos panélistes, ainsi que les préoccupations qui ont été soulevées par le grand public au cours de la période de questions.

La formation de la prochaine génération de scientifiques et de chercheurs constitue un élément très important. Nous croyons que pour atteindre l’excellence en recherche, il faut parvenir à comprendre l’impact des recherches sur la communauté, notamment sur les politiques. Cet atelier a permis de réunir un groupe sélectionné d’étudiants et de chercheurs en début de carrière (CDC) ayant de l’expérience en matière de prestation de conseils au gouvernement et d’interaction avec les principaux intervenants gouvernementaux.

It is with great pleasure that we present to you this report, summarizing fruitful discussions on the role of students in science diplomacy. In advance of Canada’s G7 presidency, numerous discussions in Québec and Canada highlighted the intersection of science and diplomacy and pointed to a key recommendation which remains unexplored: to advance science diplomacy, we must engage students and early career scientists.