Event Reports
A policy brief is a clear and concise document that provides an overview of a particular issue, presents policy options, and makes recommendations for addressing the issue. Its goal is to help policymakers and other stakeholders make evidence-based decisions.
Canada’s Pathways to Net-Zero Emissions by 2050: Challenges and Opportunities
On February 7, 2024, Science & Policy Exchange hosted a virtual public forum on renewable energy technology in Canada. Panelists discussed the barriers to reaching Canada’s emission targets, the role Indigenous communities are already playing in the energy transition, available technologies, and financial incentives that support investments in renewable energy. This report summarizes the key messages and policy recommendations on the subject.
EDI in Action: Inspiring Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) across the Canadian science policy landscape
On October 12, 2023, Science & Policy Exchange hosted a virtual panel focused on the essential role of equity, diversity, and inclusion (EDI) in shaping the future of science policy. The event brought together experts to discuss the unique challenges faced by Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) in the field, the importance of mentorship, resources for early career researchers interested in getting involved in science policy, and ways to make it more inclusive. This report summarizes the key takeaways from the panel.
Building a Sustainable and Inclusive Food
System in Canada
On March 22, 2023, Science & Policy Exchange organized a virtual Café event featuring the holder of the UNESCO Chair on Food, Biodiversity and Sustainability Studies and founding director of the Centre for Sustainable Food Systems, Dr. Alison Blay-Palmer, to discuss ways to improve the Canadian food system, with our moderator Dr. Monika Korzun, a postdoctoral fellow in sustainable agriculture at Dalhousie University. This report summarizes key messages and policy recommendations on the topic.
Unlocking science: The rise of Open Science in Canada Perspectives from Early Career Researchers
On June 2, 2022, Science & Policy Exchange (SPE) conducted a virtual SPE Café event that included roundtable discussions with the community to: 1) learn about the importance and practice of open science in Canada; and 2) discuss the role of Early Career Researchers (ECRs) in moving open science forward. The roundtable discussion questions were centered on the UNESCO open science recommendations. The Café also included presentations from Dr. Masha Cemma and Dylan Roskams-Edris to share their experiences and opinions in the field. In this report, we summarize the discussion of the guest speaker presentations and roundtable discussions.
Drug Policies in Canada: Towards decriminalization and legalization
On March 31, 2022, Science & Policy Exchange (SPE) conducted a virtual SPE Café event that included roundtable discussions with the community to: 1) understand current gaps in drug policies in Canada; 2) discuss recommendations for more constructive drug policies. The Café also included presentations from Kira London-Nadeau and Sara Guzman to share their experiences and opinions in the field. In this report, we summarize the discussion of the guest speaker presentations and roundtable discussions.
Food Security in Canada
This Public Forum gathered experts in the field of food systems to discuss policy recommendations to fight against food insecurity in Canada.
Empowering Patient Voices: Policy Change for More Inclusive Health Care Research
On this panel, experts on the subject of patient inclusion from the patient, researcher, and policy perspectives discuss the best practices and ongoing challenges for the inclusion of patient partners in Canadian health research.
CATALYSING COLLABORATIONS:
“Exploring the Future Based on Lessons Learned”
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.
Mental Health: How can academia do better?
Science & Policy Exchange (SPE) conducted an SPE Café event that entailed roundtable discussions with graduate students to understand (1) mental health problems in academia, (2) the current landscape of mental health resources and services in Canadian academic institutions, and (3) potential improvements. The Café was followed by a webinar talk, on September 17, 2020, by Devon Simpson, who elaborated on the three aforementioned points. Based on the two events, we make recommendations to encourage an academic environment that fosters wellbeing and to ensure that graduate students receive adequate mental health support.
Sexual Harassment: How can Academia do Better?
This report summarizes key policy recommendations aimed at improving higher education institutional sexual violence policies in Quebec following roundtable discussions at Science & Policy Exchange’s event “SPECafé, Sexual Harassment: How can Academia do Better?”.
Your voice matters
Science and Policy Exchange (SPE) conducted a “SPECafe: Your voice matters. What do you want them to hear?” event on April 4, 2019. The goal was to identify key concerns affecting doctoral students and graduates, postdoctoral fellows (PDF), and early career researchers (ECRs). This report summarizes these issues, offers recommendations to Members of Parliament (MP) and provides guidelines for research trainees to advocate for their interests before the government.
EDI in Action:
Best Practices and Future Directions
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.
Bursting the Academic Bubble Panel
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.
Health and Misinformation: Disentangling Truth and Falsehood
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.
Waste Streams: Can we stem the plastic tide?
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.
Zero-waste: Reality or Fantasy?
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
#SPESciAdvice
A Science Advice Workshop for the Next Generation
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.
Time Flies When You’re Having Funds
For our SPE café debut, we will discuss basic science funding in Canada, and more specifically the Naylor report’s recommendations.
Towards this goal, we have provided you on page 2-3 with an introduction to the current funding situation in Canada, highlights the Naylor report recommendations, and a brief overview advocacy strategies. We additionally provide you with additional resources on this topic on page 4.
Marijuana Legalization; Where do we go from here?
The purpose of this report is to provide recommendations for the effective implementation of impending legalization of nonmedical cannabis in Canada. While recognizing that regulation is done by the provinces and territories across Canada, these policy recommendations could have implications across federal, provincial, and territorial levels.
Students as Stakeholders in Science Diplomacy
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.
Breaking Gender Barriers in STEMM
This report was generated from discussions among mostly female undergraduate and graduate STEMM students at an our SPE Café on Dec 11, 2017, inspired by the Gender Summit that took place in Montreal on Nov 6-8, 2017. It reflects barriers that participants have experienced or observed during their studies, as well as obstacles they anticipate facing as they pursue their careers.
