Person: Paul Dufour

‘Reimagining’ National Academies: A Northern Minerva Reboots

‘Reimagination’ is very much in the news today (not to be confused with the imagineers at Walt Disney Imagineering R&D subsidiary). We saw the word trotted out in the 2018 federal Budget on how the 101-year-old National Research Council (NRC) was going to form a new conception of itself — not that it hasn’t been reimagined several times before.

Ontario’s new chief scientist to serve advisory role

After a months-long public search, Ontario has announced the appointment of Dr Molly Shoichet as its first chief scientist who will advise the provincial premier on science and innovation policy based on scientific evidence.

CSA appointment lauded but debate swirls over scope and breadth of advisory role

Dr Mona Nemer’s appointment as federal chief science advisor (CSA) is receiving rave reviews in science and policy circles. But it has also reignited the debate over whether the new position will represent a significant improvement over past efforts to advise government on important scientific issues, and how this advice will feed into decision making.

Big gains possible with explicit provincial science policies: CCA report

Provinces that develop and deploy explicit science policies benefit from greater coordination, alignment and clarity of their science-based activities, which in turn help leverage federal support. Other than Quebec and the territories which have developed explicit science policies, those of Canada’s other subnational governments are implicit in nature and often conflate science and innovation resulting in less than optimum outcomes, according to a new report from the Council of Canadian Academies.

Basic science needs better oversight and coordination, and more money: Expert panel

R$ talks to David Naylor

A federally commissioned blue-chip panel calling for greater coherence and financial support for fundamental research has made a series of 35 recommendations, including a $1.3-billion increase in the budgets of the three granting councils, the Canada Foundation for Innovation (CFI) and related entities over the next four years.