Making Waves
Making Waves is a series of short thought pieces, written by CSIP scholars and researchers, on issues that are driving the conversation within science and innovation policy.
Authoritarian Innovation: The Intrusive Potential of Emerging Technologies
By: Ken Coates, Professor and Canada Research Chair, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy; Senior Fellow, Macdonald-Laurier Institute
In 2020, to be known forever as the year of the COVID-19 pandemic, the world is used to talking about the need for urgency, creative public policy, coordinated solutions, and major...
Radon: A risk ignored
By: Michaela Neetz, MPP student, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
November marks the beginning of cold weather when most of us cozy up inside and close our windows to the fresh air. This is the perfect time to begin a long-term, 90-day radon dete...
The SDGs and "Our Common Future"
By: Glenna Dureau-Sargsyan, PhD student, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
Under the helm of the United Nations (UN), the 17 SDGs cover the years from 2015 to 2030, and the 2019 report informs that while some goals are on track, others are lagging behind.
Would you know sound policy if you saw it?
By: Peter W.B. Phillips, JSGS Distinguished Professor and CSIP Researcher
As policy ‘wonks’, we exuded confidence and conviction. That got me thinking—would our group (or any group) really be able to converge on a set of policies exhibiting those factors...
COVID-19 and Climate Change: Turning apathy, anxiety, and anger into action
By: Larissa Shasko, JSGS PhD student and former Leader of the Green Party of Saskatchewan
We are living through uncertain times. COVID-19 and climate change both represent collective problems where individual action must occur universally for the threat to disappear.
Digital Technologies and the Transformation of the Global Agricultural System
By: PETER W.B. PHILLIPS, CSIP RESEARCHER AND JSGS DISTINGUISHED PROFESSOR
The plant breeding system, the agri-food supply chain, including on-farm production, and retail marketing are all being transformed by digital technologies and big data analysis.
The Cardigan Factor: why more evidence has made COVID-19 policy harder and what to do about it.
By: Jeremy Rayner, CSIP Director and JSGS Professor
In recent posts, I have argued that, if we want to improve the prospects for evidence-based policy making, we should pay more attention to the institutions of scientific advice tha...
Understanding Plant Digital Sequence Information and its Implications
By: Peter W.B. Phillips, CSIP Researcher and JSGS Distinguished Professor
The plant system is in an interesting state of flux. There are more than seven million accessions of genetic materials drawn from both the natural environment and commercial breedi...
The Legality of Paying for Plasma (and the Limits of the Law)
By: Alana Cattapan, Assistant Professor, Department of Political Science, University of Waterloo; Adjunct Faculty Member, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy
In the last few years, attempts to establish pay-for-plasma clinics in Canada have brought urgency to debates about the commercialization of the Canadian blood supply.
Re-discover the Value of "Basic" Life Skills
By: Crystal Chan, Master of Public Policy student, Johnson Shoyama Graduate School of Public Policy, University of Saskatchewan
It appears that the coronavirus pandemic has triggered several unusual trends in the household. The first one that makes me scratch my head is “baking bread with sourdough”.
Clusters as Drivers of Innovative Activity and Economic Growth
By: Peter W.B. Phillips, JSGS Distinguished Professor and CSIP Researcher
The area of innovation is both over theorized and under examined, with dueling theories everywhere about how we get something new into the market.
We know we have a problem, but what exactly is it? A call for data collection on the Canadian food system in response to COVID-19
By: Peter Phillips, JSGS Distinguished Professor and CSIP Researcher; and Crystal Chan, JSGS MPP student
The following blog post was originally published by the Canadian Science Policy Centre. https://sciencepolicy.ca/news/weknow-we-have-problem-what-exactly-itcall-data-collection-can...