Opinion
The case for taking student advice on science policy
By Shawn McGuirk, Vanessa Sung Nov. 29, 2017
Engaging students in policy-making harnesses the power of creativity and innovation generated through diversity of perspective, expertise, and experience.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau smiles with Mona Nemer on Sept. 26 in House foyer, the day he announced she would be Canada's new chief science adviser. PhD students Shawn McGuirk and Vanessa Sung say her office should establish a student advisory committee similar to those of science advisers in Quebec and New Zealand. The Hill Times photograph by Andrew Meade
This year’s Canadian Science Policy Conference in Ottawa earlier this month saw the number of students and postdoctoral fellows in attendance triple to 22 per cent of total participants, compared to only seven per cent in 2016. The increase may be due to improved social media presence or the draw of high-profile speakers. But other forces may be at play.
Related Stories
Politics This Morning
Your email has been added. An email has been sent to your address, please click the link inside of it to confirm your subscription.
For whom will the bell toll in Peterborough-Kawartha?
In a riding where voters are deeply engaged in the political process, candidates avoid the low-hanging fruit and stay out of the mud as they grapple with who to send to the House of Commons.Singh’s strong campaign an internal win, whatever the outcome, New Democrats say
Jagmeet Singh’s impressive campaign has ‘rescued’ and ‘refocused’ the NDP after the failed 2015 effort, Ed Broadbent says. The astrophysicist whose polling aggregator is projecting the election
The mastermind behind 338Canada, poll aggregator Philippe Fournier, is aiming to correctly call 90 per cent of the seats in the Oct. 21 race.Transition teams must be prepared for ‘unpredictable outcomes’ in minority situation, say former senior bureaucrats
The 'essence of clerkness' is continuity of government, says former PCO clerk Mel Cappe, who says he's 'strongly advised' current PCO clerk Ian Shugart to reach out to Andrew Scheer's team.What’s your issue? Taxes, climate change, health care top leaders’ campaign pitches this election
The Liberals, Conservatives, NDP, and Greens collectively spotlighted tax offers on 17 of 31 days of the campaign, climate change on 15 days, and health care on 11. Preliminary data shows nearly 3 million tuned in to French debate, more than double 2015’s ratings
The viewership for the Leaders' Debates Commission's French debate was more than double the viewership for the TVA debate, preliminary data shows, and higher than the 2015 French consortium event.‘It’s definitely in the top quadrant’: election campaign one of dirtiest in recent history, say political insiders
This campaign is not defined by any overarching issue, and has become ‘personal’ and ‘ugly’ between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer, says pollster and Ipsos president Darrell Bricker.‘They’re really riled up here’: Conservatives circling Goodale’s lone Liberal seat in Saskatchewan
‘The numbers are holding very closely to what they were last time. It all depends on turnout,’ says the 31-year MP Ralph Goodale. Candidates scramble to outperform their competitors in the critical ground game ahead of next week’s election
Liberal MP Ken Hardie says his team has set up get-out-the-vote ground operations in the riding to get all his supporters to the polling booths on election day.Trending Stories
