Research about the science-policy interface makes abundantly clear that gaps can exist in understanding between researchers and policy and decision makers. It is, therefore, critical to understand the pathways and flow of information in this context, and determine reasons that create the gaps. Without clear communication among the various parties working at the science-policy interface, […]
Information Use & Influence
Pathways of Research-Based Information
In this post, we discuss the pathways of research-based information in policy and decision-making contexts, and models that scholars have proposed about how research information flows from production to readers. Five publications inform this discussion. The third chapter of Sandra M. Nutley, Isabel Walter and Huw T. O. Davies’s Using evidence: How research can inform […]
Characteristics of the Science-Policy Interface
No examination of the role of information in public policy development is complete without a discussion of the science-policy interface. This post will outline defining characteristics of the interface, and issues and difficulties surrounding its functionality. First, what is meant by the science-policy interface? Essentially, this term refers to the interplay between scientific research and […]
New EIUI Paper on Communicating Environmental Information
A new paper by the Environmental Information: Use and Influence research initiative (EIUI) has been published in Marine Policy: Soomai, S. S., MacDonald, B. H., & Wells, P. G. (2013). Communicating environmental information to the stakeholders in coastal and marine policy-making: Case studies from Nova Scotia and the Gulf of Maine/Bay of Fundy region. Marine […]
Influence of Environment Canada’s Grey Literature
Peter Wells, a member of the EIUI team, recently co-authored a paper published in the Water Quality Research Journal of Canada entitled “Regulatory Ecotoxicity Testing in Canada – Activities and Influence of the Inter-Governmental Ecotoxicological Testing Group (IGETG)”(48(1),14-29, 2013; www.iwaponline.com/wqrjc/o48/). This ad-hoc scientific group, affiliated with Environment Canada, has been working since 1976 on the […]
New Graduate Course on the Role of Information in Public Policy & Decision Making
The Environmental Information: Use and Influence initiative (EIUI) has launched a new graduate course on the “Role of Information in Public Policy and Decision Making” to prepare students for public management careers and to capitalize on the interdisciplinary strengths of the EIUI research team. This innovative, new course offers graduate students the opportunity to examine […]
EIUI Team Presents Seminar at the FAO, Rome
The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) recently became a partner to the EIUI research initiative in a three-year research project supported by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Seven other governmental, intergovernmental, and non-governmental organizations are also partners in this project, which is studying the communication […]
Doctoral Student wins a Student Writing Award
Suzuette Soomai received the Nova Scotian Institute of Science (NSIS) 2012 Graduate Student Writing Award for a paper entitled “The Use and Influence of Scientific Information in Environmental Policy Making: Lessons Learned from Nova Scotia”. Based on a multi-disciplinary literature review and research related to the release of The 2009 State of the Nova Scotia […]
Tension in Canada at the Science-Policy Interface
An important, insightful article published in The Globe and Mail on Friday, 4 January 2013, discussed “the limits being placed on the ability of government-employed scientists to communicate their findings” without government interference or indeed without requiring permission from the bureaucracy. The article underlines the importance of science and scientific advice to be independent of […]
Participation in the 2012 Coastal Zone Canada Conference in June 2012
Suzuette Soomai and Peter Wells participated in the 2012 Coastal Zone Canada Conference in Rimouski, Quebec, June 9-14, 2012 and presented a paper “Advancing effective integrated coastal and ocean management (ICOM): Recognizing the critical role of marine information use and influence”.