A very important and topical area of scientific and technical research ongoing in Canada and around the world concerns the fate and effects of hydrocarbons when released into marine, freshwater, and land-based ecosystems. In the Canadian context, a recent massive study carried out under the direction of the Royal Society of Canada required 461 pages […]
Information Use & Influence
Coastal Zone Canada 2016 Emphasized Collaboration to Achieve Coastal Resilience
The 2016 Coastal Zone Canada conference, organized by the Coastal Zone Canada Association, was held on 12-16 June 2016 at the University of Toronto’s Chestnut Convention Centre in Toronto. This biennial conference provides a forum for the exchange of ideas and information related to coastal zone management in Canada and globally. Representatives from universities […]
EIUI Launches Important New Book
The EIUI research team launched the new volume, Science, Information, and Policy Interface for Effective Coastal and Ocean Management, on 6 June 2016 at Dalhousie University. Edited by Bertrum H. MacDonald, Suzuette S. Soomai, Elizabeth M. De Santo, and Peter G. Wells, this timely volume was published by CRC Press (division of Taylor & Francis). […]
Measuring the Use and Influence of Research-Based Information
Measuring the use of research-based information is a difficult task, as perhaps best summed up by Nutley, Walter and Davies: “we are unlikely any time soon to see . . . comprehensive evidence neatly linking research, research use, and research impacts” (2007, p. 271). Despite the challenge, it is important to try, for at least […]
Managing the Communication of Research Information for Policy: Institutional Dynamics and the Social Component
Effective communication is a popular phrase within many institutions. At a basic level, communication involves purposeful exchange of information among parties. Failure to successfully transfer knowledge within this transaction can result in misunderstanding, misuse of time, and inappropriate or lack of action. Within a governmental context, this situation could result in wasted resources, ineffective policy, […]
Information Flow Frameworks: Communication of Research-Based Information into Policy
The demand for usable scientific information is increasing along with a greater need to understand how research-based information flows in pathways into both policy and practice settings. Yet, a number of issues with respect to the pathways, through which information is obtained, can impede the use of research in decision-making. The literature on this subject […]
EIUI Team Member Publishes a Paper on Assessing Public ‘Participation’ in Environmental Decision-Making
Elizabeth De Santo, Department of Earth and Environment at Franklin & Marshall College, Pennsylvania, and Adjunct Professor at Dalhousie University, recently published a new paper about public consultations regarding marine protected areas in the UK. The paper provides an assessment of public consultation processes and outlines implications resulting from the erosion of public confidence in the […]
Lee Wilson Defends his Master’s Thesis Research on Tidal Power Communication Networks in the Bay of Fundy Region
Lee Wilson, Master of Library and Information Studies (MLIS) student with the EIUI research program, successfully defended his thesis on 30 November 2015. His research examined several aspects of inter-organizational communication among organizations affected by tidal power developments in the Bay of Fundy region in Atlantic Canada. Capturing tidal energy through the implementation of tidal […]
Suzuette Soomai Completes her Doctoral Research on the Role of Fisheries Information
Suzuette Soomai, Interdisciplinary PhD student with the EIUI research program, successfully defended her doctoral dissertation on 30 October 2015. Her research focused on the role of fisheries scientific information in policy- and decision-making for fisheries management. She studied the information pathways – production, communication, and use of scientific information – at the operational level in […]
EIUI Researcher Presents Paper at 2015 Digital Earth Conference
On 5-9 October 2015 delegates from around the world came to Halifax to participate in the 9th International Symposium on Digital Earth – “Towards a One-World Vision for the Blue Planet.” As a concept, Digital Earth aims to virtually represent the planet’s environments and social systems in a geographical framework for various research applications. The […]