Coastal Zone Canada is an international conference that attracts a variety of scientists, researchers, stakeholders, and professionals who share a common interest: the health and wellbeing of the world’s coastal zones. The 2014 conference held in Halifax, Nova Scotia included keynote speeches, concurrent sessions, and panel discussions that discussed challenges faced by coastal zones. The […]
Scientific Communication
Information DOES Matter: Bridging the Gap Between Science and Policy
The value of evidence-based policy making cannot be overstated, according to speakers at the special session “Does Information Matter? A Critical Question for the Future of Coastal Zone Management” at the Coastal Zone Canada Conference 2014. This session was organized by the EIUI team and brought together eight scholars to address questions such as: Where […]
New EIUI Paper on Enablers and Barriers to Use of Marine Environmental Information
A new paper published by members of the Environmental Information: Use and Influence (EIUI) research team reports on an investigation of enablers and barriers in the use of marine environmental information. Based on interviews with nineteen members of the primary Working Group of the Gulf of Maine Council on the Marine Environment (GOMC), an American-Canadian […]
Climate Change Communication: Sustaining the Planet’s Climate through Public Engagement
Climate change is now unequivocally recognized as a consequence of human actions and choices; therefore, in order to mitigate the impacts of climate change, it is necessary to engage both governments and citizens in discourse about solutions to climate change. The George Mason University’s Center for Climate Change Communication is a unique initiative that conducts […]
Doctoral Research Highlighted in NAFO’s Annual Report 2013
EIUI’s research partner, the Northwest Atlantic Fisheries Organization (NAFO), released its 2013 Annual Report, which includes an account of the research being conducted by Suzuette Soomai, Interdisciplinary PhD student with the EIUI research program. As a research partner, NAFO has accredited EIUI with official observer status for attendance at meetings of the Scientific Council and […]
Marine Information Matters: Report of the EIUI-Partnership Workshop, 20-21 September 2013
The Environmental Information: Use and Influence research program is pleased to present the report of the workshop, Marine Information Matters: Probing Its Use and Influence in Policy and Decision Making, held on 20-21 September 2013, in collaboration with our governmental and non-governmental partners. The workshop report contains an overview of the public lecture by Dr. […]
Information Use in Policy Formulation: Determining Impact
Determining the impact of research in policy-making contexts is a challenging task, a fact which recent literature highlights. This blog post surveys several publications that address this subject. We begin with Sandra Nutley, Isabel Walter, and Huw Davies, who draw attention to important issues regarding measurement of the impact of research. They point out, for […]
Iteration and Innovation: Using the Right Models for Improving the Use of Research in Policy and Practice
This post briefly describes several models for research-policy and research-practice relationships, and then explores how two models– the interactive model and the context, evidence, and links model– best capture the complexities inherent in the use of climate change research in policy and practice. This post argues that models that promote the understanding of context, the […]
Social Networks and News Media: Impact on Information and Policy Development
The recent rise of social media and the growing presence of news media in the realm of public policy and decision making have created a new dynamic: policy makers are now sitting alongside the general population. In this new era of policy making, scientists, policy makers, and the general population all collaborate on policy issues […]
Communication of Research Information: Barriers and Enablers
Evidence-based policy making depends on effective communication of scientific and social science research-based information. Several barriers that bear on the ability to effectively communicate information are identified in the literature. Similarly, several enablers are described that can create more effective communication. Ultimately, enablers and barriers are two sides of the same coin. Many of enablers […]