Eleanor Fast, Director of Policy and Programming
Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
The Federation took part in the Canadian Science Policy Conference (CSPC) held in Toronto last week. Founded in 2008 by a group of professionals from across industry, academia and government, the CSPC is an annual gathering of minds that aims to address current and emerging issues in Canadian science policy. The forum brings together scholars and stakeholders from across the country to engage in dialogue and encourage action around science, technology and innovation policy issues.
The theme of the event was “Incubating Innovation and Ingenuity,” and sessions were held on a range of topics such as understanding innovation, changes in graduate studies and research training, science communication and the science-policy interface.
On Thursday evening, Greg Rickford, Minister of State for Science and Technology, spoke about his pride in Canada's knowledge economy and the innovative collaborations between public, private, and academic sectors. He also mentioned that he is welcoming submissions regarding a refresh of the 2007 Federal S&T Strategy – you can be sure that the Federation will engage in that process!
The CSPC also recently launched a bilingual blog about the relationships between science and technology, society, the economy and politics. Submissions are welcome from anyone interested in science policy – click here to find out how to participate.