Proposed organization aims at enriching Canadian science policy and training

Science PAGES

A proposed new source of timely science information and analysis is seeking to enhance Canada's capacity to help formulate policy on key S&T issues and train a new generation of science policy practitioners. Science PAGES is being nurtured by the Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE) and members of the science policy community to fill a perceived gap between sound science analysis and those who require it to develop science policy as well as providing a pipeline for trained professionals who will work in the policy realm.

The idea for Science PAGES was born out of last fall's Canadian Science Policy Conference (CSPC) - in itself an attempt to address Canada's weakness in science policy (R$, November 9/09). Backers are using the UK model of POSTnotes - short, quickly produced public reports generated by the Parliamentary Office of Science and Technology (POST) - and hope to raise $250,000 annually to staff and run the operation.

Where the two differ is in their funding. While POSTnotes are funded by government, the model for Science PAGES is relies on sources from industry to universities and the granting councils to establish a broad funding base. While government funding has not been ruled out for the future, the intent is to demonstrate value before considering such a move. Moving ahead with non-government support also reflects the current political climate and severe fiscal challenges which will place Ottawa in a fiscal deficit for years to come.

The UK and Canadian models also diverge in the area of internships, with Science PAGES proposing to train graduate students to work at the interface between science and policy.

"The format and content aspects of the two organizations are fairly close but the POST does not use interns which could make us unique," says Dr Rees Kassen, PAGSE chair, professor at the Univ of Ottawa's biology department and holder of its University Research Chair in experimental evolution. "PAGSE is extremely responsive to issues that come up but there's a need for a permanent body to deal with science issues ... We're still discussing who we want to fund it."

PAGSE has experience in the area of science advocacy, having launched the successful Bacon & Eggheads (B&E) breakfast speaker series in which high-profile Canadian scientists explain key science issues to parliamentarians and their staff. According to Canadian science historian Paul Dufour, B&E is the only mechanism that currently provides science analysis to the political and policy realms. A paper produced on science and parliamentarians in the 1970s called for several measures to establish an information service for science issues, but no action was ever taken. The Library of Parliament has the capacity to generate science-focused research and analysis but it is not dedicated to S&T and rarely ventures into the field.

"The Science PAGES proposal is modest and practical and if Parliament buys into it, it will inject fresh blood into the system to look at issues that are current and policy-relevant," says Dufour, who recently retired after a long career engaged in federal science policy. "I read it as a pilot. Let's see if there's demand and build up a base for it."

Proposed structure

Under the proposed structure, PAGSE would establish an advisory committee to provide Science PAGES with direction on topics and provide input into peer review selection. It's anticipated that seven or eight reports will be produced annually, with each taking six to eight weeks to complete. Each report would use multi-disciplinary teams of interns (graduate and/or post-doctoral students) overseen by scientists respected in the fields being explored. Staffing would be limited to an executive director and administrative support.

Canada currently has two main sources of science advice for government - the Council of Canadian Academies (CCA) and the Science, Technology and Innovation Council (STIC) - but neither is completely independent of government. While not restricted in the source of its funding, virtually all of the CCA's funding to date has come from Industry Canada and it receives the bulk of its topics for expert panels from an internal government body. STIC, on the other hand, is conceived as government-funded resource for science advice and its reports are confidential.

The funding source of the CCA has been particularly problematic for the scientific academies that make up its membership. The agreement between the CCA and Industry Canada prohibits funding to flow to its member academies to undertake assessments of its own choosing. As a result they must find alternative funding sources. The Canadian Academy of Health Sciences has begun to conduct its own expert panel assessments, while the Royal Society of Canada has three underway after several years of inactivity in the field.

The weakness of Canadian science policy prompted the staging of the inaugural CSPC in Toronto last October, which drew hundreds of speakers and delegates to debate the need for new science policy mechanisms. Speakers included Preston Manning, president and CEO of the Manning Centre for Building Democracy, who advocated for the creation of a Parliamentary office for S&T and more science-trained or science-aware parliamentarians. Manning has been consulted by the backers of Science PAGES and is supportive, as is Dr Howard Alper, chair of STIC and founder of PAGSE.

"The reaction with PAGSE has been uniformly enthusiastic. Provided we can move forward in practical terms, PAGSE will take it on," says Kassen. "It's well positioned to take the lead on this ... It has the credibility and takes a non-lobbying approach."

Complementary to science media centre

Science PAGES is the second proposed new source of science information to emerge in Canada in the last year. In 2009, the Science Media Centre of Canada (SMCC) was launched with the aim of providing a source of scientific knowledge to the media (R$, October 8/09).

Since its launch, SMCC has hired an executive director and created a new category of membership for scientific societies. It is currently seeking to line up financial commitments to achieve an annual operating budget of $500,000-600,000. Several dozen background briefing notes are currently under development in conjunction with the Canadian Science Writers' Association.

While the two organizations have distinctly different audiences, they are seen as an attempt by Canadians to catch up with leading science policy organizations and that have a more science-literate media.

"It shows that there is a need for more science information," says Kassen, adding that the two organizations have discussed the possibility of sharing resources. "I see both of these endeavours on science-based issues of the day as complementary . They're synergistic activities."

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