Science Policy Conference seeking to expand

The Canadian Science Policy Conference (CSPC) is branching out. Following its second successful conference in Montreal last week, the CSPC is developing a plan to launch a Canadian Science Policy Centre to run the conference and establish a national research centre devoted to science policy.

Organizers are hoping to secure approximately $300,000 from government, business, universities and host cities to establish a multi-faceted centre to boost science policy training, capacity and knowledge dissemination. If successful, the centre would hold the annual conference, establish a virtual, on-line science policy forum and fund fellowships to send science policy graduates to Parliament Hill for one year. A longer term objective would be the creation of research institutes.

The decision to expand comes during a period of some uncertainty for CSPC, which has mounted two well-attended conferences with little more than sponsorship funding and volunteers. Plans to hold a third conference in Ottawa next November are in the works, but its director says it must first secure some level of base funding to proceed.

"Canada needs an annual forum on science policy ... We're looking for financial resources and next time around the format will be different. We have some ideas," says Dr Mehrdad Hariri, conference organizer and post doctoral fellow at the Mclaughlin-Rotman Centre for Global Health. "If we get (financial support) the outcomes would be 10 times bigger than what we have right now."

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