University of Montreal meets Parliament

for the third year, Center for Canadian Science Policy Studies and Office of the Chief Scientific Adviser of Canada It invited researchers to participate in the Science Meets Parliament programme. Five members of the University of Montreal are among the 38-person delegation for this new edition. Shalini Lal, Myriam Beauchamp and Mireille Schnitzer are nominated in the Canadian Institutes of Health Research – Canada Tier II Research Chair category, while Audrey Laventure is nominated in the Canadian Department of Natural Sciences and Engineering – Canada Tier II Research Chair category. Professor Antoine Boivin of the Department of Family and Emergency Medicine will sit as the 2022 delegate, whose term ends this year.

This Canadian initiative, inspired by the Australian “Science Meets Parliament” program, established in 1999, aims to strengthen links between the scientific and political communities, to enable two-way dialogue and to enhance mutual understanding through participation in the development of various policies. federal. “As researchers, our role will be to find out how political actors can be helped to approach a problem through the prism of science so that science, law, economics, social or diplomacy are taken into account when formulating policies,” explains Audrey Laventure, professor in the Department of Chemistry and member of The first youth council of the chief scientific advisor, Mona Nemer, established in 2020.

Delegates will participate in several meetings, including an orientation session with information on the work of Parliament and a session to observe House or Senate committee meetings. They will also attend the Question Period in Parliament as well as various virtual workshops on topics such as evidence-based decision making, science communication in relation to the media, and policy making in Parliament. “Scientists and decision-makers are often confronted with different realities,” admits Professor of the Department of Psychology Myriam Beauchamp. I believe that this program is necessary to train a generation of researchers who will be interested in dialogue with members of government, informed of the limits and challenges of policy making, but also qualified to move between empirical conclusions and action. “

The advancement of science, one policy after another

Since its inception, the Canadian program has hosted more than 100 emerging scholars. According to Rehabilitation School Professor Shalini Lal, the inclusion of the scientific community in the development of government policies can be beneficial not only to decision makers, but also to the population in general. It specifies that its contribution can be varied, whether it involves providing objective information based on concrete evidence or helping to disseminate research findings and scientific data. “As researchers, we generally receive little training on the role of science in the policy environment and how to communicate with decision-makers,” she says. It’s great that this program is aimed at early-career researchers. This can only be beneficial to Canadian society.”

Mirai Schnitzer, a professor in the College of Pharmacy, agrees. In his view, while this initiative allows scholars to participate in different political arenas, it also allows them to gain a better overview of topics of interest and societal issues, as well as a better understanding of the decision-making process by government authorities. “The knowledge we gain as scientists can be of real value to policy-makers. Collaboration between decision-makers, experts and the scientific community is beneficial for all,” she says.

The members of the annual delegation gathered by the program will meet on 1^any and May 2 in Ottawa.