SPE Talks Science & Policy Exchange

One out of every three people in Canada is not getting sufficient sleep. Many willingly trade their zzz's with all-nighters, Netflix binges, endless scrolling through social media, and to conform with the prevailing sleeplessness trend in modern culture. But sleep is not a luxury, for those dealing with sleep disorders, socioeconomic sleep disparity, or individuals with irregular working hours, such as pilots and healthcare workers.
Compromising sleep to be productive is counterproductive. It compromises many cognitive functions and risks road and industrial accidents, medical errors and multiple disorders resulting in significant financial burdens on governments annually.
Sleep research can play a crucial role in informing various policies, addressing issues like inadequate training for healthcare professionals to identify sleep disorders early, regulating shiftwork hours, and daylight savings, and tackling sleep health disparities.
Despite having ample evidence, the translation of sleep research to society is on snooze.
Listen from Dr. Julie Carrier, professor in the Department of Psychology at Université de Montréal, provides insights into the needs, barriers, and solutions for bridging the gap between sleep and circadian rhythm research with society. She explains the federal efforts of the Canadian Sleep and Circadian Network and provincial efforts in Quebec of Réseau Sommeil in developing strategies for integrating sleep and circadian rhythms into public health and policies.
Highlights of the meeting organized by the Canadian Sleep and Circadian Network, can be found here: National strategy on the integration of sleep and circadian rhythms into public health research and policies: Report from the Canadian Sleep and Circadian Network.
Find out more information about the Réseau Sommeil at reseausommeil.ca


Upcoming SPE event:

What: With the support of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO, join Science & Policy Exchange at a public forum event on policies and emerging technologies shaping the future of Canada's carbon emissions.
When and where: February 7th 2024 at 5:30 PM ET over Zoom.
Link to register


Past SPE event

What: With the support of the Canadian Commission for UNESCO: EDI in Action: Inspiring BIPOC across the Canadian science policy landscape. The discussion centered on the challenges BIPOC may face and how EDI is being promoted in the field.
Where: Link to YouTube recording.


- Interview by Madhura Lotlikar- Script writing by Madhura Lotlikar, with input by Maïa Dakessian, Gloria Lau, and Antoine Zboralski- Audio edition by Madhura Lotlikar with input by Gloria Lau, Maïa Dakessian, and Jonathan Caballero- Podcast production by Jonathan Caballero

In this episode, SPE volunteer Cissy Suen interviews Paul Dufour, who is an expert on Canadian science policy and a past board member of SPE, about his blog piece on a 1973 senate committee report on science policy in Canada and how that relates to Canadian science policy today. The links to the editorial as well as a book recommendation by Paul can be found below.

Editorial piece by Paul Dufour in the CSPC editorial series: https://sciencepolicy.ca/posts/senate-committee-releases-its-full-report-on-a-science-policy-for-canada-and-provides-recommendations-for-renewed-government-organization/
Paul's recommended book from this episode: First Principles: The Crazy Business of Doing Serious Sciencehttps://www.amazon.ca/First-Principles-Business-Serious-Science/dp/1554701759

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Don't miss our upcoming SPE events:



‘EDI in Action : Inspiring Black, Indigenous and People of Color (BIPOC) across the Canadian science policy landscape.' will be held virtually on October 12th, 2023 at 5:30 PM EST in collaboration with the Canadian Commission for UNESCO. The registration page can be found here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZIocOmvqTojHdFgLWV-yv479Pwn9YN3VfsH#/registration


This podcast is brought to you by the team of Science and Policy Exchange - learn more at https://www.sp-exchange.ca/
We sincerely thank Paul Dufour for this valuable discussion and we acknowledge the contributions of the team that made this podcast episode possible:
- Interview by Cissy Suen - Script writing by Madhura Lotlikar and Gloria Lau- Audio edition by Noa Kemp- Podcast production by Jonathan Caballero

In this episode of archived interviews, we talk to Dylan Roskams-Edris (@DylanWRE), Open Science Alliance Officer for the Tanenbaum Open Science Institute in Montreal, about what open science is and the importance of having it in the research ecosystem. We then chat with Emma Anderson, one of two public forum coordinators for Science and Poicy Exchange about the Nutrition in the Age of Misinformation forum held last June. Finally, we speak with Edward Irving, Director of Energy, Environment and Natural Resources at the National Sciences and Engineering Research Council (@CNRSG_NSERC) about the Alliance Missions grants for anthropogenic greenhouse gas research that encourages advancing research in climate change and emissions reductions.
And here's your update on upcoming events.

The SPE team is currently organizing a café on food security for late March. The date will be announced soon on our social media channels (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram). If you're interested in becoming more involved and potentially helping to write the policy brief, make sure to contact SPE to become a volunteer.
The Canadian Science Policy Center is also calling for volunteers. You can submit an application here.
The Journal of Science Policy and Governance and the Canadian Science Policy Center are hosting a panel entitled "Tools for Science Policy Education: How can the next generation advance the field of science policy?” on Friday, February 3rd at 10:00 EST.
The National Research Council of Canada and ACFAS have organized the 2023 symposium celebrating the success of women in STEM. This is a virtual event will take place on February 9 - 10.
The Ottawa Science Policy Network (@OttawaSciPolNet) will be launching an event for the National Graduate Finance Survey which aims to gather information and advance the discussion on graduate sustainability and financial security. The event will take place on Monday, February 6th from 17:00 - 19:00 EST.

In this episode we interview science journalist Brian Owens (@BL_Owens) about the 2022 Canadian federal budget and what it means for Canadian research, development and innovation, including the creation of a new innvation agency. You can read more about it in the following article which our guest has recently written for Nature. To read more of Brian's work, check out his website here.
Following last month's special which focused on Ukraine, we'll ask Dr. Richard Sandbrook from the Munk School of Global Affairs and Science Policy about the Science for Peace organization based at the University of Toronto and about the role that scientific collaboration has to play in promoting peace internationally, particularly in the context of the current Russian-led war on Ukraine. You can also connect with Science for Peace on Instagram (@science_4_peace) and Facebook.
Finally, Anne Barker from the National Research Council of Canada will tell us about the Arctic and Northern Challenge Program which aims to address the pressing issues identified by northern peoples as impacting their quality of life.
No upcoming events were reported in this episode -- we wish all our listeners a great summer holiday!

In this special focusing on Canadian efforts to support Ukrainian science, Science & Policy Exchange interviews Dr. Brokoslaw Laschowski, national coordinator for Canada of the #ScienceforUkraine initiative. Dr. Laschowski details how the initiative is pairing Ukrainian researchers with opportunities abroad and how the website is amalgamating resources to help support these researchers both remotely and outside Ukraine. Next we talk to Sarah Overington, Director of Science and Engineering Promotion at the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) about the Special Response Fund for Trainees (Ukraine) and how interested Ukrainians researchers can find a sponsoring grantee. Finally, we chat with three students working for the University of Toronto through the Science For Ukraine initiative - Alex Tsepa, Roman Burakov, and Dmytro Kuzmenko - about how the war has affected their research, their experiences coming to Canada, and thoughts on the war and its effect on the scientific relationship between Ukraine and Canada.


You can connect with Dr. Laschowski's lab by checking out this link or on Twitter @IATSL
Science For Ukraine can be found on Twitter @Sci_for_Ukraine and on Instagram, LinkedIn, Facebook @scienceforukraine, and on Telegram under “Science For Ukraine”
The statement from the government of Canada to support research trainees from Ukraine (links to CIHR and SSHRC found at the bottom of the page)
NSERC is on Twitter @NSERC_CRSNG, Facebook, or YouTube

The awards database to find grantees supported by NSERC can be found at this link



The events reported at the end of the show featured:


the SPE café "Unlocking Science : The Rise of Open Science in Canada - Perspectives from Early Career Researchers" which is happening TOMORROW on June 2nd from 12 - 1:30 PM
the SPE Public Forum "Nutrition in the Age of Misinformation" taking place on Thursday, June 23 from 5:30 - 7:00PM EST

The inaugaral podcast from Science & Policy Exchange features and interview with Roseann Runte, president and CEO of the Canada Foundation for Innovation, also known as CFI. We'll be asking her about her thoughts on the Canadian Youth Science Survey, conducted by CFI, Ipsos, and ACFAS, l'association francophone pour le savoir, which examined the attitudes and opinions of 18 - 24 year olds on science in Canada. We'll also provide a brief update on the recent increase of $550 million in funding to Canadian researchers from the Government of Canada.
You can connect with CFI on Twitter @InnovationCA, Facebook or LinkedIn #PromisingFutureNow

The events reported at the end of the show featured the Canadian Science Policy Center's call for volunteers, National Science Policy Network's fourth annual science policy writing competition, and the third annual open conference held by InsSciDE.