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Science Advisory Committee (SAC) 2021 Report

Year in Review:  Annual Report

Submitted by  

Norma Domey, National Vice President PIPSC

Mandate

The Science Advisory Committee shall advise and make recommendations to the Board on how to address concerns or issues identified in the Workplace which related to science and public science issues, and the Institute’s efforts to present itself as an advocate for public science in Canada and for restoration of a science based departmental funding (A-base budgets).  

To achieve its mandate, it will:

a) monitor issues in the field of science and technology related to the work of members and the Institute in this field, including issues of science workplace ethics;

b) coordinate and distribute information on public science within the Institute and help coordinate the Institute’s outreach through its communications to Canadians on these issues, under the goal of focusing the public discussion of science issues in the language of science, by scientists; and,

c) provide an ongoing forum where Public Science-related issues and the Institute’s interests in this issue can be discussed and studied. 

PIPSC’s Science Advisory Committee (SAC) met four times in 2020 via zoom. During this time, the committee has been involved in the following:

Update on Science Activities

Science Member Survey

Analysis of the science membership survey conducted in early 2021 is complete and the research team is looking to provide a presentation on results to the Science Advisory Committee soon.  The policy and communications teams will be looking at the results to determine strategy going forward and will coordinate with any recommendations coming out of SAC.   

Women and Science Learning Lab

The advisory taskforce was established earlier this year.  A call for participants was sent in late May, with a deadline of June 14.  Once the call for participants phase has been completed, evaluation of applicants will begin.  The learning lab was held in October as a series of online sessions between October 18 and October 29. 

Scientific Integrity

The Scientific Integrity file has been progressing well, we expect a communication to go out soon from the Governance Committee clarifying some of the concern PIPSC has been raising at the Governance Committee regarding applicability of S.I. Policies to all employees in a department. 

Departments are slowly establishing breach guidelines in order to assist with PIPSC preparing a working paper on breach policies for science integrity and looking at best practices. 

The informal network of SI Focal Points has become established and continues to meet virtually approximately every 2 months to share experiences, solve problems and recommend action. 

Science Advisory Committee

Science Advisory Committee and PIPSC members brought a series of issues for discussion over the past year.  These included the following:

  • The Impact of the Federal Budget on Science
  • Diversity Statistics in ECCC and other federal departments
  • Pension Buy Back Gap Issue
  • A proposed AGM resolution on divestment from fossil fuels by the Public Service Pension Plan
  • A report on participation in the Generation Equality Forum in Mexico City
  • Updates on Motions 1 and 2 carried at Dec 2019 SAC Meeting:  Climate Emergency and PIPSC Carbon Footprint:  

PIPSC Flight Emissions Summary

2019

2018

758,016.547 GHG (kg CO2)

716,388.367 GHG (kg CO2)

 

Due to PIPSC Board decision no travel was permitted for the most part of 2020 and 2021.  Therefore, a reduction in PIPSC Carbon Footprint could not be established for 2020 or 2021 (i.e. motions proposed at least one SAC meeting to be virtual; in actuality all SAC meetings were virtual due to the pandemic)

  • Collaboration in Scientific Research: Understanding the factors that influence effective collaboration and teamwork
  • Science and Government Relations: Building a 2021-22 Plan for PIPSC

I would like to sincerely thank our Science Advisory Members/Friends: Michael Pauley, Pierre Morin, Katherine Beach, Violina Lozeva-Thomas, Krista Gill, Guillermo A Castilla, Sonia Roussel, Kevin Jacobs, Yuri Kim, Deborah Danoff, Paolete Soto, and Ningsun (Simon) Zhou, as well as, our staff resources Michael Urminsky, Marielle Nadon, Eleanor McGrath and Yvonne James for their dedication, participation and hard-work.

 Respectfully submitted on behalf of SAC,

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Norma Domey, B.Sc., M.Sc., DTM

Chair, Science Advisory Committee (SAC) 

National Vice President, PIPSC

 

SAC website: https://pipsc.ca/about/governance/committees/sac