Bridging gaps between university research and public policy

The University’s ideal location in the heart of the nation's capital provides the OPPRO with a unique opportunity to create strategic partnerships between academia and government so that Canadian society can benefit from the fruits of this research.

“Researchers from our 10 faculties and our research centres and institutes produce top-quality research, and we want policy-makers to become more aware of this research,” said Associate Vice-President, Research, Promotion and Development Martine Lagacé. “We strongly believe in promoting academic expertise and in increasing its impact on public policy development, in order to respond to the increasingly complex issues facing Canadians.”

With this approach to disseminating and transmitting academic knowledge in mind, the OPPRO has launched the Brown Bag Lunch Series to discuss research and public policy, under the direction of Cintia Quiroga, former assistant dean of research at the Faculty of Law and OPPRO acting director. The goal is simple: provide researchers with opportunities to share best practices for establishing and strengthening ties with government officials and to better understand the policy design process.

“We designed this series to create a community that shares knowledge and discusses practices that improve dialogue with government officials and increases the influence of research on the development of public policies,” explains Cintia Quiroga. The first event in the Brown Bag Lunch Series, which is open to all researchers, will be held on October 21 and will be moderated by a duo of government relations experts who will describe the range of possible partnerships between academia and government representatives.

Whether by lending their expertise to deliberations at the Supreme Court of Canada, or by appearing before parliamentary committees and government commissions, or by contributing to scientific reports of the Council of Canadian Academies, researchers from the University of Ottawa actively participate in the design of Canadian public policies.

Their influence on issues ranging from the carbon tax to Canada’s quantum strategy, as well as policies involving official languages and the Francophonie, responsible AI, human rights and health equity for minority communities, reflects the essential role that research-generated evidence-based data can play in assisting the decision-making processes of those who govern us.

In April 2024, the OPPRO formed an advisory committee to strengthen ties between research and policy. This committee’s 15 members are drawn from four faculties, the Office of the Vice-President, Research and Innovation, and the Office of the President. A federal deputy minister also sits on this committee; their role will be to advise the OVPRI on which directions to take to improve the alignment of research with government priorities and to create public policy partnerships. 

One of the important points of convergence between research and public policy is the Alex Trebek Lecture series, hosted with support from the Alex Trebek Forum for Dialogue. The first major lecture this year, entitled The Impact of Participatory Music on Mental Health, will provide a window on the innovative and multidisciplinary approaches the University and its partners have designed to explore links between music, the brain and mental health. It will gather together health experts, researchers, policy-makers and community group members to help highlight and mobilize knowledge derived from this research.

And the OPPRO doesn’t intend to stop there. Other promising initiatives to promote research partnerships, including those to study the housing crisis and social innovation, are already in the works as part of the upcoming Canadian Science Policy Conference, a can’t-miss event for the OPPRO! Thanks to such research initiatives, the OPPRO will help position the University of Ottawa as an indispensable partner in dialogues between academia and policy-makers to benefit all Canadians.