Science Diplomacy in an Increasingly Fragmented and Uncertain Geopolitical World: A Confluences Grand Challenge Action Dialogue
Feb 25, 2025 — 12 p.m. to 1:15 p.m.
On Tuesday, February 25th, 2025, from 12:00 PM to 1:15 PM EST, the Institute for Science, Society and Policy (ISSP) is hosting the fourth in its series of action dialogues addressing grand challenges at the science, society and policy interface. The February 25 Dialogue is presented in collaboration with the uOttawa/Embassy of France Research Chair in Science Diplomacy and uOttawa’s Centre for International Policy Studies.
At this event, Professor Patrick Fafard, uOttawa/Embassy of France Research Chair in Science Diplomacy(Dr. Fafard is also an ISSP Core Member and Full Professor, Graduate School of Public and International Affairs), will speak to the grand challenge of the research and practice of science diplomacy in an increasingly fragmented and uncertain geopolitical world. Dr. Jean-François Doulet, Science and Higher Education Attaché, French Embassy in Canada, will be the discussant. Dr. Alexandra Gheciu, Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, will moderate.
About the Event
The event is part of the ISSP’s Grand Challenge Action Dialogue series, which convenes policymakers, researchers and thought leaders in a variety of sectors to expand mobilization of knowledge on grand challenges at the science-society-policy interface. The Dialogues are one element of a broader suite of activities supporting the ISSP’s flagship collaborative initiative Confluences: Navigating where science, society and policy come together in Canada.
Confluences emerges from the Institute’s Strategic Plan 2021-2026, which sets the ambitious vision of helping Canada transform decision-making to meet the grand challenges of our time. Our research, teaching and outreach focus on three key thematic areas underpinning our vision: building public trust in expertise and expert-based decision-making; developing co-production of policies among academic, government, industry, Indigenous and civil society members; and weaving together technological and social innovations.
Dr. Martine Lagacé
Opening Remarks
Martine Lagacé was appointed Associate Vice-President, Research, Promotion & Development at University of Ottawa in August 2018 for a five-year term. She is a professor in the Department of Communication and is affiliated with the School of Psychology. Professor Lagacé was Vice-Dean, Governance of the Faculty of Arts from 2014 to 2018, and Director of the Department of Communication from 2011 to 2012. In addition to her administrative experience, she has extensive expertise in journalism, having worked at Radio-Canada for more than 10 years.
Professor Lagacé has contributed greatly to the advancement of knowledge on the psychosocial aspects of aging, particularly as they relate to discrimination based on age. She has led several field surveys in Canada and abroad, with workers as well as elderly patients to better understand the impact of age-based discrimination. In the francophone community, her academic work on ageism has been groundbreaking. She has edited two books on the topic and regularly publishes articles in academic journals, in both official languages.
Professor Lagacé contributes to several organizations, including the National Seniors Council, the Institut du savoir Montfort, the Bruyère Research Institute and the Institut universitaire de gériatrie de Montréal. She has also forged several international research collaborations, particularly in France and Italy.
Dr. Patrick Fafard
Speaker
Patrick Fafard has enjoyed a lengthy career that spans both government and academe. While with the Government of Canada he served as a Director General in the Intergovernmental Affairs Secretariat of the Privy Council Office. Earlier, he served in multiple capacities with three provincial governments, including as Executive Director of the Saskatchewan Commission on Medicare (2000-2001), and Executive Director, Policy and Planning, Saskatchewan Department of Health. Patrick’s academic interests are wide-ranging, and he is the author, co-author or editor of numerous publications on health, trade, and environmental policies, and federalism and intergovernmental relations in Canada. He is the co-editor of the monograph series, Palgrave Studies in Public Health Policy Research. Patrick’s current teaching and research includes the role of senior public health leaders in Commonwealth countries, global health governance to address the challenge of antimicrobial resistance, the governance of organ donation and transplantation, and developing public health political science. He is Senior Investigator in the Global Strategy Lab (York University and University of Ottawa) and serves in leadership roles for the Centre for Health Law, Policy and Ethics, the Ottawa Hub for Harm Reduction, and the Institute for Science, Society and Policy at the University of Ottawa.
Dr. Jean-François Doulet
Discussant
Jean-François Doulet holds a PhD in geography from the University of Paris Nanterre (2001). He was appointed attaché for science and higher education at the French Embassy in Canada in 2022, after a first posting at the French Embassy in China (2018-2022). He has 25 years' experience as an academic; prior to his posting abroad, he was associate professor at the Paris School of Urban Planning (Université Paris-Est Créteil), where he co-directed the Sino-French Centre for Urban, Regional & Planning Studies (2009-2018). He has written several books and scientific articles in the fields of urban planning, transport and Chinese studies. During his career, he has led numerous scientific consultancy missions for major companies and local authorities. Under his impetus, the French Embassy in Canada created a research chair in science diplomacy at the University of Ottawa, officially launched in May 2024. Jean-François Doulet is a Knight in the Order of the Academic Palms (2022).
Dr. Alexandra Gheciu
Moderator
Alexandra Gheciu is a Professor at the Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. Her publications include, in addition to articles in leading academic journals, several books: NATO in the ‘’New Europe’: The Politics of International Socialization After the Cold War (Stanford University Press, 2005); Securing Civilization?The EU, NATO and the OSCE in the Post-9/11 World (Oxford University Press, 2008); The Return of the Public in Global Governance (co-edited with Jacqueline Best, Cambridge University Press, 2014); Security Entrepreneurs: Performing Protection in Post-Cold War Europe (Oxford University Press, 2018); and The Oxford Handbook of International Security (co-edited with William Wohlforth, Oxford University Press, 2018). She is a member of the team working on the Global Right project and is also writing a new book on NATO in an illiberal world.Prior to joining the University of Ottawa, she was a Research Fellow at the University of Oxford, and a Jean Monnet Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence. She has also been a Senior Research Associate with the Changing Character of War Programme (Oxford University), a Visiting Professor at Sciences Po, Paris and at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice, and the 2022 MINDS Research Fellow at the NATO Defence College (Rome).