Food for Thought: Good practices for EDI in research, teaching, and knowledge mobilization at the interface of science, society and policy

Adjunct Professor, Department of Communication, Faculty of Arts, uOttawa; Associate Professor, Department of Communication, University at Albany, SUNY; Core Member, ISSP

Dr. Rukhsana Ahmed's research embraces the cross/trans/inter-disciplinary nature of communication scholarship, with specific focus on exploring the role of communication processes in improving health outcomes among marginalized communities and promoting broader social changes in international health contexts. She is particularly interested in the ways in which systems of beliefs, values, actions, and symbols are shared, or not, by people and how social groups influence communication in health care interactions. She is also interested in the ways in which people's cultural selves become entwined with race, ethnicity, gender, and social class groups and shape their perceptions of health, illness, and health care. Although her research is deeply rooted in health communication, Dr. Ahmed is also actively involved in interdisciplinary and multisectoral projects and partnerships in other realms of communication, including immigrant integration, multicultural media, and religious diversity.

Director, ISSP and Full Professor at the School of Political Studies, uOttawa

Dr. Gattinger is an award-winning researcher and highly sought-after speaker, adviser and media commentator in the energy and arts/cultural policy sectors. Her innovative research programme convenes business, government, Indigenous, civil society and academic leaders to address complex policy, regulatory and governance challenges. She has published widely in the energy and arts/cultural policy fields, with a focus on strengthening decision-making in the context of fast-past technological change and markets, changing social values, and lower levels of trust in governments, industry, science and expertise.

Associate Vice-President, Research, Promotion and Development, University of Ottawa

Dr. Martine Lagacé was appointed Associate Vice-President, Research Promotion and Development, in August 2018 for a five-year term. She is a Professor at the Department of Communication and is affiliated with the School of Psychology. Professor Lagacé was Vice- Dean, Governance at 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.

Manager, Science Policy Team, Office of the Chief Public Health Officer at Public Health Agency of Canada; Member of the ISSP Advisory Committee

Kimberly Girling completed a PhD in Neuroscience at the University of British Columbia. During her work as a scientist, she developed a passion for science policy, and has participated in a number of initiatives relating to global and public health, drug policy and harm reduction. In 2016, Kimberly was a member of the inaugural cohort of the Mitacs Canadian Science Policy Fellowship, a program linking scientists with government policy. During her time in government, she worked as a Science Policy Analyst with Defence Research and Development Canada, and Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada on a wide range of topics including ethics of emerging disruptive technologies and fundamental research funding. For several years, Kimberly also served as the President of the Student Biotechnology Network, a BC-wide organization that helps students develop career paths in life science and biotechnology. Kimberly was Research and Policy Director for E4D before taking on the role of interim Executive Director.

Graduate Student in Mathematics, uOttawa, Organizer of Truth Values Organization at uOttawa

Behnaz Refahi is a Ph.D. student in mathematics in uOttawa. In her research, she tries to find the chromatic number of a particular partition graph with the help of topological tools. Besides, she is interested in machine learning and data science too. She has been an executive member of the Women in Math club for two years and now is active in organizing different EDI events to improve the community's knowledge on the subject. She did her master's at Shahid Beheshti University on knot theory and her undergrad at Shiraz University, both in Iran. Traveling, reading, and cooking are her favorite free-time activities.