COVID-19 Update
Knowledge Synthesis Grants Evidence Briefs
Living within the Earth’s carrying capacity
SSHRC, in collaboration with the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), launched a Knowledge Synthesis Grants (KSG) competition in 2019 to mobilize research and help inform best practices related to living within the Earth’s carrying capacity.
This collection of evidence briefs highlights some of the research findings from the KSG holders’ final synthesis reports, and their relevance to key policy areas related to this future challenge area. The briefs also help grant holders engage with their non-academic partners and effectively share information about their projects with policy-makers and the wider public.
- “Contaminants of emerging concern” in wastewater: Are current policy development and industry guidelines enough to protect human and ecological health?
- Carrying capacity surveillance: Indicators and frameworks for equitable sustainability
- The fate and transport of microplastics in aquatic ecosystems: Synthesis and directions for future research
- The climate crisis and the housing crisis: Considering climate change repercussions for homeless and marginally housed populations
- How can we manage a just energy transition? A comparative review of policies to support a just transition
- Tackling the carbon footprint of streaming media
- Building climate resilient communities in recovery from COVID-19 and moving to a green and resilient society
- Planetary boundaries, global material demand and the emerging circular economy: Implications for upstream resource producers and primary material exporters
- Will smarter forests take us farther? Fostering resilient forest ecosystems in the digital era
- Increasing the reliability of energy system scenarios with integrated modelling: A review
- Uses of carrying capacity measures to guide coastal governance systems for sustainability
- Intersections between planetary boundaries and the circular economy
- Improving climate policy projections: A pan-Canadian review of energy-economy models
- Measuring Ecological Footprint and Biocapacity to manage Canada's use of carrying capacity
- Ecological restoration: Nature-based solutions for climate mitigation and engaging Canadians with nature
- Developing an evidence-based toolbox for addressing freshwater biodiversity threats
- Practices for braiding Indigenous knowledge systems and Western science for research and monitoring of terrestrial biodiversity in Canada
- Toward envisioning and implementing just transitions to a post-carbon society in Canada
- What does degrowth say about gender equality and social justice?
Informing best practices in environmental and impact assessments
SSHRC and the Impact Assessment Agency of Canada (IAAC) launched a Knowledge Synthesis Grants (KSG) competition in spring 2019 to stimulate social sciences and humanities research to help inform best practices for environmental and impact assessments. Following a competitive funding process, 13 KSG projects were funded in September 2019.
- More promise than practice: GBA+, intersectionality and impact assessment
- Determining “the public interest”: use of the public interest test for infrastructure decisions in Canada
- Lessons learned, best practices and critical gaps in regional environmental assessment: a synthesis of Canadian and international literature
- Impact assessment and responsible business guidance tools in the extractive sector: implications for human rights, gender and stakeholder engagement
- Integrating socio-economic objectives for mine closure into impact assessment in Canada
- Scoping Population Health in Impact Assessment (ScopHIA) Realist Review: Identifying Best Practices for Equity in Scoping of Major Natural Resource and Large-Scale Infrastructure Projects
- Implementing a regional, Indigenous-led and sustainability-informed impact assessment in Ontario’s Ring of Fire
- Beyond participation and distribution: advancing a comprehensive justice framework for impact assessment
- Building the system: follow-up, monitoring and adaptive management
- Synthesis at the nexus of sustainability assessment, regional/strategic assessment and Indigenous partnerships
- Evaluating methods for analyzing economic impacts in environmental assessments
- Gender-based analysis plus: implementing and developing a socially responsible impact assessment process in Canada
- Unlocking the promise of “integrated” regional and strategic environmental assessments
Background
The KSG competition had three main goals:
- assess the state of research knowledge in the social sciences and humanities and its application to environmental and impact assessments;
- identify research strengths and gaps to contribute to evidence-based policy making and best practices and identify future research agendas; and
- engage cross-sectoral stakeholders and facilitate the sharing of research findings with multisectoral stakeholders in the academic, public, private and not-for-profit sectors, including Indigenous rights holders.
The findings and policy implications summarized in the evidence briefs will help define potential areas in which Canada could play a vital leadership role related to impact and environmental assessments, as well as assist in developing future research agendas.
The evidence briefs reflect KSG project holders’ commitment to ensuring that concise information about their KSG project is effectively communicated to policy makers and to the wider public. The final KSG reports, as well as further information on the projects, are available by connecting with the authors and their respective research teams directly. The contact information for the research teams, and, in some instances, links to the final reports, is provided in the individual evidence briefs.
The views expressed in these evidence briefs are those of the authors and not necessarily those of SSHRC, IAAC or the Government of Canada.
Understanding the future of Canada-UK trade relationships
SSHRC and the United Kingdom’s (UK) Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC—part of UK Research and Innovation) launched a dedicated Knowledge Synthesis Grants (KSG) competition in January 2018.
This collection of evidence briefs highlights some of the research findings from the KSG holders’ final synthesis reports and their relevance in key policy areas related to future Canada-UK trade relationships. The briefs also help grant holders engage with their non-academic partners and effectively share information about their projects with policy-makers and the wider public.
- Canada-UK Free Trade: Balancing progressive trade policies and economic benefits
- Investment Promotion and Protection in the Canada-UK Trade Relationship
- The Future of UK-Canada Circular Economy Trade
- Trade Relations between Canada and the UK in the event of Brexit
- Gendering Global Trade Governance through Canada-UK Trade Relations
- Political Contestation about International Economic Agreements: Lessons for the Canada-UK Trade Relationship after Brexit
- Trade, Intellectual Property and Innovation: Policy Implications for the Canada-UK Relationship after Brexit
- The Roles of Provinces and Devolved Administrations in the Negotiation and Implementation of a Canada-UK Trade Agreement
- Charting the Sources of Brexit: Lessons for Canadian-UK Relations
- The (New) Geography of International Trade and Investment: Exploring the extent to which “distance” matters in the establishment of economic relations between Canada and the UK
Background
The KSG competition on understanding the future of Canada-UK trade relationships had three main goals:
- to assess the state of research knowledge on Canada-UK trade relationships and to gain a better understanding of post-Brexit bilateral trade relations;
- to identify research strengths and gaps contributing to evidence-based policy making process; and
- to foster international collaboration between Canadian and the UK research community.
This competition builds on the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Canada and the UK concerning Science, Technology and Innovation, which was signed in September 2017. One of the MOU’s key objectives is to enable research cooperation and foster international partnerships between the two countries’ academia, government institutions and businesses. This will lead to positive impacts for society in Canada, the UK and around the world.
Following a competitive funding process, ten KSG projects were funded in May 2018. Grant holders presented their key findings and outcomes at a multi-sector forum in December 2018 in London. World-leading researchers, leaders from government, business, and civil society sectors and think tank representatives attended the forum.
Final synthesis reports
The resulting ten final synthesis reports, which are available to read in the evidence briefs linked above, highlight the opportunities a new trade agreement poses for innovation and leadership roles for both countries. They also emphasize the importance and value of using the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) as a model. Three of the reports focused on the causes of Brexit and the demographic and socio-economic factors that influence support for international trade agreements. Many of the reports stress the value of including a wide range of stakeholders from government, policy institutions, business and civil society sectors in the negotiation process. The reports also discussed the role that subnational or sub-state actors could play, as well the role of geography and distance in trade considerations.
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