Ottawa, Sept 27, 2017 – Canada’s colleges and institutes welcome the nomination of Dr. Mona Nemer to the position of Chief Science Advisor and look forward to working with her to support research and innovation across the country.
As Chief Science Advisor (CSA), Dr Nemer will help promote science and its benefits for all Canadians and advise the government on ways to support scientific work. This is an important development for colleges and institutes, where applied research has been booming over the past few years. In fact they now host over 400 specialized research centres and labs, and worked with over 6300 private sector partners in 2015-2016 on a wide variety of research projects.
“Over the past decade, Canada’s colleges and institutes have truly emerged as leaders in applied research and we look forward to working with Dr. Nemer to share insights into how that can be leveraged to serve the CSA agenda”, says CICan president and CEO, Denise Amyot. “This nomination represents a wonderful opportunity to approach innovation and research in a new and more coordinated manner at the national level, which is especially important for colleges and institutes in Canada.”
As Canada’s new top scientist, Dr. Nemer will provide impartial scientific advice to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Science. She will also make recommendations to help ensure that government science is fully available and accessible to the public, and that federal scientists remain free to speak about their work. Once a year, she will submit a report about the state of federal government science in Canada to the Prime Minister and the Minister of Science, which will also be made public.
Colleges and Institutes Canada (CICan) is the voice of Canada’s publicly-supported colleges, institutes, cegeps and polytechnics, and an international leader in education for employment with ongoing programs in over 25 countries. CICan’s members add over $190B to Canada’s economy each year and contribute to inclusive economic growth by working with industry and community partners to offer more than 10,000 programs to learners in urban, rural, remote, and northern communities.
-30-
For more information:
Julien Abord-Babin
Senior Strategic Communications Officer
Colleges and Institutes Canada
jabord-babin@collegesinstitutes.ca
Tel. : 613-746-2222 ext. 3131
Twitter : @CollegeCan