Council of Canadian Academies Workshop Trieste, Italy

In partnership with the InterAcademy Panel, the Council of Canadian Academies furthered its dedication to international collaboration, bringing together participants from around the world for a workshop on Best Practices in Advisory Roles and Fellowship Appointments. The workshop was held at the offices of the IAP Secretariat in Trieste, Italy on 12-13 February 2009, and was attended by 60 participants from 43 countries representing five continents. 

This event was inspired by a collective desire to provide a forum for academies to discuss, share successes and challenges, and look for opportunities for mutually beneficial international collaborations on issues such as engaging decision makers through advisory processes, performing science-based assessments, the fellowship appointment process and outreach to society.

This first workshop was a success. A number of exciting initiatives were shared, ranging from the creation of a Young Academy (The Netherlands), to science education programmes for school children (Chile and Australia), to MP-scientist pairing schemes with the UK and European Parliaments, and to Bacon and Eggheads presentations in the Parliament of Canada. The workshop and associated informal networking opportunities provided many opportunities for joint working and more-focused topics for future international discussions.