Dear colleagues and fellows of the Academy of Science,
It is a pleasure to write this update report on the past 2023-2024 year of the Academy of Science of the RSC.
I assumed the role of President of the Academy of Science following the 2022 Celebration of Excellence and Engagement in Calgary. My background as a cancer researcher has provided a helpful basis for key initiatives of our Academy’s work in recognizing excellence, to which I will return to later in this update. Throughout my term, I have worked to strengthen the Academy's support for our members and acknowledging scholars whose contributions have significantly advanced science and engineering for the benefit of all Canadians.
My focus remains on advancing our core mission of recognizing excellence. This involves ongoing collaboration with our members, division directors, and partners. By actively contributing to RSC initiatives such as research briefings, we collectively foster a culture of societal impact based on evidence and expertise.
Under the leadership of President Alain Gagnon, we continue to be guided by the three priorities of our 2023-2025 strategic plan, Next Steps, Together: independent expertise, international engagement, and inclusive excellence.
During the pandemic, the RSC, under the leadership of former president Jeremy McNeil, emerged as a crucial voice in the response to and recovery from Covid-19. Leveraging the success of the Covid-19 Task Force, we have launched a new initiative, the Task Force on One Health. This task force will produce policy briefings and reports, and lead events under the guiding principle of One Health.
Our endeavors over the past years have consistently underscored our dedication to enhancing global scientific collaboration and tackling urgent issues.
In 2023, I represented the RSC at the S7 preparatory meeting in Tokyo, where discussions were held to advise and set agendas for forthcoming scientific talks at the G7 Summit (view the recently released statements here). The RSC will set the 2025 agenda for scientific discussions, as Canada will assume the G7 presidency for 2025.
Early this year, in 2024, we had the opportunity to meet and collaborate with the Royal Society of London at “Frontiers of Science”, an event hosted by the RSC and focused on the future of AI.
We continue to organize and facilitate key RSC initiatives such as "Science en Français" and the RSC Dialogues at Massey College. Additionally, our Academy supports the process leading to the annual recipient of the "A.G. Huntsman Medal for Excellence in Marine Sciences.”
This year marked a significant change in the structure of our academy. We introduced two new divisions, Biological Sciences and Medical Sciences, splitting them from the previous single division of Biomedical Sciences. This split allowed the Academy of Science to elect two more Fellows and brought in new reviewers for Fellow nominations. We now have broader coverage across various scientific specialities within these divisions. Over the past year, the council of the Academy of Science has refined guidelines for selecting international fellows and ensuring diverse representation of sub-topics within divisions to include expertise from across the country. We also addressed turnover concerns and strategized for proper rotation of committee members and reviewers. Finally, we explored the option of incorporating experts in specific sub-topics into the Awards and Prizes of the Academy of Science when divisions directors are not familiar with certain scientific fields.
The annual Celebration of Excellence and Engagement provides a platform to honour the exceptional work of leading scholars, including scientists and engineers, from across Canada. It was a privilege to contribute to the selection process of our new Fellows, College Members, and Awardees for 2023, whose accomplishments we celebrated at COEE2023, hosted by the University of Waterloo. I eagerly anticipate supporting the selection process for this year’s cohort and hope to celebrate these individuals with you all at COEE2024 in Vancouver, BC, presented by Simon Fraser University.
I am grateful to the contributions of our divisions‘ directors: Professors Cathleen Crudden, Federico Rosei, Keiko Hatorri, Marla Sokolowski and Wee Yong. To our new secretary Prof. Troy Day, and to Christopher Dragan at the RSC for helping the Academy of Science all through this past year.
In my role as President of the Academy of Science, I remain committed to fostering collaboration, advancing scientific knowledge, and upholding the integrity of the Canadian scientific community. It is a pleasure to continue this journey with you, and all our colleagues from the Academy of Science and the RSC.
Regards,
Michel L. Tremblay, FRSC
President, RSC Academy of Science
FACETS is the official journal of the Royal Society of Canada’s Academy of Science and is published by Canadian Science Publishing, Canada’s not for profit leader in mobilizing science.
FACETS is a multidisciplinary open access science journal that publishes and shares rigorously peer reviewed research from education and policy frameworks to interdisciplinary approaches.
Canadian Science Publishing, publisher of FACETS, is excited to share guidelines to help researchers report community-engaged research in manuscripts. Researchers can use these guidelines to help demonstrate how the community was involved throughout the research process and how the study benefits the community. View the new guidelines.