Janet Atkinson-Grosjean

Changes in academy/industry/state relations in Canada : The creation and development of the networks of centres of excellence

The Networks of Centres of Excellence programme is perhaps Canadas most dramatic science policy innovation since theFirst World War. This article traces its development, using documentary analysis and interviews with the policy actors responsible for conceiving and implementing the programme.Established in 1989, the networks were explicitly designed to change the norms of science. The intention was to instil an approach to long-term fundamental research that considered possibilities of use from the start. Of equal importance was the idea that management was essential to produce knowledgein a network structure.

Clinician-scientists in Canada: barriers to career entry and progress.

Background Clinician-scientists play an important role in translating between research and clinical practice. Significant concerns about a decline in their numbers have been raised. Potential barriers for career entry and progress are explored in this study. Methods Case-study research methods were used to identify barriers perceived by clinician-scientists and their research teams in two Canadian laboratories. These perceptions were then compared against statistical analysis of data from Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) databases on grant and award performance of clinician-scientists and non-clinical PhDs for fiscal years 2000 to 2008. Results Three main barriers were identified through qualitative analysis: research training, research salaries, and research grants. We then looked for evidence of these barriers in the Canada-wide statistical dataset for our study period. Clinician-scientists had a small but statistically significant higher mean number of degrees (3.3) than non-clinical scientists (3.2), potentially confirming the perception of longer training times. But evidence of the other two barriers was equivocal. For example, while overall growth in salary awards was minimal, awards to clinician-scientists increased by 45% compared to 6.3% for non-clinical PhDs. Similarly, in terms of research funding, awards to clinician-scientists increased by more than 25% compared with 5% for non-clinical PhDs. However, clinician-scientist-led grants funded under CIHRs Clinical thematic area decreased significantly from 61% to 51% (p-value<0.001) suggesting that clinician-scientists may be shifting their attention to other research domains. Conclusion While clinician-scientists continue to perceive barriers to career entry and progress, quantitative results suggest improvements over the last decade. Clinician-scientists are awarded an increasing proportion of CIHR research grants and salary awards. Given the translational importance of this group, however, it may be prudent to adopt specific policy and funding incentives to ensure the ongoing viability of the career path.

Socio-Cultural characteristics of usability of bioinformatics databases and tools

Abstract With the increasing importance of the usability of bioinformatics systems and databases, this paper examines the socio-cultural characteristics that may affect the usability of such tools. We understand socio-cultural characteristics to be the norms, values, and beliefs that mediate the interactions between the structures and institutions of science (i.e. disciplines, universities, funding organizations), and its practitioners. These factors are not necessarily distinct from the technical features of a database, but do nevertheless affect the context in which one chooses to use a particular set of tools. We have developed three socio-cultural characteristics of bioinformatics database usability: accessibility, utility, and portability. By ‘accessibility’, we mean the social and cultural attributes that make resources open and available for use, such as intellectual property arrangements or institutional reputation and prestige. ‘Utility’ in this context means the perceived usefulness of a database, which can be determined by non-technical matters such as trust and taste. ‘Portability’ refers to the social aspects of criteria such as maintenance funding, and input and storing standards that allow a database to move through space and time. In this article, we call for a social science research programme on these — and other — socio-cultural characteristics to usability. We invite researchers in human–computer interaction, bioinformatics, usability engineering and other areas to extend their work to examine the social contexts in which these systems are used, and the sociocultural factors that mediate their use. Such a research programme would increase the multidisciplinary nature of these emergent fields, and help address the complexities of work in the post-genomic era.

The Roles of User/Producer Hybrids in the Production of Translational Science

This paper explores the interface between users and producers of translational science (TS) through three case studies. It argues that effective TS requires a breakdown between user and producer roles: users become producers and producers become users. In making this claim, we challenge conventional understandings of TS as well as linear models of innovation. Policy-makers and funders increasingly expect TS and its associated socioeconomic benefits to occur when funding scientific research. We argue that a better understanding of the hybridity between users and producers in TS is essential to encouraging effective TS activities. In arguing for broader understandings of the hybrid roles of user/producers in TS we rely on empirical observations made during our four-year (2006–2009) study of three translational pathways here labeled clinical, commercial, and civic. These pathways were identified in a large-scale network of scientists investigating the pathogenomics of innate immunity (i.e. “the PI.2 network”). Through our examination of “user-firms” in the commercial TS case study, of patients and clinician-scientists as users in the clinical TS case study, and of bioinformaticians as user/producers in the civic TS case study, we suggest that the iterative and dialectical nature of TS blurs the lines between users and producers, rendering such distinctions arbitrary and sometimes misleading. We suggest that such a blurred boundary may be a constitutive, if underappreciated, component of TS. Acknowledging the important role of user/producers may be a crucial step in overcoming translational challenges currently facing the biomedical domain, and in appreciating broader transformations in science.

Consciousness, complexity, and self in postmodern times

The purpose of this paper is twofold. One is rejecting and deconstructive—functionalism, philosophy of mind, and the modern mindset are presented as interrelated, inadequate explanations of human consciousness and personal identity. The other is accepting and reconstructive—complexity theory and postmodernism are offered as more useful descriptions of “what is really going on.” Modernism and functionalism belong to an age of increasingly narrow specialization. Indeed, philosophical and scientific discourse has become so specialized that even within different subspecialties of the same field, experts have difficulty understanding each other. In contrast, complexity theory, and the new field of consciousness studies, take a holistic, interdisciplinary approach, while postmodernism welcomes a plurality of voices.