Category Archives: Op-eds

Back to my almost asbestos-free alma mater

Posted on March 21, 2012 by

I had walked this route so many times over the years, first as a graduate student, then as a frequent visiting researcher. The little bookstore is still there, but I had to resist the urge to buy “Libération”, a daily … Continue reading →

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With the women of the “Laplacian”, who needs diversity tsars?

Posted on March 18, 2012 by

“Wherever my travels may lead, paradise is where I am.” ~Voltaire In case you have been wondering why I haven’t been blogging lately, I am presently in Rome having too much fun working, lecturing, and enjoying life with my friends … Continue reading →

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Are Canada’s best researchers failing the country’s innovation agenda?

Posted on March 4, 2012 by

Or is it that the system and current programs are failing to capture their talent and their expertise? Needless to say, both questions assume that “Innovation” is not really having a good ride in Canada, at least compared to other … Continue reading →

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With Google’s new privacy policy, who needs Bill C-30?

Posted on February 29, 2012 by

You cannot say that you haven’t been warned. ”We’re changing our privacy policy and terms. This stuff matters.” This is a message that you have been seeing lately on the Google search engine. You have been given a full month notice … Continue reading →

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Elsevier’s first concessions to its “enablers”

Posted on February 24, 2012 by

In October 2001, more than 30,000 scientists signed an open letter in which they pledged to exclusively publish in, review for and serve as editors of journals that placed their contents in the –then newly launched– PubMed Central with no more … Continue reading →

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A politician, a senior bureaucrat, and a blog

Posted on February 20, 2012 by

Bonjour Dr. Ghoussoub. I very much enjoy your blog… as a science policy junkie I find it a useful antidote to the meanderings of the so-called science and innovation policies in Ottawa and elsewhere … perhaps you already saw this … Continue reading →

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Was NSERC there?

Posted on February 18, 2012 by

“Was NSERC listening?” That was a reaction from the Twitter world to yesterday’s plenary address by Mike Lazaridis to the Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). Indeed, Lazaridis rocked the casbah yesterday with his speech on the “Power of … Continue reading →

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When University Presidents send out “few public bouquets” to Government

Posted on February 15, 2012 by

“Even on the most exalted throne in the world we are only sitting on our own bottom”– Michel de Montaigne. “Sometimes Canada Gets it Right” is a recent joint op-ed by U. of Toronto President, David Naylor and UBC President, Stephen Toope. … Continue reading →

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Leshner and Toope didn’t get all of it right!

Posted on February 13, 2012 by

On the occasion of an upcoming meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in Vancouver, Stephen Toope, the President of UBC and Alan Leshner, CEO of the AAAS, co-wrote an op-ed for the Vancouver Sun entitled, “Innovation, international collaboration … Continue reading →

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Reed Elsevier stock price is dropping but …

Posted on February 9, 2012 by

“Noise around the boycott against Elsevier offers short term trading opportunity”. That’s from the investment firm Exane Paribas, which “fully expects the price to rebound once this boycott fails like all the previous ones”.  Indeed, even though more than 4900 … Continue reading →

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They also owned the podium for Canada

Posted on February 5, 2012 by

… away from your cameras and without your millions. “We were very grateful to have our summer training for the Canadian International Math Olympiad (IMO) team at the Banff International Research Station (BIRS) again this year. As in previous years, the … Continue reading →

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“The council should be restructured with an unfaltering focus on scientific excellence, or be replaced”

Posted on January 31, 2012 by

… And the government should then appoint Mike Lazaridis to lead it, I may add. But first he has to be appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire! You guessed it. This is not the kind of talk that … Continue reading →

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A close encounter of the classy kind with Preston Manning

Posted on January 28, 2012 by

The place: The Doug Mitchell Hockey arena at UBC. The occasion: The University of Alberta Bears vs. the UBC Thunderbirds. Why? It’s great hockey and for a fraction of the price of Canucks tickets. The instigators: Ed and Karen Perkins, my friends … Continue reading →

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It may be crunch time for the Presidents of Canada’s Research Councils

Posted on January 27, 2012 by

The government will continue to make “key investments in science and technology” that are necessary to sustain a “modern competitive economy,” said Prime Minister Stephen Harper in Davos today. He then added, “but we believe that Canada’s less-than-optimal results for those investments is … Continue reading →

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Timothy Gowers: A leader for our times

Posted on January 26, 2012 by

Timothy Gowers is much more than an outstanding mathematician. A Fields medalist, Tim is a global thinker, an eloquent and prolific writer, a pioneer among scholars, and a leader. “Un grand homme”, the French would say. Tim is an innovator in scholarship and also … Continue reading →

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The Business Development Bank gets into the “NSERC Act”

Posted on January 25, 2012 by

“First, I want to reassure you that we did not take this decision lightly.  This is a decision that is made by NSERC staff, independent of the peer review process.  Every year we reject applications based on mandate ineligibility.  This … Continue reading →

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You have been awarded a research grant of $1.4 billion

Posted on January 17, 2012 by

“How come I haven’t been reimbursed yet?”, I wrote to the organiser. More than three months have already passed since that glorious conference in Nice. Long enough to feel the pinch on the purse, but not enough to forget this luscious … Continue reading →

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New perspectives on functional inequalities

Posted on January 9, 2012 by

No, this blogpost has nothing to do with social stratification and class struggle nor does it address gender or racial inequalities. It is about Mathematics. The occasion? I have finally finished a book, which has been 3 years in the … Continue reading →

Posted in Op-eds | 6 Comments

A weekend of obituaries

Posted on December 22, 2011 by

In an ironic twist of fate, Christopher Hitchens, Vaclav Havel and the “official version” of the Iraq war ended on the same weekend. A most intense propagandistic time, which must have been a field day for students of journalism everywhere. … Continue reading →

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Unethical science or just another gold rush?

Posted on December 11, 2011 by

When did my chain-smoking leftist Italian friend move to Saudi Arabia? I wondered. I had just received his recent preprint, in which he cites King Saud University  (KSU) as his affiliation.  The answer to my query was even more colorful than … Continue reading →

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