GE3LS = Genomics and its Ethical, Environmental, Economic, Legal and Social Aspects
GE3LS – The Foundation of Scientific Innovation
The foundation to scientific progress is to evaluate and anticipate the larger impacts of the innovation. This is particularly true in the realm of water quality, where new innovations often face biological, technical, societal and legal barriers. For this reason, it is critical to have a well integrated GE3LS team to contextualize and propel the laboratory science forward. Collectively, the GE3LS teams will develop an anticipatory governance framework for novel water quality tests, understanding the interests of both the knowledge generators and the end-users. Ultimately, this work not only links knowledge generators and end-users upfront but it also also informs policy makers of challenges and considerations related to novel water quality tests. The interaction between the stakeholders, GE3LS team and laboratory team is iterative and dynamic, to ensure innovative success.
The GE3LS Team: Bringing East and West Together
The GE3LS team spans Canada, bringing together expertise in law, governance, communication, stakeholder engagement and policy development. The GE3LS East team, based at McGill University and the Centre for Genomics and Policy, is comprised of Drs. Vural Ozdemir, Yann Joly and Bartha Knoppers. Their work will focus on evaluating the evidence required for adopting a new test into practice, as well as legal and evidence considerations for tests where the pollution source may be identified. They will also interview policy and academic stakeholders to explore their attitudes and perceptions of a metagenomics-based water quality test.
The GE3LS West team comprises of two Vancouver-based research teams: a communications/stakeholder team and a water governance team. The communications and stakeholder team is composed of Dr. Natalie Henrich (Centre for Health Evaluation and Outcomes Science) and Dr. Bev Holmes (Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research). Together, they will interview watershed managers, policy makers and laboratory managers to understand the needs and wants of key stakeholders. This work will identify parameters needed in a new water quality test and suggest key strategies for ensuring uptake of this novel technology.
The water governance team is composed of Dr. Karen Bakker, Dr. Leila Harris and Gemma Dunn, who together work at the Program on Water Governance at the University of British Columbia. Their research focuses on principles of good governance and recommendations for integrating new tests into existing governance frameworks, both legislative and non-legislative. Their work will span multiple areas (risk management and source protection) and multiple levels (local, provincial, federal) of water governance.
