{"id":77796,"date":"2021-06-28T14:16:01","date_gmt":"2021-06-28T18:16:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsroom.carleton.ca\/?post_type=cu_story&p=77796"},"modified":"2025-10-17T10:41:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-17T14:41:07","slug":"making-public-policy-research-relevant","status":"publish","type":"cu_story","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/story\/making-public-policy-research-relevant\/","title":{"rendered":"Making Public Policy Research More Relevant in an Uncertain Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Making Public Policy Research More Relevant in an Uncertain Time\n <\/h1>\n \n <\/header>\n <\/div>\n\n \n <\/path>\n <\/path>\n <\/svg>\n <\/div>\n\n \n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n

A few weeks ago, after mulling it over for a while, the Institute for Research on Public Policy<\/a> (IRPP) joined Instagram<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The respected think tank, which produces research that informs debate about policy issues in Canada, knows that millennials constitute a significant part of its audience. It needs to go where they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A TikTok account could be next.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It may seem incongruous for a 49-year-old non-profit that shares rigorous peer-reviewed research with government, academia, media and the general public\u2014non-partisan, evidence-based information in an era when this is an increasingly elusive commodity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jennifer
Jennifer Ditchburn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s anything but for Jennifer Ditchburn, a Carleton University graduate and veteran journalist who became the IRPP\u2019s president and CEO on June 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ditchburn, who worked as a national political reporter for The Canadian Press and CBC, earned a mid-career master\u2019s degree in journalism<\/a> and spent the past five years as editor-in-chief of the IRPP\u2019s influential digital magazine, Policy Options<\/em><\/a>, believes that knowledge must do more than sit on a shelf or bounce around an echo chamber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the IRPP to achieve its goal\u2014to be useful to policy-makers who are addressing the most pressing issues in the country\u2014it needs to engage with the real world.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cNo government is equipped with 100 per cent of the information it needs,\u201d says Ditchburn, who is also an adjunct journalism professor at Carleton and a fellow in the university\u2019s Clayton H. Riddell Graduate Program in Political Management<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cWe tackle complex policy issues in an accessible way. And as the last 15 months have shown, it\u2019s so difficult to predict what will happen that even \u2018legacy\u2019 organizations such as the IRPP, at a time of eroding trust in traditional voices of authority, have to be nimble and agile and ready to face whatever comes at us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Jennifer<\/figure>\n\n\n

Amplifying Voices<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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Although some of Ditchburn\u2019s responsibilities will be similar to her purview at Policy Options<\/em>, such as building relationships and partnerships with scholars and other stakeholders, she is now operating on a bigger, more strategic scale.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m excited\u2014my whole life, I\u2019ve run headlong into change,\u201d says Ditchburn, who became a national television reporter for CBC in 2001 with only print journalism experience on her CV.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cI\u2019ve always loved learning new things. That, and curiosity, are part of your DNA as a journalist.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

There\u2019s another major commonality between her work at the IRPP and as a reporter. \u201cAt the institute, I\u2019m also reaching out to people and helping to amplify their voices so they have an impact,\u201d she says. \u201cBoth are very connecting jobs.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Jennifer
Jennifer Ditchburn and Peter Mansbridge<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Part of Ditchburn\u2019s mandate will involve continuing the institute\u2019s efforts to become more diverse. It needs to reflect the society that it represents, and that can only be accomplished by expanding its networks and ensuring that equity-seeking groups\u2014including Indigenous Peoples and racialized Canadians\u2014have seats at the table where decisions are made.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis goes beyond diversity,\u201d she says, noting that think tanks, alongside academia, government and the media, are striving towards greater inclusivity.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s about who chooses what we focus on, in addition to who does the research and who writes the reports.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

IRPP research programs explore a wide range of areas, including Canada\u2019s aging population, income inequality and the country\u2019s social safety net\u2014all subjects that have become particularly important during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe don\u2019t know what the world is going to look like after the pandemic,\u201d says Ditchburn, \u201cso we\u2019re looking into things that policy makers need to know more about.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

\"Jennifer<\/figure>\n\n\n

Adaptable Skills<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

After 16 years at CBC and The Canadian Press, Ditchburn wasn\u2019t sure whether she wanted to be a daily political reporter forever. In 2011, she embarked on a master\u2019s part time and got her degree in 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The
The Harper Factor: Assessing a Prime Minister’s Policy Legacy<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Going back to school led directly to where she is today. She did an academic thesis, researching how journalists responded to government news management techniques, and embarked on a pair of book projects, including co-editing The Harper Factor: Assessing a Prime Minister’s Policy Legacy<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n

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\u201cThe work that I did at Carleton gave me important training in academic rigour,\u201d says Ditchburn.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

\u201cIt gave me a foundation of knowledge that I didn\u2019t have previously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJournalism education and experience are a fantastic base for so many different careers,\u201d she continues. \u201cThe skills are so adaptable: the ability to rapidly synthesize information, to write clearly and quickly with an emphasis on fact, to not be shy about meeting new people, to not be embarrassed about asking questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cJournalists also need a healthy skepticism about conventional wisdom. There\u2019s a questioning that is useful: \u2018Why do we do things this way? Is there more to this?\u2019 Having that kind of spirit is fundamental to so many different spheres, because nothing is static.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\nFirst wide image: Jennifer Ditchburn with Justin Trudeau and London (UK) mayor Sadiq Khan, for an talk she moderated at the Progress Summit in September 2016 in Montreal. (Photo by Paul Chiasson)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second wide image: Jennifer Ditchburn moderates a Policy Options event on Crown-Indigenous relations in April 2019. From left to right: Jennifer Ditchburn, Heiltsuk Tribal Council Chief Marilyn Slett, York University\u2019s Brock Pitawanakwat, and Hayden King of Ryerson and the Yellowhead Institute.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

—
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A few weeks ago, after mulling it over for a while, the Institute for Research on Public Policy (IRPP) joined Instagram. The respected think tank, which produces research that informs debate about policy issues in Canada, knows that millennials constitute a significant part of its audience. It needs to go where they are. A TikTok […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":410,"featured_media":77799,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_story_type":[13],"cu_story_tag":[1921,1925],"class_list":["post-77796","cu_story","type-cu_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_story_type-research-discovery","cu_story_tag-faculty-of-public-and-global-affairs","cu_story_tag-research"],"acf":{"cu_post_thumbnail":"blueprint"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/77796","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/410"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/77796\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":98379,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story\/77796\/revisions\/98379"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/77799"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=77796"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_story_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_type?post=77796"},{"taxonomy":"cu_story_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_story_tag?post=77796"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}