The 2015 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences is by no means limited to association members! The general public is invited to explore ideas at Big Thinking lectures, browse new titles at the Expo tradeshow, discover new research at the Interdisciplinary symposia and network at Career Corner. Read more about Congress programming here. Congress 2015 will run from May 30 to June 5 at the University of Ottawa.

In a press conference on January 16, the Federation was pleased to announce that the 2018 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences will be hosted by the University of Regina, an institution with demonstrated commitment to world-class scholarship and research. Watch a short video of the announcement featuring University of Regina President Vianne Timmons, Minister of Advanced Education Kevin Doherty and Regina Mayor Michael Fougere.

Voting for the Federation's Board elections ends 4:00pm EST on February 12. Results will be made public shortly thereafter. Get more information about voting eligibility, candidates running and open positions in this blog post.

The recent Parliamentary debate and vote on Liberal MP Ted Hsu's private member's Bill C-626 to reinstate the long-form census was an important opportunity to revisit the vital role of the census in building a knowledge based society. In an op-ed to The Globe and Mail, President Antonia Maioni expressed the Federation's disappointment at the bill's defeat at second reading on February 4 and urged Canadians to keep the discussion alive. The census, wrote Maioni, "remains critical for evidence-based, people-centered policy-making."  

The Federation looks forward to hosting Daniel Scott, University Research Chair in Global Change and Tourism, University of Waterloo, and Ronald Stewart, Professor in the Department of Environment and Geography, University of Manitoba in a Bacon & Big Thinking event on Parliament Hill on March 26, organized jointly with the Partnership Group for Science and Engineering (PAGSE). Find more information here.

Mark your calendar for April 29, 2015. The Canada Prizes awards ceremony will be held at the Appel Salon at the Toronto Reference Library. The Canada Prizes are awarded annually to the best scholarly books in the humanities and social sciences that have received funding from the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program (ASPP). We hope to see you there!

Big ideas and policy discussions will be in hot debate in Ottawa through late February and March. Three important policy-related events of relevance to the social sciences and humanities community are Canada 2020's 5 Big Ideas for Canada (February 26), the Manning Networking Conference (March 5 to 7) and the Broadbent Institute's Progress Summit 2015 (March 26 to 28). The Federation will participate at these events as part of its continued engagement with policy issues that affect all Canadians.

Federation Executive Director, Jean-Marc Mangin, and Director of Research Dissemination on the Federation Board, Ray Siemens, shared information about the Federation's new Open Access policy for the ASPP at an INKE (Implementing New Knowledge Ideas) event on Sustaining Partnerships to Transform Scholarly Production in Whistler, BC. Open access for scholarly publications was one of many ideas presented at the event that will contribute to new ways of creating and sharing knowledge in multiple disciplines.