About Meg Barker
With a public policy background at science-based departments and agencies, Ms. Meg Barker’s expertise is in problem identification and scoping, landscape scanning, stakeholder consultation, strategic planning, fund design and evaluation and performance measurement. She works with teams to build capacity in science, technology and innovation (STI) in low- and high-income countries, taking into consideration contemporary transformation processes such as climate change, global trade, the digital revolution and threats to peace.
Meg has developed concept, consultant and White papers, professional training workshops, Communities of practice and network initiatives at international, national and regional levels. Meg’s writing, brokerage and facilitation skills in STI areas relate to her background. She is a hybrid political economist and STI administrator, with former scientific training in cell biology and biochemistry on the one hand, and, on the other, a policy analyst and developer with training in economics, political science and public and foreign policy. Long-time sector interests include energy and climate change, and aspects in the life sciences. Meg has notable experience leading or participating in multi-stakeholder, multidisciplinary and multi-sectoral initiatives in STI areas including health threats. For example Meg played a significant role in bilateral Canada-EU and Canada-Brazil STI initiatives over 2001 to 2009, and her company was instrumental in helping the International Development Research Centre (IDRC) launch a global network for the sustainable development of medicinal plants.
Within Canada or with Canadian sources of funding Meg has worked with a range of federal government STI funders and policy organizations over her career (eg. the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council [NSERC], Industry Canada [now Innovation, Science and Economic Development – ISED], Canada Foundation for Innovation [CFI], Canadian Foundation for Climate and Atmospheric Sciences [CFCAS – wound up], Canadian International Development Agency [CIDA – wound up], International Development Research Centre [IDRC], Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade [DFAIT – now called Global Affairs Canada – GAC]
More recently, in Western Canada, Meg has provided proposal-writing services and advice on non-dilutive public funding to Foresight, Carbon Management Canada, University of British Colombia (Okanagan) and Okanagan College. A more detailed list of recent projects is available here on the OLi-works website.
Outside Canada, Meg has provided services to the University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), an APEC working group (Thailand), Government of Bolivia, University of Sao Paulo (Brazil) and the African Development Bank. She has worked in the following countries: Canada, Sweden, France, Tanzania, Brazil, Bolivia, Argentina, Thailand and India.
Meg has language proficiency in English (native), French (advanced), Spanish (intermediate) and Swedish (intermediate). Creative writing and support of women in the arts and sciences is a significant extra-curricular passion for Meg. A sample of her relevant, professional, peer-reviewed published work is here. This website is managed by Meg, and all of the written content for the pages and blog posts have been prepared by her.
