Actual question for academics - what do you think the role of government scientists is? I get asked to do a lot of things by academics and I am interested to hear what people think we do, have a mandate for, and need to focus on.

Things I do as a government scientist 1/n:
- study systems or species that the government has jurisdiction over (e.g. mig birds in Canada for fed gov't)
- study contaminants/pollutants that the gov't has resonsibility on reporting on (e.g. Hg levels via Minamata Convention)

Things I do as a gov't scientist 2/n:
- provide science advice toward policy development (e.g. what types of plastics affect wildlife)
- support research on gov't lands (e.g. in my case protected areas)
- support briefing docs for officials (e.g. make sure briefings are accurate)

Things I do as a gov't scientist 3/n:
- sit on domestic committees to ensure shared priorities are coordinated (e.g. wildlife health with Prov/Terr partners)
- sit on international committees to ensure Canadian science is considered (e.g. Arctic Council work on plastic pollution

Things I do as a gov't scientist 4/n:
- help academic partners shape their science question given the 'needs' of the day
- provide science info to decision-makers, either via direct briefings, or indirect communication products
- support/supervise students to work on projects

Things I do as a gov't scientist 5/n:
- reports on funding
- reports on findings
- plain language reports
- summaries for decision-makers
- technical reports
- mid-year reports
- community reports
- translation of reports into French/English and Indigenous langauges w\\ partners

Things I do as a gov't scientist 6/n:
- sit on science panels that discuss input into policy (e.g. CSAS via DFO)
- facilitate the use of archived samples by partners (e.g. tissues from the National Specimen Bank)
- data management, including moving towards #OpenData with partners

Things I do as a gov't scientist 7/n:
- give presentations on the work I do at the science-policy interface to
- student groups (student run seminars)
- other gov't orgs (e.g. NOAA)
- academic departments (e.g. seminar series)
- interdepartmental groups (e.g. AMAP)

Things I do as a gov't scientist 8/n:
- guest lecture for academic colleagues
- review
- peer-reviewed manuscripts
- national and int'l grant applications
- external review of theses
- animal care apps
- nat'l assessments and reports to ensure inclusion of data

Things I do as a gov't scientist 9/n:
- co-chair working groups with Indigenous partners that aim at weaving knowledge systems
- faciliate work that aims to implement reconciliation objectives and TRC calls to action
- build capacity within my group to co-develop research aims

Things I do as a gov't scientist 10/n:
- develop research activities in response to requests and the needs of communities (e.g. CWD with FN to facilaite community-led sampling to fill gaps, oil-related contaminants in birds in relation to Strategic Environmental Assessments)