William Leiss, O.C., Ph.D., FRSC
University of Ottawa
1 Stewart Street, Room 311
Ottawa, ON  K1N 6N5  Canada
Tel:  613-562-5800 (2116)
Cellular:  613-297-4300
Fax 613-562-5380
http://www.leiss.ca

William Leiss is a Fellow and Past-President (1999-2001) of the Royal Society of Canada and an Officer in the Order of Canada.  From 1999 to 2004 he held the NSERC/SSHRC Research Chair in Risk Communication and Public Policy in the Haskayne School of Business, University of Calgary. This five-year chair program, with total funding of $1.25 million, was part of the MOTC (Management of Technological Change) strategic grants program; a consortium of Alberta-based industrial sponsors from the chemicals and petroleum sectors, led by Nexen Inc., provided one-half of the chair funding. From 1994 to 1999 he held the Eco-Research Chair in Environmental Policy at Queen's University, Kingston, Ontario. The five-year Eco-Research Chair program was funded at a total of $1.3 million by the Tri-Council Secretariat (using funds from Environment Canada) and Imperial Oil Ltd. His earlier academic positions were in political science (Regina, York), sociology (Toronto), environmental studies (York), and communication (Simon Fraser).  At Simon Fraser he was also Vice President, Research.

He was the founding Chair of the Committee on Expert Panels of the Royal Society of Canada, established in November 1995. This Committee is charged with developing in Canada a consistent and credible procedure for the conduct of expert panel processes, which are used to provide definitive judgments on the state of scientific knowledge relative to issues in the management of health and environmental risks.  He is author, collaborator or editor of fifteen books and numerous articles and reports, and for the past twenty years he has been a frequent consultant to government agencies and the private sector on risk management issues.