Sample Research Questions

Sample Research Questions

For Ottawa Research Conference, you can submit your proposal on any areas (subjects) of your interest; there is no limitation whatsoever. However just as a reference, below we provide some broad subjects that you can submit your proposal on. But please note that it is just a suggestive, not an exhaustive, list of what can be presented at the conference.

We will provide the research topics in Five Buckets (of course this is not exhaustive either), and research questions under each Bucket (which are just indicative, not exhaustive again). The Buckets are:

  1. Canada
  2. Nepal
  3. Technology
  4. Climate Change and
  5. Finance.

You can see the extensive list of what were presented in the last seminar here.

About Canada

Any economic, social, political, technical, technological, cultural, demographical, immigration, scientific and data related issues that Canada is facing. Such as:

  • Is Canada lagging behind the US in economic performance, if so why? What is role of mega companies in accounting for economic growth differences between two countries?
  • Why are Canadian firms less productive than the US counterparts?
  • Why Canadian companies are not conducting research and development as much as their US counterparts?
  • How does Canada compare with the US in terms of social safety net and other social policies?
  • Is Canada’s immigration policy somewhat contributing to the US to acquire talents?
  • Why are Canadian firms less productive than the US counterparts?
  • Is US higher pharma price compensating for Canada and the other countries in acquiring new drugs?
  • Is Canada political system of multiparty democracy a factor in defining Canada-US output gaps?
  • Is Canada source of immigration changing by geography or skill content over time?
  • What is the wage gap between STEM workers between Canada and the US, and what explain the differences?
  • Why the Canadian dollar does not seem to be a guided by the commodity prices as was considered to be the case a few years ago? What broke or what is added in this determinism?
  • Can Canada achieve its set carbon reduction action plan? What will be its economic cost? What will happen to its industrial structure in post period?
  • How is Canada’s rural economy compared to other developed countries? Is living standard diverging between urban and rural Canada over time? How effective are Canadian regional policies in making rural Canada an innovative space?
  • Is Canadian public schooling system a defining factor for the innovation gap in Canada, compared to the US?
  • In there any fundamental structural difference in the way journalism and free press contribute to safeguard democracy between Canada and Nepal?
  • Is Canada missing the boat in biotechnology, as it is lagging in information and communication technology? And why?
  • What is the role of management skills /education in Canada and the US in defining economic outcome gaps between two countries?
  • What lesson Can Nepal learn from Canada’s geological policies, especially those that deal with seismic disruptions?

About Nepal

Any economic, social, political, technical, technological, cultural, demographical, immigration, scientific and data related issues that Nepal is facing. Such as:

  • Why Nepal’s economic development is lagging behind that of its neighbors and that of south Asian countries?
  • What is the level of income inequality in Nepal?
  • What are the implications of massive remittances in Nepal?
  • Is Nepal locked in constitutional trap by adopting three impossible mix of (i) parliamentary system (ii) more than two parties and (iii) proportional representation?
  • If the growth of last 20 years is any indication, what will be economic situation of Nepal compared to its neighbors in next 30 years?
  • Why very few people at power and privilege are worried about the economic plight of that country?
  • Are there historical reasons for the economic backwardness of Nepal? What are they? Why are they so deep rooted?
  • Should Nepal follow the same the exchange rate system that it is following in the last 50 years, especially given that India has leapfrogged so much compared to Nepal in terms of productivity growth?
  • Is Nepal’s system of same party representing in all three levels (local, provincial and federal) of election a recipe for failure?
  • Has the proportional representation system fulfilled its cherished goal of increasing representation from the marginalized groups or has it been an entitlement of the elites in that groups?
  • Is there any way, Nepali high-school students continue studying in Nepal? What changes will bring that change in mind?
  • Why once the county which was a beacon of hope and optimism has turned into country of despair and regret?
  • Is there any hope that Nepal can radically improve its hydropower, tourism and software sectors to bring up standard of living in Nepal?
  • How is STEM education compared to its neighbors?
  • Can ever Nepal be ever be able to compete with its neighbors, in skill, trade and ideas?
  • Is Nepal balancing its act on scope (heterogeneity) and scope (homogeneity) in terms of ideas, languages, culture?
  • What would be the best foreign policy for Nepal?

About Technology

Any economic, social, political, technical, technological, cultural, demographical, scientific and data related issues that the world is facing. Such as:

  • What are the potential impacts of Artificial Intelligent in labor market, individual security, national security, education, research, economic growth, income inequality, technological gaps between developed and underdeveloped world?
  • How and what type of regulation should be in place to mitigate the adverse effects of AI?
  • Will AI contribute to more peaceful world or will it make the world a more dangerous place for peace and harmony?
  • Will US continue to have its technological superiority, as it had in the last 100 some years, in the next 50 years from now?
  • What are the potential implications of mRNA vaccination? Because of this revolution, are we close to getting cure for diseases such as cancer, dementia, Parkinson and so on?
  • What are the potential implications in health, sport, restaurant industries due to the new obesity drugs?
  • Will country with bigger dataset have advantage over those that has smaller dataset as AI proliferate? Will countries that have more government control over individual freedom will have more leverage than those that value individual freedom?

About Climate Change

The implications of climate change in agriculture, living standards, manufacturing, health, and world peace:

  • What is the potential impact of climate change in developed and developing world? Which are the countries that are in most risk of adverse impacts of climate change and why?
  • Is the present world governance powerful and equipped enough to address the climate issue that we have?
  • Why there is still substantial disagreements at least on the political side on the magnitude and potential implication, of carbon emission and its potential impact?
  • What should be Nepal’s top priority in addressing climate related issues?

About Finance

How will cryptocurrency change the world in terms of finance, regulations, inflation etc:

  • What are the implications of cryptocurrencies in financial, monetary and equity markets?
  • Should central bank have digital currency?
  • Which countries will be the loser, and which will be the gainers if cryptocurrency take the world financial market?
  • What will happen to environmental degradation if this technology triumph above the traditional money supply?