Dear colleagues, partners and collaborators,

The past few weeks have been challenging for many of you both personally and professionally. Your organizations, both public and private, continue to face an unprecedented situation.

Whether in terms of the current management of the COVID-19 crisis, solutions for exiting the crisis or recommendations to promote recovery, the CIRANO community has mobilized to help governments and our partners in their decision-making.

A special COVID-19 committee of experts was set up to respond to the requests received and to suggest recommendations on six major projects: (1) Health, (2) Education, (3) Labour, (4) Economy, (5) Public Finance and (6) Role of the State. In such a context, expert advice is crucial and our research teams are working hard to help make informed decisions.

In order to help me coordinate and direct the work of the committee of experts and to liaise with governments and partners, a coordinating committee was formed consisting of Roxane Borgès Da Silva, Main Researcher of the theme health, Jean-Denis Garon, Main Researcher of the theme economic and fiscal policy, and Claude Montmarquette, CIRANO Fellow in Public Policy.

The mobilization of our researchers and fellows is reflected in the number of CIRANO publications related to COVID-19. In addition, we have launched the new Perspectives/Insights series of short articles to allow our researchers to convey informed opinions on various issues. CIRANO researchers are also very present in the media.

You can follow all the contributions on our website dedicated to COVID-19 which is updated regularly. Do not hesitate to contact us for any questions related to our activities.

In closing, I would like to thank all my colleagues and all our partners who are committed to CIRANO's mission.

In these times of crisis, "Knowledge Into Action" takes on even more meaning.

Good luck to you all.

Nathalie de Marcellis-Warin
President and CEO of CIRANO