What is SKEP?

Other Initiatives

Science for Environmental Policy

DG Environment publish a weekly electronic newsletter called Science for Environmental Policy. The target audience is policy makers as well as the wider public. This service provides scientific information in the field of the main themes of the Environmental Action Programme and relevant to DG Environment policy priorities in support of the knowledge based approach. If you are interested in recieving the newsletter, register online.

logo_smpScience Meets Policy

Since 1998, a series of Science meets Policy meetings and Bridging the Gap conferences have sought to address the relationship between science and policy in the environmental domain in Europe. These meetings have been driven by the concern that the relationship between science and policy has not always been as effective as it should.

image_BTGBridging the Gap

Bridging the Gap - from words to deeds. This conference in Slovenia from 14-16 May was the fourth in a series of conferences over the last ten years to join forces of policy makers, researchers, experts to innovatively solve environmental problems. It was organised and hosted by the Republic of Slovenia in collaboration with European institutions (the EEA, DG Research, DG Environment and the Joint Research Centre) as well as the Environment Agency of England & Wales and Irish EPA. It took place in the seaside complex of Portoroz in the west of Slovenia.

Through a series of expert speeches and discussion sessions the headline issues tackled at the conference were the need for urgent action, economic decision making  and communication between scientists, policy-makers, politicians and civil society. These were explored through five specific themes on Information gathering and sharing, Energy and the environment, Sustainable consumption and production, Adaptation to climate change  and Biodiversity and ecosystem services.

The SKEP network was well-represented at the event through attendees and in:

  • hosting, sponsorship and facilitation of two café discussion session on what moves us to action and research foresight
  • a key note speech on the dissemination and implementation of environmental research based on the results of work package 4 given by SwEPA’s contractor, John Holmes
  • 4 posters and 2 extended abstracts on our work on sharing and analysing our research portfolios (WP2 and extended abstract), evaluating trans-national research programmes (WP3 and extended abstract), trans-national collaborative research calls (WP5) and the environmental opportunities and risks of converging technologies (WP6)

The presentations and results of the discussion sessions will eventually be made available through the Bridging the Gap website and we look forward to hearing how these findings will be taken forward by the various European institutions.

 

logo_erffERFF

The Environmental Research Funders Forum (ERFF) is a focus group bringing together the United Kingdom's major public sector sponsors of environmental science.

 

 

image_taucTAUC

This new initative has been funded by the US National Science Foundation (NSF) and the US Environmental Protection Agency (USEPA) and will focus on addressing uncertainty at the science-policy interface.