Three events that might be of interest - apologies for cross-posting

 

 

1. The Stern Review Report, IPCC AR4 and the Way Forward: social scientific perspectives

 

Launching the UK National Committee for Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change

Friday 16th November 2007

10:30-16:30, Education Centre,
Royal Geographical Society (with Institute of British Geographers), 1 Kensington Gore, LONDON SW7 2AR

This one-day conference marks the public launch of the newly-formed UK National Committee on the Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change (UK HDGEC). It will assess the two recent landmark reports on climate change and its implications, with particular reference to the role and contribution of social science research.

 

The UK has played an active role in placing global environmental change (GEC) high on international research and policy agendas.  Today’s questions about global environmental change demand co-operation and collaboration across a diverse array of disciplines, methodologies and approaches. The establishment of the UK HDGEC marks a significant step forwards in equipping the social science research community to tackle these questions, assuring research leadership in a fast-developing and dynamic field, and in efforts to influence policy and practice. 

 

This new committee is affiliated with the Royal Society’s Global Environmental Research Committee, and with the International Human Dimensions Programme on GEC (IHDP), headquartered in Bonn, Germany. Over sixty other countries have similar national committees to channel a wide range of research expertise to be directed into national and international programmes, strategic planning and policy debates.

 

The day’s activities will showcase the diversity of human dimensions research within the priority themes of the IHDP, Tyndall Centre and Climate Change Research Group of the RGS/IBG: international innovation, the science-policy interface, and capacity building.

 

Keynote presentations by leading figures in research, policy and practice communities (including Bob Costanza, Gund Professor of Ecological Economics at the University of Vermont; Diana Liverman, Director of the Environmental Change Institute, University of Oxford; a senior government representative, and Marcus Oxley, Director, Disaster Management at the Tearfund and Chair of the Global Network of NGOs for Disaster Reduction) will set the scene for a series of short overview briefings by members of the UK HD research community explaining:

• what research is being done,
• how people can access information about ongoing research and engage with processes about planned directions,
• what will happen next – reflecting on research and networking developments

 

Thanks to generous sponsorship by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), there is no conference fee. However, places are limited and registration is required.

 

Registration: Please register a.s.a.p. by emailing [log in to unmask], giving your full title, name, postal and email addresses and phone number, as well as a brief description of your interest and/or research in relation to human dimensions of GEC.