Das Projekt "Organising dissemination on results of projects on chemical evaluation, spreading techniques for risk assessment (ORCHESTRA)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Istituto di Ricerche Farmacologiche Mario Negri durchgeführt. Objective: The project ORCHESTRA has the main aim to disseminate and exploit the European research activities dealing with computer models for the environment. These models have a huge potentiality for dissemination, for their nature, based on information technologies. This area is multidisciplinary, because it deals with environmental science, health, chemistry and information technology. The general impact of information technology is proceeding in an exponential way. Specific use is often limited by a poor knowledge about the availability of suitable tools, cultural scepticism, and lack of training. We will address the strategies for a broad, systematic dissemination and exploitation of the research results of a number of EU projects. Specific dissemination and exploitation measures will be identified for the different stakeholders, including regulators, industry, citizens, international bodies, scientific and other associations. Dissemination towards regulators of all EU member and associated states will be provided. We will also address industry, with special attention to SME, which may gain from the software we are dealing with. We will communicate to citizens, their associations, scientists and other publics with different tools. In the consortium we have representatives of all major stakeholders involved, and a number of partners expert in efficient communication strategies. A sustainable strategy will result from the project. The software products from the different projects will be organised in a web-based system open to the public for continuous access and promotion. Links with other initiatives will exploit results at the regulatory level and in the information technology community, making results living and evolving. The mathematic approach we will disseminate will be also useful to generate simple indicators of regulation impact. ORCHESTRA will promote a repository of software and databases, suitable for updated information on European research on chemicals.
Das Projekt "Integrierte Klimarisikobewertung (ICRA)" wird vom Umweltbundesamt gefördert und von Eidgenössische Anstalt für Wasserversorgung, Abwasserreinigung und Gewässerschutz, Abteilung Humanökologie durchgeführt. In order to tackle such complex environmental problems as climate change, an integration of relevant knowledge from the diverse realms of natural and social science is required. This is the task of integrated assessment (IEA). This project will develop and apply a procedure for integrated assessments that makes use of two tools, namely computer models and focus groups. The project will use computer models as input into focus groups. Scientific knowledge about climate change will be conveyed to the focus groups by means of documents and models, mostly prepared within the CLEAR process. Climate risk and climate policy judgements will be formed through a social discourse between informed laypeople. They will draw on both scientific knowledge and social knowledge. The inclusion of social knowledge into the assessment process will situate the procedure at the interface of science and society. The IEA-methodology will be applied in order (1) to investigate the role of uncertainty for integrated judgements, (2) to help computer modellers tune their models to the needs of users, (3) to test the social acceptance of likely measures before implementation, (4) to study public concern about climate risk and the formation of political willingness to take action in the light of innovative policy and business opportunities. This project is the platform project of CLEAR II. It will integrate CLEAR research activities in two ways. First, by feeding their results (especially with the help of computer models) into an integrated assessment process. Secondly, by offering feedback on this process to the various projects.