30Jan 2019
New report by CEP on community resilience

NEW REPORT BY CEP EVALUATES A PILOT ON DEVELOPING COMMUNITY RESILIENCE IN CORNWALL

CEP‘s evaluation of Phase 1 of the Communities Prepared project has recently been published by Groundwork South.  Funded by the Big Lottery Reaching Communities Fund to support community resilience across the country, the project aims to help community groups to be better able to respond to, and recover from, flooding and other emergencies.  The pilot phase ran from February 2016 to February 2018 and was implemented by Groundwork South in partnership with Cornwall Community Flood Forum and Cornwall College and supported by national organisations like the Environment Agency.  

The aim of the pilot phase was to test the Community Resilience Toolkit prepared by Cornwall Community Flood Forum following the floods in Cornwall in 2010. CEP was commissioned to design and carry out a process and impact evaluation of the pilot across its two-year lifetime, drawing on information gathered from communities and stakeholders to provide learning which can be used in the Phase 2 application.

The evaluation report can be found at: Communities Prepared Pilot Evaluation

For more information contact Paula Orr (Technical Director)

Team CEP
25Jan 2019
CEP staff promotion

New staff promotion at CEP

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We are pleased to announce that Dr Sian Morse-Jones has recently been promoted from Senior Consultant to Principal Consultant, reflecting her well-established commitment to CEP’s approach and the responsibilities she has assumed. Sian has been at CEP since 2017, working on a range of projects across our key areas, including, social research, natural capital, ecosystem services, governance, and evaluation.

Team CEP
17Jan 2019
CEP investigating EU Environmental Implementation Portal

CEP AND PARTNERS EXPLORE THE FEASIBILITY OF THE DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE OF AN EU ENVIRONMENTAL IMPLEMENTATION PORTAL (EIP)   

CEP, in conjunction with project partners Bilbomática and Wood Consulting, are undertaking a Feasibility study on the Development and maintenance of an EU Environmental Implementation Portal, under a framework contract led of Milieu Ltd for the Directorate-General (DG) Environment of the European Commission.  

The aim of the project is to examine how a multi-purpose Environmental Implementation Portal (EIP) can be designed as a ‘one stop shop’, to facilitate quick access to the services of information/data that meet the needs of a wide range of users.  The key focus of the portal will be to provide information related to the areas and pieces of environmental legislation under the responsibility of DG Environment (for example air quality, biodiversity, and water legislation), but it could also include information such as environmental data, indicators, and reports. A wide range of users are expected, including policy-makers, NGOs, and academics.

CEP are leading the first two tasks of the project, which seek to identify and analyse different users, their needs and interests, and existing good practice of similar information portals. This will be supported through a mixed-methods approach including user mapping, analysis, desk-based research, and primary data collection through surveys and interviews with stakeholder groups. 

For more information on the project, please contact Ric Eales (Managing Director) or Paula Orr (Technical Director).      

Team CEP
15Jan 2019
New report by CEP on dog walkers’ attitudes and behaviours

New report provides baseline assessment on dog walkers’ attitudes and behaviours for the South Downs National Park Authority’s ‘Take the Lead’ campaign

CEP were commissioned by the South Downs National Park Authority to undertake a study to establish baseline data on key sites for dog walker behaviour and engagement among heathlands within the South Downs National Park.  The study has informed and is part of the Heathlands Reunited Heritage Lottery Funded project’s Take the Lead campaign which is being led by the National Park Authority.

The study, in 2018, conducted desk research and developed a public survey in order to gain baseline data on dog walkers’ attitudes and behaviours. This survey will be repeated during the final year of the Heathlands Reunited project (2021), in order to explore the impact of the Take the Lead campaign on behaviour change.

The final project baseline report has now been published: The Heathlands Reunited Evaluation of Behaviour Change in Dog Walkers Baseline Report

For more information contact Paula Orr (Technical Director) or Sian Morse-Jones

Team CEP
4Jan 2019
CEP leading EU sense-making workshops on emerging environmental issues

CEP to lead four sense-making workshops as part of our role as secretariat for the EU Foresight System for the detection of emerging environmental issues (FORENV)

In our role of providing the secretariat for the EU Commission’s new EU Foresight System for the detection of emerging environmental issues (FORENV), CEP will be moderating four sense-making workshops.  The workshops will be held between the 11th and 17th January 2019 in Ispra (Italy), Copenhagen (Denmark) and two in Brussels (Belgium), and will bring together 40 experts from the Commission, EU Member States and research institutions.

The workshops are being organised as part of the first annual cycle of FORENV, which is running from September 2018 – September 2019, and is focusing on the topic ‘Emerging issues at the environment-social interface’.  Across the workshops almost 200 ‘weak signals’ of change related to this topic will be discussed, clustered and prioritised.  Each session will be run in a participatory way to engage and draw on the knowledge of participants.  CEP have led the organisation of the workshops and will be moderating them with support from our partners Cranfield University, Milieu Ltd and representatives of the European Commission.

Drawing on the workshop outcomes, up to 10 priority emerging issues will be proposed for further consideration in the next steps of the FORENV system.

For further information please contact Owen White (Technical Director) or Paula Orr (Technical Director).

Team CEP