20Jun 2018
CEP supporting webinar series on 25 Year Environment Plan

Partnerships for people, place and the environment – Webinar Series

Earlier this year, Defra commissioned CEP to undertake new research to inform the local delivery of the 25 Year Environment Plan across England. As part of this work, the project team is working with the Ecosystems Knowledge Network to convene a series of free webinars to share good practice in some of the themes central to the Plan. We are pleased to announce the first two in this series:

Opportunities for involving local communities in managing their environment and place-making

Tuesday 3rd July 2018, 1 to 2pm
Featuring presentations by Jenny Phelps of the Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group and Paul Cobbing of the National Flood Forum. Chaired by Clare Twigger-Ross of Collingwood Environmental Planning. Find out more and book your place now. 

Opportunities for connecting health and the environment

Thursday 5th July 2018, 12 to 1pm
Featuring presentations by Dr James Szymankiewicz, GP and new Chair of Natural Devon, and Mark Fishpool, Director of Middlesbrough Environment City. Chaired by Dave Powell of the New Economics Foundation. Find out more and book your place now.

 

Team CEP
20Jun 2018
CEP attending Our Bright Future Annual Seminar

CEP HELPING LEAD A SESSION ON EVALUATING OUTCOMES FROM THE OUR BRIGHT FUTURE PROGRAMME AT ANNUAL SEMINAR on 20 and 21 June 2018

Owen White is attending this year’s annual Share Learn Improve seminar in Cardiff  of the Our Bright Future (OBF) programme as part of CEP’s role in the evaluation of the OBF Programme.  The seminar brings together all of the projects to discuss and share experiences and good practice in management and delivery. 

As part of this seminar, Owen will be contributing to a presentation on the measurement and evaluation of social and environmental impacts. He will also co-facilitate a working session in which participants will explore assumptions related to the achievement of impacts from project activities and share knowledge and experience in the monitoring and evaluation of impacts.

The evaluation team is led by ERS with CEP and is carrying out the evaluation of the programme between 2016 – 2021. The Programme Evaluation seeks to identify, analyse and assess:

  • the collective impact of the portfolio of 31 projects;
  • The added value of the Programme i.e. what value has been derived from a programme with the Share Learn Improve, Policy and Youth Function and from the development of an Our Bright Future network/movement;
  • Whether the Programme has achieved its long-term ambitions; and
  • Best practice and lessons learnt, and provide evidence and guidance to support Programme learning and development.

Please contact Owen White (Technical Director) for more information.

Team CEP
6Jun 2018
CEP to look at local delivery of the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan

CEP commissioned by Defra to investigate how local delivery of environmental outcomes can help to achieve the goals of the Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan.

The Government’s 25 Year Environment Plan provides a guiding framework for achieving the goal of improving the environment within a generation.   Embedding local delivery is essential to the success of the plan.  CEP is leading a research project to understand how government can best support local organisations and partnerships to work together to protect and enhance important environmental assets and resources, whilst supporting their own needs and ambitions. 

The project has two phases: Phase 1 is gathering evidence about models and approaches for local integration and leadership currently in use and under development, examples of good practice and information on the factors that facilitate or hinder the achievement of good environmental outcomes and shape the relationships among local delivery bodies and Defra. This phase includes an evidence review, four case studies and interviews with stakeholders. Building on these findings, in Phase 2 the project will carry out an online survey and work with practitioners to develop tools and approaches to enhance local delivery and implementation of the 25 Year Environment Plan. 

The project is a collaboration between CEP, the New Economics Foundation (NEF) and the Ecosystems Knowledge Network (EKN). The project runs for the duration of 2018. For more information, please contact CEP’s Project Manager (Paula Orr) or CEP’s Project Co-ordinator (Sian Morse-Jones).

 

Team CEP
24May 2018
New CEP-authored report on implications of global megatrends in the Western Balkans

Report authored by CEP on the implications of global megatrends for the Western Balkans published as a European Topic Centre Technical Report

CEP were part of a team commissioned by the European Environment Agency (EEA) to undertake a study: Water Use in the Western Balkans: regional outlooks and global megatrends* which was completed in autumn 2017. The team was led by the European Topic Center on Inland, Coastal and Marine Waters (ETC/ICM), which is managed by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research.

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The project had two main tasks: developing regional water-use scenarios; and identifying and assessing the implications of global megatrends for the Western Balkans region. CEP led the work related to global megatrends, which involved adapting and implementing a methodology and toolkit previously developed by CEP.

The final report from the work led by CEP has now been published as an ETC/ICM Technical Report: Water Use in the Western Balkans: regional outlooks and global megatrends, ETC/ICM Technical Report 2/2018.

For more information contact Owen White (Technical Director) or Rolands Sadauskis (Senior Consultant).

* For more information on megatrends see here

Team CEP
24May 2018
CEP-led consortium to deliver two new EEA projects focusing on SDGs and transitions governance

CEP-led consortium has been awarded two new EEA projects which will explore interactions between Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and develop a report on governance and policy for sustainability transitions

Two new projects have been awarded under the CEP-led framework service contract for the European Environment Agency (EEA) which provides assistance on forward looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions.

The first project, led by SEI Stockholm, will provide the EEA with assistance in identifying and characterising critical interactions between environmental SDGs and from a European perspective.  CEP’s role will be to provide expert advice on methodology development and to lead the development of a report on the implications of the key project findings for EU research, policy and governance.

The second project, led by the Sustainable Consumption Institute at the University of Manchester, will develop a report on the implications of research into sustainability transitions and transformations for European policy and governance.  CEP will coordinate the characterisation of three key ‘socio-technical’ systems (food, energy and mobility), working with project partners Fraunhofer ISI and the German Environment Agency.

For more information please contact CEP’s Owen White, the overall Framework Contract Manager, or Dr Bill Sheate, the Framework Contract Director.

Team CEP
17May 2018
CEP attending conference on nature-based solutions

CEP PRESENTING ON HEALTH AND WELLBEING IMPACTS OF NATURE BASED SOLUTIONS IN CITIES AT THE ‘CONNECTING NATURE’ CONFERENCE

Dr Clare Twigger-Ross will be giving a presentation at the ‘Connecting Nature’ conference in Coruna, Spain, on 17th May on the development and use of social impact indicators for evaluating nature-based solutions [1].  Clare will be drawing on her experience from a range of CEP projects that have explored the evaluation of social aspects of nature-based solutions.

[1] Nature-based solutions include:  green infrastructure, ‘nature-based’ waste and water management solutions, collaborative planning; provision of products, services or solutions that create resilient cities

Team CEP
11May 2018
CEP at European Foresight meeting

CEP’s Owen White and Rolands Sadauskis invited by the European Environment Agency to participate in European meeting of foresight experts

CEP have a track record of delivering projects related to global megatrends and their implications for Europe and European countries, including for example developing a methodology for understanding implications of global megatrends at the national level; and adapting and applying the methodology in a case study of global megatrend implications in the Western Balkans region.  CEP are also leading the current framework contract with the European Environment Agency (EEA) on forward-looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions. 

In the context of this previous work and the framework contract, CEP’s Owen White and Rolands Sadauskis have been invited to participate in, present at and lead a working session for the EIONET (European Environment Information and Observation Network) expert meeting for the network of European experts in forward-looking information and services (NRC FLIS) to be held in Copenhagen, Denmark on 16th – 17th May 2018.

Specifically Owen and Rolands will be presenting proposals for a pending project on identifying and exploring key drivers of change in European socio-technical systems (food, energy, mobility) and what the implications of these drivers of change may be for the systems and Europe’s environment.  In addition a working session will be designed and facilitated by Owen and Rolands which will engage the experts in discussing key methodological challenges and identifying solutions.

For more information please contact Owen White (Technical Director) or Rolands Sadauskis (Senior Consultant).

Team CEP
8May 2018
CEP to evaluate Future Farming Scotland programme

CEP commissioned to evaluate Soil Association Scotland’s Future Farming Scotland programme

CEP has been commissioned to evaluate Soil Association Scotland’s Future Farming Scotland Programme. The programme aims to promote skills development and knowledge transfer in the agricultural sector in Scotland supporting the delivery of various competitiveness and environmental outcomes. CEP will be evaluating both process and outcome aspects of the programme by surveying beneficiaries and preparing case studies of certain interventions. The project builds on CEP’s evaluation and assessment expertise in Scotland covering various aspects of land based natural capital. 

CEP’s Dr Peter Phillips and Izzy Cotton will be working on this project.

Team CEP
2May 2018
CEP contributing to workshop on measuring the societal impact of network activities

CEP to lead a workshop session to map the social impacts of utility maintenance, replacement and repair activities

CEP is contributing to a workshop to examine how network operators’ utility maintenance, replacement and repair activities affect communities. CEP has designed a mapping exercise to explore the impacts caused by the same network activity in different locations.

WRc, in partnership with CEP, have been contracted by the Energy Innovation Centre, which is coordinating this project for a group of energy distribution network operators and water and wastewater companies.  The companies have commissioned this work to address the current lack of a framework for evaluating the societal impact of network activities. Network activities can include a range of activities from preventative maintenance to remediation work.

Dr Clare-Twigger Ross is CEP’s project manager for this work.

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25Apr 2018
CEP presenting CECAN fellowship work

CEP presenting work on Flood Community Resilience Pathfinder evaluation at Defra Theme Advisory Groups meeting

Dr Clare Twigger-Ross will be giving a brief presentation on her CECAN fellowship work looking at Qualitative Comparative Analysis in relation to the Flood Community Resilience Pathfinder evaluation at the Defra/Environment Agency R&D Theme Advisory Groups meeting in Birmingham on 26th April.

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