1Nov 2017
CEP explores links between global megatrends and planetary boundaries

CEP commissionED to explore relationships between global megatrends and planetary boundaries

CEP has been commissioned to lead the third Specific Contract, let under the CEP-led framework service contract for the European Environment Agency (EEA), to provide Assistance to the analysis of planetary boundaries at the European level, in support of SOER 2020.  CEP is also leading a specific task in this project to explore and map the relationships between global megatrends affecting Europe and planetary boundaries.  This specific task is linked to other tasks being led by GRID/University of Geneva (downscaling of the planetary boundaries to Europe) and SEI Stockholm/PBL looking at the interactions among planetary boundaries and the relationship with existing EU environmental policy measures.  

The CEP task draws on previous work by CEP on GMTs at the national and regional level in Europe, and on planetary boundaries and tipping points, as well as the inter-linkages among the planetary boundaries being examined by SEI/PBL.  This third contract provides an opportunity to bring together a number of key forward looking analyses undertaken by the EEA in support of SOER2020.

For more information on this project please contact Dr Bill Sheate or Rolands Sadauskis.  

CEP’s Owen White is the overall Framework Contract Manager and can provide general information on the framework.  CEP’s Dr Bill Sheate is the Framework Contract Director.

Team CEP
24Oct 2017
CEP delivering EEA workshop on urban sustainability

CEP delivering workshop to support the EEA develop their thinking on urban sustainability as an input to SOER2020.

For the first time, the European Environment Agency (EEA) will be explicitly addressing urban sustainability in the European Environment State and Outlook Report for 2020 (SOER2020). As part of CEP’s current framework contract with the EEA on forward-looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions, CEP in partnership with LSE Cities is currently undertaking a specific contract on urban sustainability to support this aspect of SOER2020. Specifically, the project is reviewing the EEA knowledge base on urban sustainability and developing a conceptual framework to guide the EEA’s work in this area, including for SOER2020.

On Thursday 26th October, CEP’s Dr Peter Phillips and Rolands Sadauskis are running a one-day workshop with EEA experts in Copenhagen to go over the results of the knowledge review and critically appraise, refine and validate the proposed conceptual framework for urban sustainability. 

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17Oct 2017
CEP presents at first ESRC CASCADE-NET seminar series

Clare Twigger-Ross to present at new ESRC seminar series

Dr Clare Twigger-Ross is presenting on the tension between consultation/participation and engagement with social learning in the context of flooding at the first seminar in the ESRC Seminar Series: CASCADE-NET: Civil Society’s agency and extreme weather events: dichotomies in theory and practice http://www.cascade-net.com/ .  It is on Wednesday 18th October at University of West of England, Bristol.

 

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10Oct 2017
CEP at CECAN meeting

CEP’s Dr Clare TwiGger-Ross at CECAN team meeting

Dr Clare Twigger-Ross is attending the internal CECAN (Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity across the Nexus) team meeting at Barnett Hill, near Guildford on Friday 13th October .  This meeting will cover CECAN case studies,  updates from CECAN fellows, and discuss the impact of CECAN in terms of outputs, capacity building in both practitioners and policy makers, and policy relevance.

For further information about CEP’s involvement in CECAN see our news items here.

Further information about CECAN can be found at  www.cecan.ac.uk

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6Oct 2017
Staff promotions in CEP

Key CEP staff receive promotions

We are pleased to announce that a number of key staff at CEP have recently been promoted from 1 October 2017 to more senior positions, reflecting their well-established commitment to CEP’s approach and the responsibilities they have assumed.

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Paula Orr has been promoted from Principal Consultant to Technical Director (Paula has been at CEP since 2007, specialising in stakeholder engagement, evaluation, social impacts, risk perception, climate vulnerability, and flood risk).

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Owen White has been promoted from Principal Consultant to Technical Director (Owen has been at CEP since 2008, specialising in European policy and long-term futures, science-policy, and integrated policy assessment and evaluation).

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Dr Peter Phillips has been promoted from Senior Consultant to Principal Consultant (Peter has been at CEP since 2013, specialising in natural capital, ecosystem services, environmental assessment, evaluation, land use and participatory planning and urban sustainability).

 

Ric Eales, CEP’s Managing Director said:

“We are delighted to have announced these highly deserved senior promotions, reflecting just how lucky we are at CEP to have such knowledgeable, loyal and dedicated staff.”

Team CEP
6Oct 2017
Isabel Cotton joins CEP

New environmental consultant joins CEP

Izzy Cotton has recently joined CEP as an environmental consultant.  Izzy is an environmental scientist with an MSc in Climate Change and Environmental Policy from the University of Leeds, where she also worked previously as a research assistant in CIEMAP  – the Centre for Industrial Energy, Materials and Products. 

Izzy is already working on a range of projects for CEP – on the Value of Bathing Water Quality in Scotland, Clyde Marine Planning and Our Bright Future among others.

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28Sep 2017
CEP explore global megatrends in Slovenia

CEP COMMISSIONED TO UNDERTAKE A STUDY ON THE IMPLICATIONS OF GLOBAL MEGATRENDS IN SLOVENIA

CEP has been commissioned by the Ministry of the Environment and Spatial Planning and Slovenian Environment Agency to undertake a study to understand the implications of global megatrends (GMTs) on the state of the environment in Slovenia.

The study will involve adapting and implementing a methodology and toolkit previously developed by CEP on understanding the impacts of global megatrends at the national level. This work will particularly consider the implications of two specific GMTs identified by the European Environment Agency in their assessment of global megatrends published in 2015: Intensified global competition for resources (GMT 7); and Increasingly severe consequences of climate change (GMT 9).

CEP’s work will involve undertaking desk-based research and assessment of how these two GMT’s might impact the national environmental priorities and efforts to meet UN Sustainable Development Goals, focussing in particular on the aims of the Slovenia National Environment Action Programme and Slovenian Development Strategy.  As part of this study CEP will organise and facilitate two national expert workshops to discuss potential GMT impacts and assess risks and opportunities for the environment and environmental policy in Slovenia.

The project will run from September 2017 until September 2018.

For further information contact Owen White (Project Director) or Rolands Sadauskis (Project Manager). 

* For more information on megatrends see here

 

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20Sep 2017
CEP running public dialogues on the Clyde Regional Marine Plan

Photo credit: ‘Sunset on Clyde’ by john mcsporran on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP starting first of two public dialogues on the Clyde Regional Marine Plan (CRMP)

CEP has been commissioned by the Clyde Marine Plan Partnership to run two public dialogues on the Clyde Regional Marine Plan.  Round 1 of the first dialogue will be held in Tarbert, Argyll on Saturday 23 September.  The dialogue is an innovative process designed to enable members of the public to provide insights to improve the regional marine plan and policy making.  Discussions during the day will look at what is important for local people, the main issues for the area and potential solutions.  Participants will also be able to comment on assumptions about what may be practical for the plan to address and the way that issues are prioritised in the plan.

The results will be used to provide information for the Clyde Marine Plan Partnership.

The workshop will be run by CEP’s Dr Peter Phillips who will be working with Jasper Kenter of the Scottish Association for Marine Science (SAMS) and a joint team from CEP and SAMS. 

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18Sep 2017
CEP to present at European foresight meeting

CEP’s Owen White invited by the European Environment Agency to present recent work on global megatrends at European meeting of foresight experts

CEP have recently been delivering a number of projects related to global megatrends and their implications for Europe and European countries, including 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.

In the context of the European Environment Agency’s (EEA) own work on global megatrends, and CEP having recently been awarded a framework contract by the EEA to provide expert assistance on forward looking analysis, sustainability assessments and systemic transitions, CEP’s Owen White has been invited to participate in and present at the EIONET (European Environment Information and Observation Network) annual meeting for the network of European experts in forward-looking information and services (NRC FLIS) to be held in Bratislava, Slovakia on 27th – 28th September 2017. 

Specifically, Owen will be presenting the outcomes to date from the Western Balkans global megatrends study, and participating in discussions related to how the EEA can develop an improved understanding of the implications of global megatrends for Europe and European countries.

For more information please contact Owen White (Principal Consultant).

Team CEP