On Wednesday 14 of June, Dr Pitidis participated in the 2nd Risk Awareness Workshop organised in Fraunhofer Forum in Berlin in the context of the EU Horizon 2020- funded project RiskPACC. The purpose of this workshop was to present the outputs of the project during the first two years of its development and implementation as well as to present some of the technical solutions developed and tested in different case studies to external observer cities that might be interested in adopting similar two-way communication tools between citizens and Civil Protection authorities. The workshop included a full practical session where the technical solutions to enhance disaster preparedness and response were tested by the participants.

As per Nikoleta's post, this week I had the opportunity to participate in the FIDELIO workshop looking at establishing pathways for transformative change in terms of Protected Area governance. I had the pleasure of presenting maps to colleagues to highlight the work I have been doing to convey trends in social impacts across parks in Europe. Please see attached example showing level of impact on Connectedness to Nature and Local Moran's I (a test to see if relationships are similar (positive) or dissimilar (negative) between respondents.

A two day workshop was organised 13-14 June by Nikoleta Jones, James McGinlay and Alfie Begley from IGSD bringing together practitioners and researchers across Europe who have been involved in social impact assessments of protected areas. The workshop follows the work conducted under the FIDELIO project during which over 15 assessments have been conducted across several countries. The FIDELIO project has explored why some Protected Areas are more effective than others setting at its core the unravelling of complexities in social-ecological systems and the important role of social outcomes of these conservation policies. During the workshop the main outcomes of the project were discussed including the level of public support for protected areas, their social impacts and also the spatial distribution of social impacts in the local communities. We were very excited to discuss new ways of improving social value and impact assessments for Protected Areas and explored pathways that will facilitate countries across Europe to meet the targets outlined in the new Global Biodiversity Framework including the potential expansion and increase of protected areas across the world.

Last week we had our first ever ECR Sustainability Training School at Warwick! It has been a huge success, thanks to all the support we had received and our participants!

The ECR STS brought together participants from 26 countries, of different age, religion, philosophy, and discipline - embodying the very spirit of future solutions to sustainable development for a more resilient world. The participants enjoyed a great hospitality that only Warwick can offer 😉, including the weather! They also shared their individual research, with in-depth feedback, and learned to work together through team-building skills and group projects. They were exposed to innovative methods, public and policy engagement; and enjoyed their sustainability trails, and engagement with sustainability champions and strategic partner-networks. Team IGSD - well done - you rock!

#research #sustainabledevelopment #training #EarlyCareerResearchers #IGSD #EUTOPIA #MONASHAlliance #TheGUILD #UNSDSN UK

This week (5-9 June 23) the University of Warwick welcomes its first cohort of early career researchers (ECR) to its newly developed Sustainability Training School (STS). The school has been created by the university’s Institute of Global Sustainable Development (IGSD) in partnership with Eutopia, a university alliance that brings together 10 European universities, and with the support of the Enhancing Research Culture Fund.