CEP to update the knowledge base for understanding global megatrends

CEP commissioned to review and update the knowledge base related to global megatrends

CEP has been commissioned to lead the fourth Specific Contract, let under the CEP-led framework service contract for the European Environment Agency (EEA), to provide Assistance to the consolidation and update of the knowledge base on global megatrends and resource nexus in support of SOER 2020.  CEP is also leading a specific task in this project to review and consolidate the knowledge base underlying EEA’s global megatrends.  This specific task is linked to other tasks being led by Futureline / SEI Stockholm (development of the knowledge base underpinning the concept of “resource nexus” within European consumption and production systems), and the University of Barcelona looking at the analysis of the resource demand implications associated with long-term trends and the synergies and trade-offs between selected European policy frameworks.

The CEP task draws on previous work by CEP on reviewing and updating GMTs and understanding their implications at the national and regional level in Europe.  This fourth contract provides an opportunity to bring together a number of key forward looking analyses and to develop an understanding of resource use and policy interactions and trade-offs in support of SOER 2020.

For more information on this project please contact Owen White or Rolands Sadauskis.

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

CEP leading workshop on the implications of global megatrends in the Western Balkans

Photo credit: 'Belgrade bridges' by mcveja on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP leading workshop in exploring the implications of global megatrends in the Western Balkans

CEP is leading a workshop on the “Implications of global megatrends in the Western Balkans region: Assessment of risks and opportunities, policy links and gaps” which will be held on 7-8 September 2017 in Belgrade, Serbia. This workshop is the second of two regional workshops held as part of the project Water Use in the Western Balkans: regional outlooks and global megatrends which is being delivered by CEP in collaboration with the European Topic Centre on Inland, Coastal and Marine Waters for the European Environment Agency.

The workshop will bring together regional experts to discuss risks and opportunities for the region and Western Balkans countries arising from global megatrend implications identified through the project scoping workshop held in April 2017.

This workshop will generate the following outcomes:

• A list of potential risks and opportunities each global megatrend implication presents for the region.
• An initial assessment of the likelihood of potential risks and opportunities, their extent and time-frames.
• Identifying existing policies or strategies that relate to the risks or opportunities, and any new policies or changes needed for managing risks and maximising opportunities.

For further information contact CEP's Project Manager Owen White.

CEP'S SEMINAR ON PRACTICAL POLICY EVALUATION AVAILABLE ONLINE

CEP'S SEMINAR ON LEARNING LESSONS FROM PRACTICAL POLICY EVALUATION AVAILABLE ONLINE

CEP's Dr Clare Twigger-Ross, Owen White and Dr Bill Sheate delivered a seminar for the Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN) on Learning lessons from practical policy evaluation. The seminar reflected on the findings of a meta-evaluation study of 23 of CEP's evaluation projects, exploring lessons around the evaluation of complexity, the role of methods and the nature of evaluation impact (full report available here). 

To listen to the discussion on the key factors that affect evaluation progress and gain insights on managing complexity and navigating an evaluation through dynamic policy landscapes, click here.

CEP to deliver CECAN seminar on practical policy evaluation

CEP to deliver CECAN seminar on learning lessons from practical policy evaluation

CEP will be delivering a seminar for the Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN) on Learning lessons from practical policy evaluation: reflecting on a meta-evaluation of UK/EU policy and practice evaluations across the nexus.

The seminar will take place on 14 June 2017, in London, and will reflect on the findings of a meta-evaluation study of 23 of CEP's evaluation projects, exploring lessons around the evaluation of complexity, the role of methods and the nature of evaluation impact. This research brought out the key factors that affect evaluation progress and provided insights on how to navigate an evaluation through dynamic policy landscapes. The full report is available here.

In this seminar CEP's Dr Clare Twigger-Ross and Owen White will facilitate a discussion around the key findings from this research and approaches for managing complexity in evaluations. 

For more information and to register for this seminar visit CECAN's website.

CEP ran workshop on global megatrends and the Western Balkans

Photo credit: 'Ljubljana' by Miran Hojnik on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP delivered workshop in Slovenia exploring the implications of global megatrends for the Western Balkans

CEP led an expert workshop in Ljubljana, Slovenia on 10/11 April 2017, as part of the project Water Use in the Western Balkans: regional outlooks and global megatrends undertaken for the European Environment Agency (EEA).

The workshop brought together 21 regional experts and stakeholders in a scoping exercise intended to identify and prioritise the implications of global megatrends (GMTs) for the Western Balkans region related to the water-food-energy nexus. The implications identified were assessed in terms of the likelihood of their occurrence, the magnitude of their effect and the timescale over which they may occur.

The outputs of this workshop will inform a second regional workshop to be held as part of this project that will focus on the risks and opportunities for the Western Balkans region arising from the GMT implications identified and any existing policy gaps and needs.

CEP is leading the work related to global megatrends, adapting and implementing a method toolkit previously developed (by CEP) for the European Environment Agency.

Learning lessons for evaluating complexity across the nexus

CECAN (the Centre for Evaluation of Complexity across the Nexus, based at the University of Surrey, has published the final report of CEP's meta-evaluation study of 23 selected evaluation projects we have undertaken relating to Nexus issues – water, environment, food, energy - over the last 10 years.  

The full report  - Learning lessons for evaluating complexity across the nexus: a meta-evaluation of CEP projects - is available here.

We evaluated the evaluation approaches and findings from a range of case studies – national and EU policy level down to programme level policy interventions and other initiatives – and sought to address three aims:
1.    To learn the lessons from past policy evaluations; 
2.    To understand the factors that support or inhibit (barriers or enablers to) successful evaluations: and
3.    To explore the value of different types of approaches and methods used for evaluating complexity

An important finding was the extent to which the contexts for evaluations at the EU level and UK levels differ: a very strong policy cycle exists for EU evaluations, which creates a more rigid framework for monitoring and evaluation, compared to the much greater degree of policy flux in the UK, and the resulting need for greater flexibility in the way in which evaluations are undertaken, and hence the greater utility of qualitative data collection and analysis methods.

Consequently the use or influence of evaluations in policy making differs considerably – there is much more instrumental (direct) use of EU evaluations compared to more conceptual or process (indirect) use of UK evaluations.

For further information contact Dr Bill Sheate or Dr Clare Twigger-Ross 

The key findings from the study are summarised in the infographic below:

CEP's Dr Clare Twigger-Ross awarded CECAN Fellowship

Photo credit: 'jigsaw puzzle pieces' by Electric-Eye on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP's Dr Clare Twigger-Ross awarded CECAN Fellowship

CEP's Dr Clare Twigger-Ross has been awarded a Fellowship by the Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN) Investigating the value of qualitative comparative analysis in relation to the Defra Flood Resilience Community Pathfinder (FRCP) evaluation. Building on the Defra FRCP evaluation undertaken by CEP (2013 - 2015), this study aims to identify key factors that predict improved community resilience.

The key evaluation challenge for this study will be the attribution of causality in the context of community resilience to flooding. A key methodological development will be testing qualitative comparative analysis (QCA) in a novel (flooding) complex evaluation situation to examine its feasibility for similar situations, and to assess the aspects of QCA of most use to this type of evaluation.

This is expected to raise key complexity issues in evaluation, which have been recently explored in CEP's project for CECAN Learning lessons for evaluating complexity at the nexus: a meta-evaluation of CEP projects. The findings of this project will become available on the CECAN website in the coming months.

CEP commissioned to explore the implications of global megatrends for the Western Balkans

Photo credit: Lakes and woodland in Montenegro (201408_balcani_714) by Franco Pecchio on Flickr (CC BY 2.0)

CEP IS PART OF A TEAM DEVELOPING WATER USE SCENARIOS AND ASSESSING THE IMPLICATIONS OF GLOBAL MEGATRENDS FOR THE WESTERN BALKANS REGION

CEP is a 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*. The team is led by the European Topic Center on Inland, Coastal and Marine Waters (ETC/ICM), which is managed by the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research.

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

CEP's work will involve: undertaking desk-based research and assessment of how global megatrends might impact on the Western Balkans, focussing in particular on the nexus of water, energy and food; organising and facilitating regional expert workshops to discuss potential impacts and assess risks and opportunities for the environment and environmental policy in the region; and, preparing outputs to be published by the EEA.

Owen White is CEP’s lead for this project.

* For more information on megatrends see here

CEP undertaking a meta-evaluation of its past policy evaluations

 

Photo credit: 'puzzle' by Kevin Dooley on Flickr (CC BY-SA 2.0)

CEP undertaking a ‘meta-evaluation’ of its past policy evaluations for CECAN

As part of CEP’s role as a partner in CECAN (Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus), CEP is carrying out a meta-evaluation of a sample of the evaluation projects it has undertaken over the last 10 years. The review will seek to learn the lessons from past policy evaluations, and the value of different types of approaches and methods used for evaluating complexity.

This extensive meta-evaluation of projects will support CECAN’s initial scoping stage and provide critical insights in understanding complexity and developing new ways to measure the effectiveness of policies across the ‘nexus’.

CEP’s Dr Clare Twigger-Ross and Dr Bill Sheate are joint project leads.

CEP at CECAN workshop on understanding complexity

CEP at CECAN workshop on understanding complexity

CEP's Dr Clare Twigger-Ross and Dr Bill Sheate will participate in a 1 day workshop on 9th June hosted by the Centre for the Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus (CECAN) to tackle the question of 'What is complexity?'.

 Discussions will include:

• What are our different understandings of complexity?
• Examples of complexity in policy evaluation and design, and Nexus systems
• What factors in policy processes and Nexus systems make complexity difficult to handle?
• Sharing innovative ideas and approaches
• What tools can we bring/matching of tools to complex problems
• As a policy maker, how do I know I am dealing with a complex problem?

The workshop will focus on some of the real-world policy case studies put forward by CECAN's co-funders and provide an opportunity to plan a wider public 2 day residential workshop in September 2016.

The event is by invitation only.