Ad Hoc Activity on Science-Policy Interface
Progress report November 2010 – May 2011

for the Strategic Co-ordination Group of 11-12 May 2011

Authors: Marie-Perrine Durot, Luisa Prista, Philippe Quevauviller, Michel Schouppe, Andrea Tilche

1.RELEVANT KEY EVENTS IN THE PERIOD

  • The first meeting of the Governing Board of the Joint Programming Initiative “JPI” on Water challenges was held in Brusselson 14 April 2011. CIS-SPI was selected as one of the 6 members nominated so far of the Stakeholder Advisory Group, whose purpose is to provide input from a user perspective, and, to advise on research, development and innovation needs in synergy with those identified by the European Commission, the Member States and the Associated Countries.

2.UPCOMING KEY EVENTS AND DEADLINES

29-30 September 2011 (dates to be confirmed): 2nd "Water science meets policy" event around the cross-cutting issue of linking ecosystem services with the WFD implementation,

  • 7 November 2011: Joint water related FP projects meeting organised by DG RTD back to back with the SCG meeting. This will result in thematic presentations (related to the different relevant CIS activities) to be presented to the SCG on the 8th or 9th November (one and a half-hour slot is proposed to be dedicated to a science information session in the SCG agenda),

16-17 November 2011: joint workshop between the FP7 project PSI-Connect and the CIS-SPI ad hoc activity on practical guidance (notably to water basin managers) on good research dissemination practices and instruments to support water policy-making and implementation. PSI-Connect will address the question of cross-level dissemination (how to connect the different levels from European to local scale) and provide insights on knowledge brokering and the design of appropriate interaction processes between researchers and policy implementers.A desired output of this workshop would be a guidance framework on good dissemination practices and instruments.

3.PROGRESS TOWARDS CIS WORKPROGRAMME DELIVERABLES

Activity 1 – Inventory of research and implementation needs from CIS groups

Each CIS group has been asked to nominate one SPI/research correspondent who is in charge of collecting the group’s research needs and send them to the SPI ad-hoc activity coordinators (ONEMA and DG RTD) who will compile annually the list of research needs from all CIS groups. Status of nomination of SPI correspondent is the following:

Group / SPI correspondent “candidate” / Status
WGA Ecological Status / Yorick Reyjol (Onema, FR) / Pending official confirmation by WG leaders
WGC Groundwater / Pending official confirmation by WG leaders
WGE Chemical aspects / Dr. Robert Kase
(Eawag/EPFL, CH) / Confirmed
WG F Floods / Wouter Vanneuville (ERANET CRUE) / Pending official confirmation by WG leaders
EG Climate Change / XX (EUREAU)
Magdalena Mrkvickova (VITUKI, CZ) / Pending official confirmation by WG leaders
EG Water scarcity and droughts / Giuseppina Monacelli (ISPRA, IT) / Confirmed
EG Water and agriculture / Ville Keskisarja (DG ENV) / Confirmed

Activity 2 – Available research and research gaps

The report from the 1st SPI event (Brussels, 30 September2010) was sent as a preliminary list of needs and gaps from CIS groups to relevant funding organisations (e.g. EC DG RTD, Joint Programming Initiative “JPI” on Water Challenges). Further progress on research gaps was continued. To this end, the FP7 WATERDISS 2.0 support actionhas compiled a panorama of FP6-FP7 projects relevant to CIS research needs. In addition, this project has carried out an onlinesurvey of which the aim was to collect views from a selection of 40 EU research projects found particularly relevant to CIS research needs. These projects were asked to provide their insights on:

Part 1. State of knowledge on CIS research areas identified in the report 2010 and relevant to their field of work;

Part 2. Needs for new knowledge on CIS research areas and other possible areas that could be relevant to WFD implementation

The results of this survey are currently analyzed to see if they can be used to inform CIS groups forupdating their research needs and help the validation and prioritization of research gaps.

Activity 3 – Improving transfer and usability of research outputs

The elaboration of science-policybriefs has been promoted for FP, ERA-NET and national projects using the format developed by CIS-SPI. Useful examples of science-policy briefs can be found:

-on CIRCA

-on the EC.EUROPA website for the Water scarcity and drought topic and the successful example of the XEROCHORE FP7 project. The science-policy briefs examine key policy questions and provide science-based recommendations and links to in-depth information related to drought policy. The five briefs have also been recognised of utility by the UNISDR in the context of the implementation of the Hyogo Framework for Action.

Two meetings have been held at ONEMA for the preparation of the second “Water science meets policy” event around the topic of “Ecosystems services and WFD” with a pan-European steering committee. The workshop concept and preliminary programme are attached to this report.

One preparatory meeting has been held at DG RTD for a workshop on practical guidance on good research dissemination practices and instruments to support water policy-making and implementation, jointly organized with the FP7PSI-Connect project.

4.NEXT STEPS

Activity 1 – Inventory of research and implementation needs from CIS groups

Update of research needs will be asked to the SPI/research correspondent in each CIS groups in May 2011 with a deadline in October 2011. CIS-SPI will compile the list of research needs for the SCG meeting in November. The list will be used to provide further RDI input to the relevant research programmes managed by the European Commission,the Member States Research agencies, and the Joint Programming Initiative on Water challenges.

Activity 2 – Available research and research gaps

The panorama of FP6-FP7 projects relevant to CIS needs will be completed and delivered to each CIS groups, and, if relevant, it will be associated to a qualitative analysis by a selected number of FP projects (40) on the State of the Art regarding these topics (results from the WATERDISS survey).

In parallel, a new approach will be developed to better inform CIS representatives about on-going research activities relevant to water policies. Instead of providing information at project level, representatives of key research projects will be invited to provide background policy-relevant information that will be discussed in a brainstorming meeting among scientists the day before the November SCG meeting (on the 7th November 2011). This will result in the setting of thematic presentations matching the current structure of the CIS, i.e. giving a snapshot of available results and research perspectives covering five main areas, namely ecological status, groundwater, floods, water scarcity and drought, and climate change adaption in the context of RBMP. The aim is to present the five thematic presentations (10 minutes each) to the SCG, followed by questions/responses. The overall science-information session would take place within the SCG regular meeting (preferably on the first day to enable project representatives to make the presentations and travel back on the same day). If this attempt to provide synthetic information is positively received by the SCG, the experience might be repeated on an annual basis.

The two above-mentioned initiatives will provide inputs to report to the SCG on available research and research gaps on CIS topics.

Activity 3 – Improving transfer and usability of research outputs

  • An increased use and promotion of science-policy briefs for National and EU projects
  • A better dissemination of scientific information and deliverables by SPI/research correspondents in the CIS groups
  • A list of potential operational tools for WFD implementation using an ecosystems services approach as an outcome from the Water science meets policy event in September 2011
  • A guidance framework on good dissemination practices and instruments for water management following the joint CIS-SPI and PSI-Connect workshop in November

CIS-SPI activities from now on until March 2012 will be linked to the preparation process for the 6thWorld Water Forum in 2012 for the Specific Europe Region Priority Targets (SERPT) 11- Promote technology innovation, “Science - policy” interface and dialogue between researchers and water managers.

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