THE ROLE AND IMPORTANCE OF ACADEMIC FREEDOM IN THE POLICY PROCESS

Academic freedom, Policy process, policy decision-making, policy advice, research, research institute, Political Economy, Teaching/Communication/Extension/Profession,

THEORETICAL AND POLICY BACKGROUND TO THE TOP-MARD PROJECT (TOWARDS A POLICY MODEL OF MULTIFUNCTIONAL AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT)

The TOP-MARD project is a 3-year, 11 country, project supported by the EU’s Framework 6 Programme for Research and Technology Development1. The aim of the research project was to build a policy model of multifunctional agriculture and rural development which would link the multiple functions of agriculture with the development and quality of life of rural regions, and explore the influence of different policies on rural development outcomes. In order to deal with both market and non-market outputs, and to explore dynamics over time, a systems modelling approach was adopted.Agricultural and Food Policy, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods,

Institutions and Sustainable Development: The case of Water, Waste and Food

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Towards inclusive innovation praxis in forest-based bioenergy

In this paper, we apply grounded innovation platforms (GRIPs) as a tool for inclusive innovation in relation to forest-based bioenergy in Norway. We use cases studied in the Triple Bottom Line Outcomes for Bioenergy Development and Innovation in Rural Norway research project. We review the notion of GRIPs and classify them. We analyse forms of GRIPs and the hypothesis that forms of GRIP affect ‘triple bottom line’ outcomes of sustainable development. We relate our findings to the debates on inclusive innovation, which we argue is not simply an issue for ‘developing countries’. Development, being understood to be different from economic growth, is concerned with inclusion and exclusion, and, in a world of growing inequalities, is a universal issue everywhere.publishedVersio

A SYSTEM DYNAMICS MODEL OF AGRICULTURE AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT: THE TOPMARD CORE MODEL

The goal of the TOPMARD project is to develop a model of agriculture and rural development to better understand the agronomic, ecological, economic and social dimensions of rural regions. The resulting model, (Policy Model of Multifunctional Agriculture and Rural Development) was built collaboratively and hierarchically by the research teams from the 11 countries. The model features eight subsectors (Land, Agriculture, Tourism, Region, Human Resources, Non-commodities, Capital, and Quality of Life). Imbedded in the model are a complete dynamic input-output model, and an agecohort education demographic model. The model has both supply-side and demand-side drivers. Land use is the key supply-side driver. Land use, coupled with production system choices, determine agricultural and non-commodity outputs. The Quality of Life sector incorporates the coefficients from a regression analysis of migration behaviour to develop a supply-side population response to local quality of life which is added to the demand-side response to job growth.Multifunctionality, system dynamics, policy, model, rural development, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Research Methods/ Statistical Methods, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Evidence for the maintenance of slowly varying equatorial currents by intraseasonal variability

Recent evidence from mooring data in the equatorial Atlantic reveals that semi-annual and longer time scale ocean current variability is close to being resonant with equatorial basin modes. Here we show that intraseasonal variability, with time scales of 10's of days, provides the energy to maintain these resonant basin modes against dissipation. The mechanism is analogous to that by which storm systems in the atmosphere act to maintain the atmospheric jet stream. We demonstrate the mechanism using an idealised model set-up that exhibits equatorial deep jets. The results are supported by direct analysis of available mooring data from the equatorial Atlantic Ocean covering a depth range of several thousand meters. The analysis of the mooring data suggests that the same mechanism also helps maintain the seasonal variability

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Renewable Energy as a Rural Development Opportunity 

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European Rural Policy: Old wine in Old bottles: is it Corked?

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Using System Dynamics for Holistic Rural Policy Assessments and Data Envelopment Analysis for Evaluation of Comparative Policy Efficiency at Regional level

The TOP-MARD (FW6) project was designed to evaluate the impact of a range of optional rural development policies on the multiple functions of agriculture and assess the differing economic, social and environmental outcomes over time in 11 European rural regions. Two main tools were used, namely dynamic system modelling and Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). Dynamic System Modelling allowed (ex ante) evaluation of the outcomes of various policy scenarios, while DEA provided the means of comparing these outcomes with relevant expenditures in the 11 regions studied. This paper describes and discusses these two tools, and suggests that they complement the evaluators’ tool-kit. System dynamics provides the means of assessing economic, social and environmental outcomes over time, while DEA analysis provides clues as to the relative efficiency of policies in delivering desired outcomes