Policy democracy? Social and material participation in biodiesel policy-making processes in India

Following its 2003 biodiesel mission, the Indian national government released its controversial policy on biodiesel in December 2009. Viewing the policy as a set of propositions that have been progressively assembled and constituted by many voices, we study its making on the basis of 72 qualitative interviews and ethnographic fieldwork. We consider the policy-making process to constitute policy democracy if its propositions were well-articulated. A well-articulated proposition is one that has registered the voices of many different human and nonhuman entities, including those that were hitherto mute. In addition, a well-articulated proposition must have allowed the entities to challenge and recompose it. And it must not have turned the entities’ actions and voices into a repetitive singularity. Finally, a well-articulated proposition is not easily transferrable between different socio-ecological situations. We argue that the Indian government attempted to perform policy democracy, by being partially responsive to some entities’ recalcitrance. However, it failed to register crucial voices associated with biodiesel production such as those of water and CO2. It also turned many voices into repetitive singularities, discounting the different relations that allow an entity to speak in multiple voices. The policy’s propositions remained easily transferrable between diverse socio-ecological situations, ignoring the immense diversity of India’s lands, their inhabitants and their practices associated with biodiesel production. Finally, due to a severe disconnect between the various voices registered in its different propositions, we argue that the policy lacked overall consistency

Around the Tables: Contextual factors in health care coverage decisions across western Europe

Background: Across Western Europe, procedures and formalised criteria for taking decisions on the coverage (inclusion in the benefits basket or equivalent) of healthcare technologies vary substantially. In the decision documents, which display the justification of, the rationale for, these decisions, national healthcare institutes may employ ‘contextual factors,’ defined here as situation-specific considerations. Little is known about how the use of such contextual factors compares across countries. We describe and compare contextual factors as used in coverage decisions generally and 4 decision documents specifically in Belgium, England, Germany, and the Netherlands. Methods: Four group interviews with 3 experts from the national healthcare institute of each country, document and web site analysis, and a workshop with 1 to 2 of these experts per country were followed by the examination of the documents of 4 specific decisions taken in each of the 4 countries, sampled to vary widely in type of technology and decision outcome. Results: From the available decision documents, we conclude that in every country studied, contextual factors are established ‘around the table,’ ie, in deliberation. All documents examined feature contextual factors, with similar contextual factor patterns leading to similar decisions in different countries. The Dutch decisions employ the widest variety of factors, with the exception of the societal functioning of the patient, which is relatively common in Belgium, England, and Germany. Half of the final decisions were taken in another setting, with the consequence that no documentation was retrievable for 2 decisions. Conclusion: First, we conclude that in these countries, contextual factors are actively integrated in the decision document, and that this is achieved in deliberation. Conceptualising contextual factors as both situation-specific and actively-integrated affords insight into practices of contextualisation and provides an encouragement for exchange between decision-makers on more qualitative aspects of decisions. Second, the decisions that lacked a publicly acc

Business-to-Government Data Sharing for Public Interests in the European Union: Results of a Public Consultation

Lately governments and companies began experimenting with voluntary data sharing of business data for addressing public problems (so-called Data Collaboratives). This early practice revealed a number of challenges impeding business-to-government (B2G) data sharing and thus limiting the potential of data to provide answers and guide policies and action. One of the key challenges is the lack of a clear regulatory framework for B2G data sharing. To tackle this issue, the European Commission is taking regulatory action and preparing the Data Act which aims to spell out the rules and conditions for B2G data sharing for public interest. These developments, however, are met with resistance. While there is a strong push from the public sector for more private sector data, the private sector is less enthusiastic about the prospective mandatory B2G data sharing. In our study we zoom in on this issue in more detail and pose the following research question: How do public and private sector actors in the European Union view the prospect of mandatory B2G data sharing for public interest? To answer this question, we analyze the open dataset of responses to the public consultation of the European Commission. We find statistically significant results of business opposition to regulatory action and to mandating B2G data sharing, particularly among telecom and finance sectors. We also conclude that opposition to mandatory data sharing varies depending on the public interest purpose and is lowest among businesses with regards to emergencies and highest with regard to education, inclusion, and statistics

Global Value Chains and Market Formation Process in Emerging Export Activity: Evidence from Ethiopian Flower Industry

経済学 / EconomicsThis paper provides a case study of the Ethiopian flower export industry which successfully emerged at time when the EU market (main destination) was already characterized by increasingly stringent standards and delivery requirements. Entering this market required a multitude of capabilities at firm, sector and national levels. Several of these capabilities were absent or weak in the domestic market when the new activity kicked off. The paper analyzes how the capabilities of individual firms and the industry at large co-evolved and the role of various actors in the ‘market formation’ process.JEL Classification Codes: O12, O13, O19http://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/sonobe_tetsushi

Student budgets and widening participation: Comparative experiences of finance in low and higher income undergraduates at a Northern Red Brick University

Drawing on a thematic analysis of longitudinal qualitative data (ntotal = 118), this article takes a “whole student lifecycle” approach to examine how lower and higher income students at an English northern red brick university variously attempted to manage their individual budgets. It explores how students reconcile their income—in the form of loans, grants, and bursaries—with the cost of living. Four arenas of interest are described: planning, budgeting, and managing “the student loan”; disruptions to financial planning; the role of familial support; and strategies of augmenting the budget. In detailing the micro‐level constraints on the individual budgets of lower and higher income undergraduates, the article highlights the importance of non‐repayable grants and bursaries in helping to sustain meaningful participation in higher tariff, more selective, higher education institutions. It also supports an emerging body of literature that suggests that the continuing amendments to the system of funding higher education in England are unlikely to address inequality of access, participation, and outcome

Negative emotions about climate change are related to insomnia symptoms and mental health : Cross-sectional evidence from 25 countries

Climate change threatens mental health via increasing exposure to the social and economic disruptions created by extreme weather and large-scale climatic events, as well as through the anxiety associated with recognising the existential threat posed by the climate crisis. Considering the growing levels of climate change awareness across the world, negative emotions like anxiety and worry about climate-related risks are a potentially pervasive conduit for the adverse impacts of climate change on mental health. In this study, we examined how negative climate-related emotions relate to sleep and mental health among a diverse non-representative sample of individuals recruited from 25 countries, as well as a Norwegian nationally-representative sample. Overall, we found that negative climate-related emotions are positively associated with insomnia symptoms and negatively related to self-rated mental health in most countries. Our findings suggest that climate-related psychological stressors are significantly linked with mental health in many countries and draw attention to the need for cross-disciplinary research aimed at achieving rigorous empirical assessments of the unique challenge posed to mental health by negative emotional responses to climate change.Peer reviewe

Climate anxiety, wellbeing and pro-environmental action : correlates of negative emotional responses to climate change in 32 countries

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The AuthorsThis study explored the correlates of climate anxiety in a diverse range of national contexts. We analysed cross-sectional data gathered in 32 countries (N = 12,246). Our results show that climate anxiety is positively related to rate of exposure to information about climate change impacts, the amount of attention people pay to climate change information, and perceived descriptive norms about emotional responding to climate change. Climate anxiety was also positively linked to pro-environmental behaviours and negatively linked to mental wellbeing. Notably, climate anxiety had a significant inverse association with mental wellbeing in 31 out of 32 countries. In contrast, it had a significant association with pro-environmental behaviour in 24 countries, and with environmental activism in 12 countries. Our findings highlight contextual boundaries to engagement in environmental action as an antidote to climate anxiety, and the broad international significance of considering negative climate-related emotions as a plausible threat to wellbeing.Peer reviewe

Improving care for people with dementia: development and initial feasibility study for evaluation of life story work in dementia care

Background: Improving dementia care quality is an urgent priority nationally and internationally. Life story work (LSW) is an intervention that aims to improve individual outcomes and care for people with dementia and their carers. LSW gathers information and artefacts about the person, their history and interests, and produces a tangible output: the ‘life story’. Objective: To establish whether or not full evaluation of LSW was feasible. Design: Mixed-methods feasibility study. Methods: In-depth interviews and focus groups explored experiences of LSW and best practice with people with dementia, family members and dementia care staff. A systematic review explored best practice and theories of change for LSW. These stages helped to identify the outcomes and resources to explore in the feasibility study. A representative sample survey of health and social care dementia care providers in England established LSW practice in different settings. A survey of a self-selected sample of family members of people with dementia explored how LSW is experienced. Two small outcome studies (stepped-wedge study in six care homes and pre-test post-test study in inpatient specialist dementia care wards) explored the feasibility of full evaluation of LSW in these settings. Settings: Survey: generalist and specialist care homes; NHS dementia care settings; and community dementia services. Feasibility study: care homes and NHS inpatient dementia care wards. Participants: NHS and social care services, people with dementia, family carers, care home staff and NHS staff. Interventions: LSW. Main outcome measures: Spread of LSW and good practice, quality of life (QoL) for the person with dementia and carers, relationships between people with dementia and family carers, staff attitudes about dementia, staff burnout, resource use and costs. Review methods: Narrative review and synthesis, following Centre for Review and Dissemination guidelines. Results: Good practice in LSW is identifiable, as are theories of change about how it might affect given outcomes. Indicators of best practice were produced. LSW is spreading but practice and use vary between care settings and are not always in line with identified good practice. Two different models of LSW are evident; these are likely to be appropriate at different stages of the dementia journey. The feasibility study showed some positive changes in staff attitudes towards dementia and, for some people with dementia, improvements in QoL. These may be attributable to LSW but these potential benefits require full evaluation. The feasibility work established the likely costs of LSW and highlighted the challenges of future evaluation in care homes and inpatient dementia care settings. Limitations: There was insufficient evidence in the literature to allow estimation of outcome size. We did not carry out planned Markov chain modelling to inform decisions about carrying out future evaluation because of the dearth of outcome data in the literature; low levels of data return for people with dementia in the hospital settings; lack of detected effect for most people with dementia; and questions about implementation in the research settings. Conclusions: LSW is used across different health and social care settings in England, but in different ways, not all of which reflect ‘good practice’. This large, complex study identified a wide range of challenges for future research, but also the possibility that LSW may help to improve care staff attitudes towards dementia and QoL for some people with dementia. Future work: Full evaluation of LSW as an intervention to improve staff attitudes and care is feasible with researchers based in or very close to care settings to ensure high-quality data collection. Funding: The National Institute for Health Research Health Services and Delivery Research programme. Keywords

Restructuring UK local government employment relations: pay determination and employee participation in tough times

The Conservative-led coalition government has been committed to shrinking the state and this has had a major impact on local government. This article examines the consequences of austerity measures for staff participation and pay determination in UK local government. Local government has been particularly hard hit by austerity measures and this has encouraged employers to change terms and conditions, review forms of staff participation and cut jobs. The implications for the institutional resilience of systems of employment regulation and employee involvement in the sector are considered

Human Resources for Research Promotion and Application in Japanese Academia -From Competition to Cooperation of University-Industry Cooperation Coordinators and University Research Administrators-

本研究は,産学連携に関わる産学官連携コーディネーター,研究力強化に携わるリサーチ・アドミニストレーターとうい2つの専門職種を対象とし,その全体像と現状把握を行うことを目的とする。特に,各大学の現場でこの2職種の協働に日々尽力する関係者にとって,俯瞰的な把握と個別具体の対応策検討の一助となることを期待し,これまでこの職種の普及・定着の大きな課題と認識されていた雇用状況について明らかにすることを目的としている。まず第1章では,背景となる問題意識を整理した。これらの2職種は,総論としてはその必要性と意義が明らかに認識されているものの,個別具体の組織における定着が進展しているかについては種々の意見があることを示す。この見解がどこから生まれてくるかを理解するために,第2章ではこの2つの職種をとりまく外部環境について,特に日本において直接的・間接的に大きな影響を及ぼしている科学技術政策の変遷をふまえて外観した。第3章で示す産業界からの期待増加と併せて理解することで,大学の多種多様な知見がイノベーティブな活動に展開するために,最も直接的なパスである特許を中心とした技術移転活動から,徐々にその周辺領域や基盤となる広範な科学研究活動を対象とした研究推進・活用に対象が広がっていく流れが理解できる。この背景理解に基づき,第4章では改めて,大学に所属し外部との連携促進に従事する専門人材として,産学官連携コーディネーター(以下,事業名などの表記など特段の問題がない場合はコーディネーターあるいはCと略す)とリサーチ・アドミニストレーター(以下,事業名などの表記など特段の問題がない場合はURAと略す)を対象に,これらの人材が必要となる背景,国,大学執行部,研究者,大学教職員というステークホルダーに区分した必要性の整理を行った。併せてこれらの職種の定着に大きな影響を及ぼした雇用財源に関連する政策・事業を時系列で整理した。これにより,この2つの職種が,本来的には大学の知の活用・活性化という文脈で共通の期待の上に生まれ,相互補完的な協働関係となりうることが理解できた。一方,多くの実務者の雇用財源が関連施策にもとづく時限的な外部資金に依ることから,限られた雇用枠の確保という観点で競合となりうることも明らかになり,現在この2つの職種が,協働と競合の相反する2面性を有している実態が理解できた。以上をふまえ,第5章では,2011年から2015年の5カ年のデータを用いて,配置状況,雇用財源とテニュア比率,前職キャリア,担当業務について分析した。本論の中心であるこの調査結果は,現在の研究推進・活用専門職の中心的なアクターであるこの2つの職種について,同一データに基づき,比較可能な形態で分析した初めての結果である。これにより明らかになった結果は,例えば以下の通りである。1)一組織の配属人数中央値は,コーディネーターとURAは国立大学で5名,公立大学で2名,私立大学で2名,3名であり,職種の差よりもむしろ,国公私立の類型の差の方が大きい。2)安定的な雇用の指標として「機関の運営経費」で雇用される割合はコーディネーターで8割に上り,本調査期間5年間で増加していた。URLは急激な人口増加があったものの「機関の運営経費」での雇用が6割を占めた。一方,もう一つの指標であるテニュア比率で見ると,いずれの職種も,コーディネーターで2〜3割,URLでは国公立で1割強,私立大学で4割にとどまる。３)前職キャリアは,事務系のバックグランドを持つ者が4分の1居る点は共通であるが,コーディネーターでは技術系,知財法務の経験者が多いのに比し,URLでは研究職が4分の1を占めている。代表的な属性から得られる人物像は,コーディネーターは民間企業出身の60歳台,URAは50歳未満の大学出身者となり,これらを踏まえた適切な雇用条件の検討が今後必要になることが示唆された。　また,大学財務環境の厳しさが増すにつれ,よりクリティカルに,「コーディネーターの雇用が,外部資金獲得に直接機能するURAに置き換わっているのではないか」という疑問に対し,各組織の回答個票に遡った詳細分析を行った。結果,国公私立のいずれにおいても,コーディネーターとURAの「両方を配置している」大学はこの5年で増加をする一方,「どちらも配置していない」大学は減少していることが明らかになった。少なくとも組織単位の状況把握では,雇用の競合というよりもむしろ,総人数が増加し当該専門人材の重要性が認識された結果,総数が増加した共進化と見ることができると考えられる。最後に,アカデミアの研究資源獲得のダイナミクスのモデルにおける,この2職種の提供する機能をあてはめた。現在の2職種の属性などをふまえると,研究資源獲得に相互補完的に機能しうる協働の可能性が示唆された。The Purpose of the research is to grasp the overall picture and the current situation of two professionals, the industry / academic cooperation coordinator (abbreviate C) and research administrator (University research administrator; abbreviate URA) who is engaged in strengthening research capabilities in university.Today, the importance of C and URA is clearly recognized internationally as professionals that contribute to strengthening the competitiveness of universities. However, to establish these positions in university, it is necessary to consider to secure appropriate human resources, employment budget and treatment etc. And also, the relationship between university and industry has to be cosistent with science and technology policy in each country. In this article, firstly, we summarize the backgrounds of the importance of these two professionals in Japanese context.Based on this comprehensive recognition, then we compare and contrast the two professionals’ differences in the aspects of placement situation, employment resources, tenure ratio, former career and responsible work, by analyzing Japanese universities dataset from 2011 to 2015. This comparable dataset clarifies an interesting situation of two professionals, such as, 1) the median number of employee (both C and URA) per one organization is 2 to 5. Here the difference among the university type (national, public, and private) is larger than the difference between C and URA. 2) One forth of both professionals has administrative background as a prior job carrier. On the contrary, compared with C, majority of which has background as experienced technicians and intellectual property legal staffs, many URL have job experience as researcher. Moreover, representative characteristics of these two professionals are as follows; C could be a person in 60s with private industry experience. On the contrary, URA could be under 50 years old and has experience of research at university.And we also find an interesting facts as follows. Based on the current situation that the university budget condition has become more severe, there was a doubt that "the employment of the C is being replaced by the URA that directly functions to acquire external funds." However, from the results of our analysis, in any of national, public and private universities, the percentage of the universities that "employ both C and URA" increased in the past 5 years, while that of the universities that "neither arranged" decreased.With the result that the total number of employment of both C and URA is increasing in organizational level, it is considered that the two professionals are recognized as one of the important factors that make university more active in open innovation era.本稿執筆の対象となった研究の一部は、科学研究費/基盤（B）JP18H01029,科学研究費/基盤（C）JP16K0390700,科学研究費補助金/基盤（C）JP16K03692,ならびに,政策研究大学院大学・政策研究センターの助成を受けたものです。http://www.grips.ac.jp/list/jp/facultyinfo/sumikura_koichi