How can scientists bring research to use: the HENVINET experience

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Health concerns have driven the European environmental policies of the last 25 years, with issues becoming more complex. Addressing these concerns requires an approach that is both interdisciplinary and engages scientists with society. In response to this requirement, the FP6 coordination action “Health and Environment Network” HENVINET was set up to create a permanent inter-disciplinary network of professionals in the field of health and environment tasked to bridge the communication gap between science and society. In this paper we describe how HENVINET delivered on this task.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The HENVINET project approached the issue of inter-disciplinary collaboration in four ways. (1) The Drivers-Pressures-State-Exposure-Effect-Action framework was used to structure information gathering, collaboration and communication between scientists in the field of health and the environment. (2) Interactive web-based tools were developed to enhance methods for knowledge evaluation, and use these methods to formulate policy advice. (3) Quantification methods were adapted to measure scientific agreement. And (4) Open architecture web technology was used to develop an information repository and a web portal to facilitate collaboration and communication among scientists.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty-five organizations from Europe and five from outside Europe participated in the Health and Environment Network HENVINET, which lasted for 3.5 years. The consortium included partners in environmental research, public health and veterinary medicine; included medical practitioners and representatives of local administrations; and had access to national policy making and EEA and WHO expertise. Dedicated web-based tools for visualisation of environmental health issues and knowledge evaluation allowed remote expert elicitation, and were used as a basis for developing policy advice in five health areas (asthma and allergies; cancer; neurodevelopmental disorders; endocrine disruption; and engineered nanoparticles in the environment). An open searchable database of decision support tools was established and populated. A web based social networking tool was developed to enhance collaboration and communication between scientists and society.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>HENVINET addressed key issues that arise in inter-disciplinary research on health and environment and in communicating research results to policy makers and society. HENVINET went beyond traditional scientific tools and methods to bridge the communication gap between science and policy makers. The project identified the need for a common framework and delivered it. It developed and implemented a variety of novel methods and tools and, using several representative examples, demonstrated the process of producing politically relevant scientific advice based on an open participation of experts. It highlighted the need for, and benefits of, a liaison between health and environment professionals and professionals in the social sciences and liberal arts. By adopting critical complexity thinking, HENVINET extended the traditional approach to environment and health research, and set the standard for current approaches to bridge the gap between science and society.</p

Air quality management planning (AQMP)

In most urban areas of the world, particulate matter (PM) levels pose severe problems, addressed in several policy areas (air quality, climate change, and human health). PM presents multiple challenges due to the multitude of its sources, spanning many sectors of economic activity as well as nature, and due to the complexity of atmospheric processes involved in its transport and secondary formation. For the authorities, the goal is to assure minimal impacts of atmospheric PM levels, in practice represented by compliance with existing regulations and standards. This may be achieved through an air quality management plan (AQMP). In Northern America and in parts of Europe, comprehensive research programs have guided development of AQMP over the last forty years. This cumulated experience can be utilized by others who face the same problems, but have yet to develop their own substantial research base. The main purpose of the AQMP development process is to establish an effective and sound basis for planning and management of air quality in a selected area. This type of planning will ensure that significant sources of impacts are identified and controlled in a most cost-effective manner. The choice of tools, methods and input information is often dictated by their availability, and should be evaluated against current best practices. Important elements of the AQMP are the identification of sources and development of a complete emission inventory, the development and operation of an air quality monitoring programme, and the development and application of atmospheric dispersion models. Major task is to collect the necessary input data. The development of the AQMP will take into account: - Air Quality Management System (AQMS) requirements; - Operational and functional structure requirements; - Source identification through emission inventories; - Source reduction alternatives, which may be implemented; - Mechanisms for facilitating interdepartmental cooperation in order to assure that actions are being taken; - Institutional building and training requirements This paper offers a practical guide through the different parts of the air quality management and planning procedures

Co-benefit and co-control studies in Norway

In both developing and industrialized countries, abatement of air pollution and mitigation of climate change have generally been treated separately. Co-benefits of air quality and climate change related policies are often addressed on national or supra-national level, to document that costs of policies are acceptable, especially when ancillary benefits are considered. On local or regional level, the focus until now has been mainly on air quality management, not considering benefits for climate change mitigation. Today’s air quality management requires integrated and coordinated measures where urban air quality planning includes also greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and climate change issues. The tools available for investigating scenarios for reducing local impacts and health effect improvements can also be used to investigate cost effective actions aimed at reducing GHG emissions. This approach would lead to identification of strategies that consider co-benefits of climate and local air quality measures, and would both improve the health of people and give climate benefits at best possible costs. Approaches based on an existing air quality management tool, prepared for co-benefit studies in Norway as well as plans for co-control projects in China are presented in this paper. These approaches have the potential to focus on issues not included in traditional air pollution abatement studies

Application of social media in the environment and health professional community

The purpose of the EU FP6 funded coordination action HENVINET was to create a permanent network of environment and health professionals. The main outcome is a networking portal (http://www.henvinet.eu), based on the concepts of social media to support communication between professional stakeholders in the environment and health fields. Its aim is to enable sharing of relevant information in an innovative and interactive manner to eventually support policy making. A social networking tool is not necessarily a typical platform for communication in the professional context, or between scientists and decision-makers. The aim of this paper is to look upon the use of social media in relevant professional communities in the light of the HENVINET experience, and to reflect on the acceptance and usefulness of such a new approach

Current State of Particulate Matter Research and Management in Serbia

Particulate matter is the air pollutant that currently receives most attention from the atmospheric research community, the legislative authorities and the general public Limiting particulate matter in the atmosphere which will result in significant benefits for human health, with associated positive economic consequences Successful management of particulate matter requires scientific knowledge about particulate matter from cradle to grave covering sources of particles, processes that govern their formation composition, dispersion and fate in the atmosphere, as well as knowledge about human exposure and associated health and well being Such knowledge allows to design and perform effective and efficient abatement measures and monitoring This paper provides an introduction to the research and monitoring regarding particulate matter in Serbia The contributions were first partly presented at the 2nd international workshop of the WeBIOPATR Outdoor concentration size distribution and composition of respirable particles in WB urban area project in September 2009 This information provides context to the contributions in this number, and was part of the rationale of the project WeBIOPAT

A healthy turn in urban climate change policies; European city workshop proposes health indicators as policy integrators

Background: The EU FP6 HENVINET project reviewed the potential relevance of a focus on climate change related health effects for climate change policies at the city region level. This was undertaken by means of a workshop with both scientists, city representatives from several EU-countries, representatives of EU city networks and EU-experts. In this paper we introduce some important health related climate change issues, and discuss the current city policies of the participating cities. Methods. The workshop used a backcasting format to analyse the future relevance of a health perspective, and the main benefits and challenges this would bring to urban policy making. Results: It was concluded that health issues have an important function as indicators of success for urban climate change policies, given the extent to which climate change policies contribute to public health and as such to quality of life. Simultaneously the health perspective may function as a policy integrator in that it can combine several related policy objectives, such as environmental policies, health policies, urban planning and economic development policies, in one framework for action. Furthermore, the participants to the workshop considered public health to be of strategic importance in organizing public support for climate change policies. One important conclusion of the workshop was the view that the connection of science and policy at the city level is inadequate, and that the integration of scientific knowledge on climate change related health effects and local policy practice is in need of more attention. In conclusion, the workshop was viewed as a constructive advance in the process of integration which hopefully will lead to ongoing cooperation. Conclusions: The workshop had the ambition to bring together a diversity of actor perspectives for exchange of knowledge and experiences, and joint understanding as a basis for future cooperation. Next to the complementarities in experience and knowledge, the mutual critical reflection was a bonus, as ideas had the opportunity to be scrutinized by others, leading to more robustness and common ground. The structured backcasting approach was helpful in integrating all of this with one common focus, embracing diversity and complexity, and stimulating reflection and new ideas. © 2012 Keune et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Nanoparticles in the environment: assessment using the causal diagram approach

Nanoparticles (NPs) cause concern for health and safety as their impact on the environment and humans is not known. Relatively few studies have investigated the toxicological and environmental effects of exposure to naturally occurring NPs (NNPs) and man-made or engineered NPs (ENPs) that are known to have a wide variety of effects once taken up into an organism

The challenge of social networking in the field of environment and health

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The fields of environment and health are both interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary, and until recently had little engagement in social networking designed to cross disciplinary boundaries. The EU FP6 project HENVINET aimed to establish integrated social network and networking facilities for multiple stakeholders in environment and health. The underlying assumption is that increased social networking across disciplines and sectors will enhance the quality of both problem knowledge and problem solving, by facilitating interactions. Inter- and trans-disciplinary networks are considered useful for this purpose. This does not mean that such networks are easily organized, as openness to such cooperation and exchange is often difficult to ascertain.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Different methods may enhance network building. Using a mixed method approach, a diversity of actions were used in order to investigate the main research question: which kind of social networking activities and structures can best support the objective of enhanced inter- and trans-disciplinary cooperation and exchange in the fields of environment and health. HENVINET applied interviews, a role playing session, a personal response system, a stakeholder workshop and a social networking portal as part of the process of building an interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary network.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The interviews provided support for the specification of requirements for an interdisciplinary and trans-disciplinary network. The role playing session, the personal response system and the stakeholder workshop were assessed as useful tools in forming such network, by increasing the awareness by different disciplines of other’s positions. The social networking portal was particularly useful in delivering knowledge, but the role of the scientist in social networking is not yet clear.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The main challenge in the field of environment and health is not so much a lack of scientific problem knowledge, but rather the ability to effectively communicate, share and use available knowledge for policy making. Structured social network facilities can be useful by policy makers to engage with the research community. It is beneficial for scientists to be able to integrate the perspective of policy makers in the research agenda, and to assist in co-production of policy-relevant information. A diversity of methods need to be applied for network building: according to the fit-for-purpose-principle. It is useful to know which combination of methods and in which time frame produces the best results.</p> <p>Networking projects such as HENVINET are created not only for the benefit of the network itself, but also because the applying of the different methods is a learning tool for future network building. Finally, it is clear that the importance of specialized professionals in enabling effective communication between different groups should not be underestimated.</p