Newsletter 08 - November 2019
Collaborations:
Laura Forsström - Academy of Finland
Lenka Kuglerová – Swedish Agricultural University, Sweden
Timo Muotka – Oulu University, Finland
John Richardson – University of British Columbia, Canada
Water JPI SRIA Revision Workshop, Dublin 22 & 23 October 2019
The EPA (Ireland) led a consultative 2-day Water JPI Experts Workshop in the Radisson Blu Hotel, Dublin, to discuss drafting the new Strategic Research & Innovation Agenda (SRIA 2025). There were 86 participants representing 17 countries and the aim of the workshop was to collect feedback and recommendations from the group regarding the structure of the new Water JPI SRIA 2025. Day one consisted of Session 1 and Session 2. Session 1 saw Alice Wemaere (EPA), Dominique Darmendrail, Water JPI Coordinator (ANR), Olivier Gaillot (RPS), and Heather McKhann (FACCE JPI Coordinator) providing an overview of Water JPI & Key Achievements, Water JPI Vision 2030 – Proposed Directions, and the Common Vision between the Water & FACCE JPIs. Session two was composed of four breakout discussion groups where each group was asked to focus on the four mains themes of the SRIA; (1) Ecosystems; (2) Health and Wellbeing; (3) Water Value and Usage; and (4) Sustainable Water Management. The main focus of each breakout group was to assess whether the key RDI priorities for each of the Water JPI proposed new research themes 2020-2025 (focusing on the research priority level rather than topic level) and to agree/group into sub-themes. The majority of the discussion groups agreed the current themes are still relevant, but the titles should be revised to make them more concise with a clear message and in some case broadened out. Each of the themes and sub-themes were reviewed and recommendations for revisions were provided, including: (i) increased linkages between ecosystem services and human health; (ii) incorporation of SDG’s, climate change; and (iii) rephrasing some of the subtheme titles. Day 2 comprised of breakout sessions where each group discussed the expected impacts and possible trade-offs, cross-cutting issues, and research infrastructure needs/gaps. Read more about the Consultative SRIA workshop here.
Water JPI Knowledge Hub On Contaminants Of Emerging Concern (KHCEC)
The Water JPI Knowledge Hub for Contaminants of Emerging Concern workshop was held in Dublin on the 24th October, back-to-back with the SRIA experts consultation workshop. The KHCEC discuss its progress as a network including scientific activities and outputs, planned knowledge transfer of scientific outputs, its future role and legacy planning. Contaminants of emerging concern are pollutants that may impact ecological or human health, for example, pharmaceuticals and personal care products, endocrine disruptors. These CEC’s end up in our rivers and lakes, with the concern that they may have an impact on our ecosystems and human health, and our drinking water. Intrigo produced a draft scientific document which was circulated to the Seed Group for feedback before the workshop. This document articulated key issues with CEC’s and state-of-the-art on selected sub-topics aimed at a wide stakeholder audience. The breakout discussions involved defining target stakeholders (policy/society/ industry) and defining the key CEC messages per target stakeholder. A session on knowledge transfer focused on disseminating KHCEC outputs through written communication (press release and Twitter) and visual communication (infographics and videos). The KHCEC members will bring the template developed for knowledge transfer back to their member states and report back on how they were able to use it and if it had any impact. This workshop was very interactive and received excellent feedback by all.
Water JPI Governing Board Meeting-15, Bucharest
The 15th Water JPI Governing Board meeting was held in Bucharest, Romania, on the 5th of November 2019.
Out of 23 full members, 18 were represented at the meeting either physically or via Web-Ex. In relation to the Framework Programme 9 – Horizon Europe, the Water JPI is looking to ensure its sustainability during the transition phase. In terms of next steps, important decisions were made by the Governing Board in relation to the Water JPI funding model adopted for 2020. Attendees were also updated on the latest Horizon Europe development by Panos Balabanis from the European Commission (DG R&I) and had the opportunity to discuss the role of JPIs in future Horizon Europe. The next Governing Board meeting will be held in Estonia, in May 2020.
WaterWorks2015 & WaterWorks2017 Annual Consortium Meetings, Bucharest
The annual Consortium meetings of both ERA-NET Cofunds WaterWorks2015
and WaterWork2017 were held in Bucharest, Romania, respectively on the 6th and 7th of November 2019, back-to-back with the 15th Water JPI Governing Board meeting.
These meetings gathered more than 20 participants either physically or via Web-Ex and were the opportunity to present the general progress of both projects, the achievements of this last year and next steps for each Work package.
The next WaterWorks2015 & WaterWorks2017 Annual Consortium meeting will be respectively held in December 2020 and October 2020.
Ec Public Consultation On Environmental Crime
This consultation (10 October 2019 - 2 January 2020) is part of the evaluation of Directive 2008/99/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council on the protection of the environment through criminal law adopted on 19 November 2008.
The objective of the Directive is to contribute to a more effective protection of the environment and full application of the existing environmental EU legislation through criminal law. It aims at ensuring a level playing field in the Member States by approximating the criminalisation of environmental offenses, and ensuring deterrent sanction levels in all Member States.
Through the evaluation, the Commission aims to assess whether Member States have taken appropriate measures at all levels of the enforcement chain to ensure effective implementation of the Directive.
