News

The Design Report published in the journal GAIA reflects on the challenges of a large-scale project without a designated problem and project constitution phase for inter- and transdisciplinary collaboration. The team of authors, which includes Dr. Marion Dreyer and Dr.

The recently published journal article “Participatory Assessment of Multi Risks in Urban Regions – The Case of Critical Infrastructures in Metropolitan Lima” describes a participatory approach to dealing with multi-risks using the example of the Lima metropolitan region, Peru. Co-authors Christian D. León and Gisela Wachinger from DIALOGIK look in particular at the question of what the barriers are in stakeholder communication.

The results of the 2021 GAIA Masters Student Paper Award have now been announced. Every year, the international journal GAIA – Ecological Perspectives for Science and Society invites Masters students to participate in the GAIA Masters Student Paper Award. Masters students are encouraged to submit their results from research-based courses or Masters theses in the field of transdisciplinary environmental and sustainability science.

On 18 February 2021, DIALOGIK moderated the second meeting of the virtual dialogue process of the RIESGOS project with 50 participants from Peru. At the event stakeholders from the risk management area worked together on solutions to overcome barriers in risk communication.

A group of scientists from the EU-funded project HIDALGO collaboratively organised a workshop to discuss pressing issues like the spread of diseases (COVID-19), climate change, air pollution, forced migration, or false and misleading information on twitter and other channels. The speakers showed that HPC, HPDA and Artificial Intelligence could form a pathway to accurately model, simulate, and also to provide forecasts (e.g. for movement patterns of refugees and logistics of aid).

The "Regulatory Sanbox H2-Wyhlen" has started its work with today's kick-off. From now on, information about the regulatory sandbox can be found on the project homepage (German only): www.h2-wyhlen.de

Hydrogen (H2) produced with renewable energy is a key technology for the low-CO2 provision of electricity, heat and mobility. However, there are still many technical, economic and social challenges to be solved so that green hydrogen can become a supporting pillar of a renewable energy system. The H2-Wyhlen project, a regulatory sandbox of the energy transition, starting on 1 January 2021, aims to develop an economic overall concept for the use of green hydrogen. The involvement of regional stakeholders and citizens is also crucial.

In summer 2020 a new project started at DIALOGIK, and the topic "Citizens' Dialogue Nuclear Energy (1974 – 1983)“ shows the emphasis on historic work. The three partners - IZT Berlin, the Gorleben Archive e.V. and DIALOGIK – will analyse the process of civic participation at that time in order to gain knowledge for the current process of selecting a site for the final storage of high level nuclear waste.

Delphi procedures can be used to make consensus and divergent expert opinions transparent, to point out possible futures and to ensure the integration of current knowledge.

The mega-project “Emscherumbau” in the German Ruhr area has been showing its effects for a while now: nature is returning to the urban areas, recreational paths are opening up the watercourses, and the northern Ruhr area is once again coming into focus as a region worth living in. What does this mean for the development of the region in the long turn? And how can this dynamic be successfully used for a mobility turn in the coming years?

The metropolitan region of Lima in Peru is exposed to many natural hazards such as tsunamis, earthquakes and landslides. These usually do not occur isolated, but have complex interactions and corresponding consequences (domino or cascading effects) for buildings, infrastructure and population. In risk management, the consideration of multi-risks is therefore of particular importance.

The bioeconomy as a transformation concept towards sustainability has gained key importance in science and politics. It is regarded as an important component for the transformation of modern societies into a circular economy based on renewable resources. This anthology takes up the political and scientific embedding of the bioeconomy and focuses on the interface between future shaping and sustainability shaping.

HiDALGO is a Centre of Excellence on Global Challenges funded by the EC. The project partners develop novel methods, algorithms and software for high-performance computing (HPC), high-performance data analysis (HPDA) and artificial intelligence (AI) to accurately model and simulate the complex processes, which arise in connection with major global challenges.

HiDALGO is a Centre of Excellence on Global Challenges funded by the EC. The project partners develop novel methods, algorithms and software for high-performance computing (HPC), high-performance data analysis (HPDA) and artificial intelligence (AI) to accurately model and simulate the complex processes, which arise in connection with major global challenges.

HiDALGO’s offerings are now online at https://hidalgo-project.eu/consulting

RiCoRT aims at providing a long-term SARS-CoV-2 risk communication manual, based on empirical evidence, risk communication experience and a consensus among communication experts. Effective communication will help to reduce risks to health and life and can contribute to a better health record in the current COVID-19 crisis. Two groups will be addressed in a survey and with focus group methods: Young adults (between 18 and 30) and elderly people (50-70).

The basis of an informed discourse is mediation and participation. This requires an interaction between experts and citizens where diverging beliefs, values, fears, and interests of all participants (as authorities, city planning, environmental groups, NGOs, and citizens) come to the table. The participation process must merge with the political planning process to ensure the recommendations  - as an outcome of the participation process –  matter. Success factors can be shown from international studies and various environmental conflict resolutions in Germany.

A Flu And Coronavirus Simulator (FACS) is being developed as a collaborative effort between the EU project HiDALGO and the Brunel Computer Science Department.

Using this agent-based model, which is updated on a daily basis,  allows to model the Covid-19 spread on a local level. Furthermore, the effect of public health interventions can be estimated. Such models, once verified and validated, can help to support local decision-making for an effective response to the epidemic.

Numerous EU-funded projects on Responsible Research and Innovation (RRI), amongst them the PROSO-project which was coordinated by DIALOGIK, signed a Joint Declaration subsequent to the “Pathways to Transformation” conference in June 2019. At this conference, leading RRI researchers and practitioners, together with policy makers and stakeholder organisations, discussed the state-of-the-art and future perspectives for RRI. Many of the conference participants expressed their concern about an uncertain future for RRI in the EC.

"Precaution and Innovation: Exploring Collaboratively a Significant Relationship" is the title of the first Policy Brief of the EU-project RECIPES which has recently been published and edited by DIALOGIK. The Policy Brief compiles the main findings of the RECIPES stock-taking report on the application of the precautionary principle (PP) from 2000 to 2019 and the launch of the term ‘innovation principle’ in 2013.