JRC Evidence for Policy school on Disaster Risk Management

In a world flooded with information, managing, making sense of and communicating knowledge, or evidence, is highly challenging.

Evidence-informed policymaking needs advocates and skilled practitioners, both in scientific and policy bodies.

The evidence for policy school on disaster risk reduction aims to help researchers to have more impact on policy and policymakers to use evidence for policy solutions.

The school will focus on the tools and approaches to inform the policymaking process through evidence.

The Evidence and Policy School series is organised by the Joint Research Centre (JRC) of the European Commission. The events are focused on training and networking around the practical challenges of evidence-informed policy making and are organised in partnership with leading organisations dedicated to bridging the gap between science, policy and society. Since 2015, each school brings between 75 and 150 early-career researchers and policy makers together for 3 days to learn evidence-handling skills in their area of expertise and build connections between researchers and policy makers.

Application

Scientists and policymakers are invited to send their applicaitions fulfilling the listed criteria.

Please apply online here.

In your application, please outline your motivation and why you think this training will help you in your current job.

The deadline for application is 4 November 2019.

The selection process strives to achieve a balanced representation of qualified candidates, including by gender and country, evaluating past experiences and motivation of the applicants.

Programme

Masterclasses are run throughout two days in five parallel sessions.

Prevention & migration

• Disaster prevention and climate adaptation: how to ensure synergies?
• Integrated multi-risk assessment and planning – complexity thinking and systemic risk
• Science for disaster risk management – liability of the scientific world

Preparedness & response

• Emergency Management Priorities
• Situational awareness and information management in emergencies
• Communicating risk and engagement of communities in DRM policy making

Hands-on & case stories

• Hands-on Crisis Management tools?
• How to brief your Minister on international disasters?
• Monitoring and early warning for disaster risk reduction
• Case study: policy making in a scenario of flash flood in an
• Data visualisation for evidence-informed policy making: a hands-on approach

Who is this Summer School for?

• Early to mid-career scientists interested in how to achieve impact on policy; and
• Early to mid-career policymakers interested in how to commission and use research to support them in their daily work;
• Both having experience of working within the field of disaster risk management (producing science or policy tackling it, using related data in their work on other; topics, interested in the implications of this societal challenge on other fields, etc.) and
• Working primarily in the Participating States to the Union Civil Protection Mechanism, i.e. EU Member States, Norway, Iceland, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Turkey;
• Having citizenship of an EU country or any of following countries: Norway, Iceland, Serbia, North Macedonia, Montenegro or Turkey;
• Being proficient in English and committing to participate for the whole duration of the seminar is mandatory.

What will you gain?

• New knowledge on how to better integrate scientific evidence into policy-making;
• Scientists will learn how to better communicate and visualise their results, tackle uncertainty and align their projects with policy needs;
• Policymakers will learn how research can support policy, which science can be relevant to their field, where to find it and how to interpret it, and what can be expected from researchers;
• New insights on how 'the other side' operates;
• Enlarged network of likeminded professionals, working on disaster risk management with ambition of using evidence in policymaking;
• Access to a global community of practice, exchanging top resources and expertise.

What is unique about the professional development training?

• Policymakers and scientists meet and together develop skills in using evidence for creating policy solutions;
• Participants will learn how their respective professional worlds operate;
• Leading thinkers and practitioners share their experiences with participants through participatory, interactive masterclasses.

Accomodation

The organisers have  pre-booked for 2 nights (arrival on Jan 13) at:

Hilton Garden Inn Novoli****
Via Sandro Pertini, 29,
Florence, 50127,
Italy

Participants need to cover the cost of €115/room/night (including breakfast).

The hotel is located a short walk away from the Novoli Campus of the University of Florence, where the event takes place.

Contact

For any questions about the event, please write here.

Updates on the call for applications will be available on this website and on our Twitter account.

Register as a member in the Evidence for Policy Community of Practice to access resources relevant to evidence-informed policymaking.

Organisers

The 2020 Evidence and Policy School in Florence, Italy is organised by European Commission's Joint Research Centre (JRC) and Directorate General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid (DG ECHO), in collaboration with the Italian Civil Protection Department, the International Network for Government Science Advice (INGSA) and the University of Florence (UNIFI).