Sustainability Evaluation – a rising star!

“Sustainable Development in Policy Assessment – Methods, Challenges and Policy Impacts” is the title of the international EPOS-conference taking place in Brussels, Belgium, on June 15th to 16th 2009. Researchers and practitioners in consulting, politics and administration are invited to take part and register now.

Since 2002, social, economic and ecological impacts of EU proposals have to be assessed systematically. Policy evaluation might support the integration of sustainable development in different policies. The concept of sustainable development is multifaceted, and the definition varies with different actors. Concomitantly, there is no precise understanding as to what should be included in an evaluation of sustainability and how it should be conducted. The conference would therefore like to add to the understanding of sustainability evaluation by especially addressing the following questions:

– What is sustainability evaluation's contribution to policy development and implementation?

– How should sustainability evaluations be designed to affect political decision-making?

– How can one strengthen sustainability goals and impacts in policy evaluation and assessment?

– How can the quality of sustainability evaluations be improved?

Scientist from universities and research institutes a well as evaluation practitioners and commissioning agents will discuss together in several working groups and plenary sessions.

The conference takes place in the context of the research project EPOS (Evaluating Policies for Sustainable Development). The EPOS project establishes a network of leading European institutions that are active in the field of policy evaluation with a focus on environment and sustainability. The network creates a platform to discuss and compare different methods of policy evaluation; it aims to strengthen socio-ecological aspects in evaluation.

The conference is organised by the Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IOEW) (http://www.ioew.de) and the Ecologic Institute for International and European Environmental Policy (http://www.ecologic.eu). The research project EPOS is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) within the framework of social-ecological research (SOEF).

The registration for the conference is possible now. Please register through our online form. You will find the program and further information on http://www.ecologic.eu/soef/epos/conference.html.

Conference office
Margarete Fischer
Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW)
Potsdamer Str. 105
D – 10785 Berlin
Phone: ++49 (0)30 -884 59 40
Fax: ++49 (0)30 -882 54 39
Email: margarete.fischer@ioew.de
Head of organisation committee
Dr. Frieder Rubik
Institute for Ecological Economy Research (IÖW)
IÖW – Office Heidelberg
Bergstraße 7
D – 69120 Heidelberg
Phone: ++49 (0)6221-649 160
Fax: ++49 (0)6221-270 60
Email: frieder.rubik@ioew.de