Keywords
impact assessment, models and tools, science-policy interface, usability
Start Date
1-7-2012 12:00 AM
Abstract
Many impact assessment (IA) models focus on effects of policy measures on environment and ecology. There are various examples of sophisticated IA models and models that are actually used in the policy making process. However, in many cases, there is still is a gap between the actual and potential use of these models in IA. Why is this so and what can be improved about this? The LIAISE project (www.liaise-noe.eu) is initiated to investigate just this. The hypothesis is that in many cases model use is not successful, because there is a gap between the two communities of IA researchers and IA practitioners. This gap is created by the fact that IA researchers are interested in new approaches and innovations, whereas IA practitioners need tools which are easy to use and give transparent, understandable results. In this paper we discuss the first results of interviews with policymakers, on national as European level on how tools are being used in daily practice and on what research questions we need to get answered. We will describe the first version of the RM-IAT, the reference model for impact assessment tools, which proposes a standardized way to describe models and tools. We will introduce the LIAISE Front Office and Back Office toolbox, where tools are presented in such a way to the users of the toolbox, that the users are able to make a better choice of which model to use, and by doing so, are able to use models with more success. Some tools will actually be made available in the Back Office. We can conclude that tool use in the European countries depends on the context in which they are used: it depends on the tool, it depends on the user, it depends for what purpose the tool is used.
Bridging the gap between modellers and model users, why does this gap exist and what can we do about it?
Many impact assessment (IA) models focus on effects of policy measures on environment and ecology. There are various examples of sophisticated IA models and models that are actually used in the policy making process. However, in many cases, there is still is a gap between the actual and potential use of these models in IA. Why is this so and what can be improved about this? The LIAISE project (www.liaise-noe.eu) is initiated to investigate just this. The hypothesis is that in many cases model use is not successful, because there is a gap between the two communities of IA researchers and IA practitioners. This gap is created by the fact that IA researchers are interested in new approaches and innovations, whereas IA practitioners need tools which are easy to use and give transparent, understandable results. In this paper we discuss the first results of interviews with policymakers, on national as European level on how tools are being used in daily practice and on what research questions we need to get answered. We will describe the first version of the RM-IAT, the reference model for impact assessment tools, which proposes a standardized way to describe models and tools. We will introduce the LIAISE Front Office and Back Office toolbox, where tools are presented in such a way to the users of the toolbox, that the users are able to make a better choice of which model to use, and by doing so, are able to use models with more success. Some tools will actually be made available in the Back Office. We can conclude that tool use in the European countries depends on the context in which they are used: it depends on the tool, it depends on the user, it depends for what purpose the tool is used.
