European Studies
Nano-medicine Regulation
Bärbel Dorbeck-Jung organised a conference on the regulation of nano-medicine on the 9th and 10th of September, 2010. Ambitions are high: together with her research group (LEGS), the Associate Professor is looking to put Twente's unique expertise on the map. "Our university leads Europe on this subject. I received many invitations as an expert in the area of nano-regulation last year." I was also responsible for a special issue on 'lessons learned' for the leading journal Law & Policy. The time for the next step has arrived, and so we are preparing a conference for 75 scientists, companies and other stakeholders in collaboration with the Institute for Innovation and Governance Studies (IGS) and the MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology. The aim of the conference will be to examine what is still necessary for further regulation and scientific research of nanotechnology." Dorbeck-Jung and her associates will introduce the results of the conference in the broader, but related IGS conference with the theme of tentative governance of emerging technologies, which is scheduled to take place on the 28th and 29th of October, 2010.
Ranking Top Universities in Europe
Although Professor Frans van Vught left his post as Rector Magnificus at the University in 2005, he is still associated with ChePS as an Honorary Professor. Currently, his primary function is as a policy advisor to European Commission President, Jose Manuel Barroso. Professor van Vught also leads a project to develop an improved, world-wide ranking system for universities. The project aims to enable a more accurate ranking on the basis of value. "We are reinterpreting academic quality in a broader way than the current, one-dimensional ranking permits. The current system is weighted in favour of excellent research. The strength of higher education in Europe lies in its diversity. These variations should be expressed in the ranking system." Up to the end of 2009, Van Vught's international research team was writing descriptive profiles of all the universities. "We will now go forward with the actual ranking; a process that will take many more dimensions into account than is currently the case. In 2011 we will present our first world-wide ranking list." See www.u-map.eu
Local People Protect Their Own Forest
For the past six years Dr. Margaret Skutsch has led a large-scale research project entitled "Kyoto: Think Global, Act Local," in which twenty-five researchers from seven developing nations conducted research. "Together we showed that villagers in developing countries are fully capable of monitoring carbon levels in their own forests. Moreover, we gave them (inexpensive) instruments to help them to measure the reduction of carbon loss. This in turn, enables them to be in a better position to claim funding from richer nations." Skutsch is proud of the project's results which were reported at the international meeting on climate change in Copenhagen. "The input from our regional researchers has put 'community carbon monitoring' on the international map. And it's great to see barely-schooled local people with genuine smartphones helping to determine their own future." Thanks to the project, the University of Twente now has official status as UNFCCC (United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change) Monitor.
More information available at: www.communitycarbonforestry.org
Staying on top of the Credit Crisis
For Canadian Shawn Donnelly (LEGS), 2009 was dominated by the credit crisis. " It was the year that I finished my book about the regulation of the financial markets. They are proof-reading at Oxford University Press as we speak. I also started working with an academic group based in Cologne. We are jointly investigating the institutional changes that have resulted from the crisis. This topic is also part of economic policy research that I first began in 2009 concerning the Financial Stability Board in Basel." The topic is also popular with students in the European Studies Regulation track. Six of the fifteen Master's track studies were focused on the crisis. " That's a good thing, too, because the recession is far from over ", says their assistant professor with certainty, "as long as the banks stop refusing to lend to individuals and small companies."