2008 Training Course on the Human Dimension of Global Environmental Change

Important: Submission Deadline: 15th October 2007 (send to:
hdgec.school@fu-berlin.de)

Call for Application to Marie Curie training course organised by
Environmental Policy Research Centre of the Freie Universität Berlin

Successful applicants will receive a contribution for their travel costs,
including accommodation.

2008 Training Course on the Human Dimension of Global Environmental Change
- Participation in Earth System Governance

February 18th - 27th, 2008, Berlin, Freie Universität Berlin
(Together with Berlin Conference "Long-Term Policies: Governing
Social-Ecological Change" Feb 22ndbine@fiz-karlsruhe.de
-23rd, 2008)


Further information will be posted on www.fu-berlin.de/ffu/hdgec-school.

Summary:
"Participation in Earth Systems Governance" is the second in a series of
four Marie Curie training courses dedicated to the emerging field of earth
system governance. Participation is the inclusion of non-state actors in
political decision-making and implementation. While it is widely
acknowledged that governments alone are not able to meet the challenges of
global environmental change, it has to be carefully analysed in how far
participative approaches are a legitimate and effective alternative for
traditional forms of decision-making. The emerging theme of earth system
governance comprises the actors and institutions from the local to the
global level to achieve a sustainable development. It is about the
institutional requirements for ensuring the basic functions of the system
earth in the long term.
The series of courses aims to train and educate advanced doctoral students
and young researchers about the latest theoretical developments and
empirical and practical implications from the field. It also provides the
opportunity for participants to present the results of relevant research.
It finally aims at establishing a network of young researchers and
developing a research agenda for the future.
The training course will be held back to back with the 2008 Berlin
Conference on Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change, which this
year has as its main theme, "Long Term Policies - Governing Social
Ecological Change."

Theme:
Earth system governance is understood as the sum of the formal and
informal rule systems and actor-networks at all levels of human society
(from local to global) that are set up to influence the co-evolution of
human and natural systems in a way that guarantees the sustainable
development of human society. The analysis of actors and institutions that
contribute to the long term ensuring of basic societal and natural
functions includes the hundreds of international regimes and
organisations, nation states etc... It addresses their political and legal
foundations and their effectiveness and legitimacy and it comprises
economic, political, legal and sociological aspects. Research on earth
system governance thus requires the bridging of disciplinary boundaries
and research areas.

A key concern of earth system governance is the negotiation at the
interface of public decision-making and societal influence, between state
and civil society, marking the boundaries between government and
governance. The challenges of the Human Dimension of Global Environmental
Change cannot be met by intergovernmental diplomatic conferences and
treaties only, but requires involvement of all parts of society.

Yet, how to organize the involvement of stakeholders in global and
national decision-making, and what difference it makes for problem
solving, is still a question insufficiently understood in the social
sciences. Not at least, this includes the problem of finding new ways of
ensuring legitimacy and accountability of actors beyond the confines of
the nation state and beyond purely governmental activity. Participative
approaches are needed, not only in Global Environmental Governance, to
ensure equitable problem defining and solving, and to include all affected
actors into the public decision-making process. This may guarantee wide
acceptance and effective implementation, but, participation and
effectiveness may occasionally stand in a conflicting relationship to each
other, especially when efforts are made to include all concerned actors;
often the results of decision making are least common denominators. Hence,
long-term policies in particular may be more unlikely and effective
governance more difficult to achieve if actors are involved who have
strong interests in maintaining the status quo.
Key questions are:

- (How) does participation enhance problem defining/ formation and solving
in earth system governance? What patterns of participation are observed,
what are preconditions for participation and what impacts does
participation have?
- What are new problems - e.g. lack of legitimacy, green wash, capture,
corruption - and how to overcome these problems?

These questions are tackled in different disciplines of social science -
international relations, political science and law. This training course
brings together the different perspectives on participation in earth
system governance - the empirical observations, the research questions and
the analytical and methodical approaches.
The training course addresses the above questions in the following areas:
- Participation at the international level
- Participation at the national (and sub national) level
- Enabling participation of non-state actors in earth system governance
- Blind spots of participation: corruption
- Participation and long-term policies

Structure of the training course:
The training course offers thematic lectures from internationally renowned
experts, forums for discussion of research results with the participating
faculty, empirical and case study oriented modules, presentations from
practitioners, a simulation exercise, and occasions for networking. The
training course will run over seven days. The first two days will be
introduction days during which overarching and more theoretical aspects of
the topic will be taught. The remaining days will be seminar days during
which empirical or practical lectures focused on one particular theme will
be held. One day will be reserved for a simulation exercise.

Furthermore, the participants will have the opportunity to take part in
the 2008 Berlin Conference on the Human Dimension of Global Environmental
Change on the topic of Long term Policies - Governing Socio-Economic
Change. The Conferences on Human Dimensions of Global Environmental Change
series started in 2001 in Berlin, the conferences are mid-size annual
events of about 200 international participants and internationally
renowned speakers selected through rigorous international peer reviews.
The conferences target all social scientists working on the human
dimensions of global environmental change. Each conference has a specific
theme around which panel discussions and plenary meetings converge. Themes
are selected with a view to bringing new and emerging topics to the
European and global debate. For further information visit:
www.fu-berlin.de/ffu/akumwelt/bc2008.

Participants:
This training course is uniquely designed for advanced doctoral students,
and young post-docs at early stages in their careers in social and legal
science. Participants should be involved in some form of research project
(doctoral research, individual research project or part of project) on a
closely related area to the theme of the training course or have a similar
research background and a strong academic interest. Beyond the interest
for the issues of the training course, we expect the participants to have
a profound methodological knowledge in relevant approaches to analysing
participation in earth system governance (e.g. case studies and large
n-studies, typological approaches and formal models). Training course
participants are expected to submit a paper on their research linked to
the broader context of earth system governance and participation, which
will then be presented and discussed with faculty members during the
training course.

In addition to the training course, a participation and presentation at
the Berlin Conference is possible. Note that all submissions for paper
presentations to the Berlin Conference must make it through a rigorous
independent peer review.

Faculty:
Faculty will include Katrin Ankele, Sigrid Boysen, Tanja Brühl, Harald
Fuhr, Markus Lederer, Dirk Messner, Miranda Schreurs, Bernd Siebenhühner,
Detlef Sprinz and Michael Zürn (t.b.c.).

Host and Venue:
The training course is hosted by Environmental Policy Research Centre of
the Freie Universität Berlin and will take place at the Freie Universität
Berlin. The series of training courses on the Human Dimension of Global
Environmental Change are organised biannually in rotation with the Vrije
Universiteit Amsterdam, IVM.

Application process and further information:
Scholars, who are interested in participation, are invited to write a
letter of motivation (max. one page) and provide an outline of ongoing
research activities including methodological abilities (max. three pages).
The letter of motivation and the outline paper should show the individual
academic (and/or practical) qualification and a clearly visible research
interest in the trainings course theme.

Further, the participants should submit a course/ research paper (15-20
pages) for the training course four weeks prior to the training course.
The paper can be a detailed research exposée of the ongoing project or a
research paper.

Submissions should be sent by email before October 15, 2007 to:
hdgec.school@fu-berlin.de
The applications will be reviewed by academic
standards and a coverage of the issues of the training course. The
decisions on acceptance will be posted by Nov 15.

Important dates:
Application submission deadline: 15th October, 2007
Notification of acceptance: 15th November, 2007
Training course paper due: 21st January, 2008

Further information will be posted on www.fu-berlin.de/ffu/hdgec-school.