The ex ante Impact Asssessment of planned policies has developed as an important part of policy making within the European institutions as well as in Member States. The analysis of expected economic, social and environmental impacts informs the decision making. Collecting relevant and trustworthy evidence is a challenge for policy decisions. At the same time, Impact Assessment is an opportunity for researchers, research organisations and funding agencies to develop knowledge relevant for societal decision making.

As a European research consortium LIAISE investigated over the past 4.5 years the Impact Assessment (IA) practices in relation to Sustainable Development (SD). Specific attention was given to the question how the process of IA in various venues (i.e. nation states, supra national organizations and local organizations) is related to the processes of research and knowledge production. LIAISE identified important gaps between:

1) the current use of research results and what would be potentially feasible;

2) the current system of research programming and what would be required to better support the process of IA for SD.

We explored the possibilities of transdisciplinary creation of knowledge, co-design, meta-data repositories, joint agenda setting, quality review and monitoring, and community and capacity building.

In order to ensure the relevancy of research for societal decision making, the network will continue its efforts and provides services in the context of impact assessment for sustainable development. The mission of the network is outlined in the LIAISE Charter to be presented during the conference. At the conference, the guiding principles will be presented, commented and discussed in interactive sessions. The guiding principles of the charter include

  • Relevancy: developing and designing knowledge production targeted at achieving impact
  • Dialogue: research as a transdisciplinary development of knowledge
  • Transparency: clarity about methods and assumptions ensuring reproducibility and review
  • Contextualization: increasing the impact of research by strongly linking it to relevant societal developments
  • Credibility: Trust in research is achieved through trustworthy embedded information.
  • Integrative and long-term: knowledge production has to transcend its disciplinary boundaries producing insight in complex sustainability issues focused on future generations.

The conference programme includes the following:

  • Presentation of main findings of LIAISE in evaluating IA practices, research agenda setting, tool repository development, test cases, and outreach (Interactive commented sessions on morning of April 1st)
  • Short and focused presentations from relevant energetic and decisive stakeholders in the field of IA for SD, which will be broadcasted online (Visionary presentations on Afternoon of April 1st)
  • Working sessions in which the wider community can engage with the LIAISE Community of Practice on desired directions for future research and activities of the Community of Practice. (Parallel Working groups on Morning of April 2nd)

    • ***Visit LIAISE website for registration***