PROJECTS

Human Brain Project

The Human Brain Project is a H2020 FET Flagship Project which strives to accelerate the fields of neuroscience, computing and brain-related medicine. The HBP was launched in October 2013 and is planned to run for a 10-year period with a total budget of over 1 billion Euro. The project includes collaborators between more than 20 countries, mainly in Europe.

Under “Ethics & Society”, one of the 13 subprojects of the Human Brain Project, public engagement activities are developed aiming to integrate points of view external to the project. These are coordinated by the Danish Board of Technology Foundation that invited Mediatedomain, Lda. to promote, in 2017, two public consultations in Portugal, one online and one face-to-face, on the potential dual use of brain research.

More information: www.humanbrainproject.eu.

CIMULACT - Citizen and Multi-Actor Consultation on Horizon 2020

Engaging all of Europe in shaping a desirable and sustainable future - Citizens to provide concrete and unique input to the European Union’s research and innovation agenda.

The project engages more than 1000 citizens in 30 countries in Europe, along with a variety of other actors, in shaping a desirable sustainable future. In a highly participatory process, the project will provide a unique contribution to European research and innovation policies and topics, create dialogue and shared understanding among the actors, and build strong capacities in citizen engagement, thereby enhancing responsible research and innovation (RRI) in the EU. 

CIMULACT is a three-year project funded by the European Commission, starting June 2015.

About us

CIMULACT has 29 European consortium members from different organisations working in the fields of technology assessment, science dissemination, innovation, research and consulting, coordinated by the Danish Board of Technology Foundation.

General coordination in Portugal: Ursula Caser

Facebook page: www.facebook.com/cimulactportugal

More information available HERE

OPERAs - Operational Potential of Ecosystem Research Applications

OPERAs is a European research project that aims at bridging the gap between ecosystem services science and its practical application. Composed of scientists, researchers and practitioners from 27 different organisations this project focuses on the value of natural capital and the services provided by ecosystems and seeks to mobilize and capacitate stakeholders to apply these concepts in practice.

Stakeholder engagement

Ecosystem services are the benefits people obtain from nature. Thus researchers need to involve stakeholders to make ecosystem services meaningful. However, to appropriately identify and meaningfully engage stakeholders can be challenging. Stakeholder engagement is a key component of OPERAs and in each of the 12 OPERAs exemplars (case studies) they have been engaged in different ways. In OPERAs I was responsible for the Operational Coordination of the stakeholder engagement process.

More Information: www.operas-project.eu.

FRUNZE 35

Rethinking the Industrial Zone – Collaborative Integrated Urban Planning

The project FRUNZE35 integrates the mission to promote democracy developed by the Kiev Department of the Heinrich Böll Foundation (HBF). HBF is a NGO that is closely linked to the German political party "Bündnis 90/The Greens". One of the areas of intervention consists in organizing participatory processes targeting the revitalization of derelict sites and buildings in Kiev, capital of Ukraine. In 2013 a brownfield was chosen, situated in one of the most traditional and central neighborhoods of Kiev, Podil. The challenge consisted in the design and implementation of an Integrated Collaborative Architecture Workshop involving 16 Ukrainian and international architects and urban planners in order to develop in 5 days a coherent and common proposal for the revitalization of the old factory on Frunze Street, nº 35.

The process was a success, leading to a requalification proposal considering five vectors (the sites’ narrative, activities to take place, construction and equipment, link to the surroundings and Kiev and an economically sustainable management model) Each vector to be developed gradually in 5 steps.

Process design and facilitation of the collaborative planning project: Ursula Caser

In case you felt interested in following the future activities around Frunze 35, join the open group on Facebook: “Friends of Frunze35”

iMEDIAR

The mission of Project iMediar is to build bridges of understanding in conflicts in multicultural environments. The project is promoted by a team of conflict mediators with an interdisciplinary background on Psychology, Social Sciences, Environment, Geography, Project Management, and Public Participation Processes, interested in the role of intercultural issues in alternative dispute resolutions. The team provides services of dispute resolution in environments of interculturality (enterprises, private business organizations, social driven projects, non-governmental organizations, community and individual citizens’ relationships), in a multilevel approach.

The project is developing a program of research in action, building knowledge through systematic methods, supervision and innovative tools for collecting data in ADR.

Scientific Supervision: Ursula Caser

www.facebook.com/pages/IMediar/166088616773142?sk=info

Development of the Water Management Plan for the Tagus River Hydrographical Region (River Basin) and the Hydrological Basins of the “Ribeiras do Oeste”

Active Public Participation

These two plans are developed by the National Service for Water-Management of the Tagus Region (Administração da Região Hidrográfica do Tejo I.P.) The objectives of the “Active Public Participation Strategy" in these two plans are:

1. Promote the involvement and active participation of all citizens in the management of water resources,
2. Promote dialogue between citizens and government to discuss problems and search for solutions in water management issues,
3. Create change agents and environmentally responsible citizens, and
4. Build collective responsibilities between management, the key actors (stakeholders) and the population for the management of water resources.

Read more at: APA - Agência Portuguesa do Ambiente

June 2010 - March 2012

MARGov – Collaborative Governance for Marine Protected Areas (Governância Colaborativa de Áreas Marinhas Protegidas)

The project MarGov - Collaborative Governance of Marine Protected Areas won the award Gulbenkian / Oceanarium in 2008. This project aims to contribute to the conservation of biological and cultural diversity of the Marine Park Luiz Saldanha, in Arrábida, focusing on a collaborative governance model, where each partner becomes change agent co-responsible for the sustainable management of the area. Specific objectives are:

1. Create public spaces of debate,
2. Ensure dialogue and interfaces between the institutionalized and individual stakeholders,
3. Deconstruct conflict / myths,
4. Build a collective discourse,
5. Co-responsibilize participants,
6. Promote joint learning,
7. Outline a model of governance

General Coordination: Prof. Doutora Lia Vasconcelos (New University of Lisbon - Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

Read more at: Oceanário de Lisboa www.oceanario.pt/cms/1470/?news=966

January 2010 - June 2011

Critical Neighbourhoods

Interministerial Program: Cova da Moura

Operação Cova da Moura Iniciativa Operações De Qualificação E Inserção Urbana Em Bairros Críticos

Resolução do Cons. de Ministros

n.º 143/2005, de 2 de Agosto

The project was  based on active consensus building and promoted a process of socio-territorial participatory intervention through the following approaches:

1. Active Interaction Approach - based on meetings, extensive and specific workshops and also on personal contacts with key elements of the local community,
2. Active Support Approach - deepen the results of active interaction / process the generated information/ prepare new data and information to be discussed and stabilized / ensure the continuity of flow of information / develop adequate process chronology (phases),
3. Parallel Approach - collect and complete all necessary information and maintain a continuity of contact through the introduction of adequate mechanisms to enhance participation,
4. Socio-Territorial Monitoring Approach - deepen, debate, stabilize and validate the results.

Read more at: www.portaldahabitacao.pt/pt/ibc/covaDaMoura