Workshop on Environmental Science and Public Understanding - ESPU 2012
March 28, 2012
Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University
As part of the Natural Environment Week 2012
The Workshop on Environmental Science and Public Understanding (ESPU) will be held on March 28, 2012, hosted by Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University, and the Kobe University Science Shop. It is partially supported by Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS).
The ESPU Workshop is held as part of the Academic Exchange Weeks 2011 in Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University. The objective of this "Weeks" is to promote academic exchanges and research collaborations in the international perspective, to encourage graduate and undergraduate students as well as young researchers to reflect their research careers, and to make them acquire research and related skills. The "Weeks" also provides opportunities for the faculty members and students inside and outside of Kobe University, and scholars and practitioners from abroad, to exchange each other beyond the framework of academic fields and nationality, by exploiting the interdisciplinary nature of our Graduate School.
Modern society is characterized as a highly science- and technology-oriented, or knowledge-based society. In solving problems such as environmental, medical, social-safety ones and promoting related social decision-making, science and technology have become indispensable as well as resulting scientific knowledge. On the other hand, there is a strong tendency that science and technology have become more difficult to understand and hard to access, and have caused people's feeling of estrangement, as science and technology have became advanced and specialized.
With these backgrounds in mind, "Kobe University Science Shop" was created in 2007 as an organization in Graduate School of Human Development and Environment. It provides a venue for dialogue and collaboration between citizens and experts (scientists, engineers, and so on) and supports various scientific activities by citizens as well as science education in local schools and communities. By doing so, it aims at promoting the culture of doing and enjoying science by themselves through empowering citizens to feel science and technology more familiar and to exploit them to solving their own problems.
In Environmental Science, the problem of public understanding is most crucial. Many environmental issues are concerned with risks in the future and with social and political decision making, so that they often lead to social conflicts. Because of the interdisciplinary and complex nature of the environmental problems, comprehensive understanding is difficult even for professional researchers as well. Conflicts often appear not only from social points of view but also from cognitive aspects of understanding nature. Therefore, the "Public Understanding" issue lies not only between citizens and experts, but also among experts from different or even in the same specialties.
The ESPU Workshop has been prepared as an opportunity for researchers from different specialties to exchange views and ways of understanding phenomena concerning several environmental problems, such as climate, biodiversity, energy, water environment, nuclear power plant issues, etc. It will also provide an opportunity for dialogue and collaboration among scientists and students from different disciplines. It is a pleasure for the members of Graduate School of Human Development and Environment to provide a venue for dialogues among people with various backgrounds.
Program (as of March 23)
| Time | Speaker | Title |
|---|---|---|
| 09:00-09:10 | Yasuhide Tanaka, Executive Vice President, Kobe University | -Opening Remark- |
| 09:10-09:20 | Kuniyoshi Ebina, Kobe University | Scope of the Workshop |
| 09:20-09:30 | John Harte, University of California Berkeley | Comment on Environmental Science and Public Understanding |
| 09:30-10:15 | Tetsuo Yabuki, Rakuno Gakuen University | Regime Shift under Climate Change in Alpine Vegetation: A Model Analysisand Public Understanding |
| 10:15-10:45 | Tomohiro Tabata, Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University | How Can We Minimize Energy Demand/Supply in Household? Case Studies from Life Cycle Perspective |
| 10:45-11:15 | Tsuyoshi Hondou, Tohoku University | Science Communication over Scientific Uncertainty: A Case Study in a Legal Court |
| 11:15-12:00 | Michiji Konuma, Keio University and Kanagawa Dental College | Beyond the Era of Nuclear Power Plants and Nuclear Weapons - Concerned with Environmental Issues - |
| - | - | (Lunch) |
| 13:45-14:30 | John Harte, UC Berkeley | The Basics of Global Warming |
| 14:30-15:15 | Kunio Goto, St. Andrew's University | Treatment of Uncertainty in Climate Science |
| 15:15-16:00 | Mary Ellen Harte | Communicating Climate Change |
| - | - | (Break) |
| 16:30-17:00 | Takanori Nagano, Graduate School of Agricultural Science, Kobe University | Building Consensus among the Water Users by Visualization |
| 17:00-17:30 | Masayuki Itoh, Kobe University Science Shop and Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University | Kobe University Science Shop: A Gateway Between Civil Society and Science |
| 17:30-17:40 | Roumiana Tsenkova, Director, Kobe University Gender Equality Office | Comment on Environmental Science and Public Understanding: Interdisciplinary and International Collaborations Towards Sustainable Society |
| 17:40-17:50 | Nobuko Ohmido, Chairperson of the Academic Exchange Weeks, Graduate School of Human Development and Environment, Kobe University | -Closing Remark- |
Welcoming Party for participants
Updated: 2012/03/30 (Fri) 12:49