Oane Visser participated in a roundtable on soil, in a conference held in Brussels to discuss how interactions between researchers and policy makers in the EU can be improved in the field of environmental research (notably water and soil).
Participants of the roundtable included EU senior officials, thinktanks, and researchers. Conference speakers widely noted that the space for ambitious environmental policies has drastically shrunk, since the EU Green Deal commenced some 5 years ago. The soil monitoring law, aimed at combatting degradation of farmland and currently being debated for approval in the European Parliament, is being watered down under the pressure of agribusiness. At the same, the recent EU ambition of strengthening European democracy through for instance citizens panels, offers new avenues for researchers to give input to EU policy, as experts to these panels.
The Erasmus+ project ENGAGEgreen (Enhancing Institutional Capacities and Researchers’ Competencies for Policy Engagement for Green and Digital Transitions) initiated the conference. It will come up with a toolbox to enhance uptake of research findings in EU policy in the field of the environment, based on findings from its research activities and the conference.
- Associate professor
