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ANNOUNCEMENTS

 

FROM THE EARTH: THINKING ENVIRONMENTALLY ABOUT AFRICAN EXTRACTIVES

DATE: APRIL 1, 2024, TALK: 10:00-11:30 A.M., LUNCH: 11:30-12:30 P.M.

LOCATION: SQUIRES STUDENT CENTER, BRUSH MOUNTAIN A OR VIA ZOOM

  • Join professor Miles Larmer for a talk and stay for a conversation about the collaborative possibilities across disciplines and communities impacted by resource extraction in Africa and Appalachia. Miles Larmer is a professor and the director of the Center for African Studies at the University of Florida. RSVP for lunch by March 26. | Register here
  • This event supports the +Policy Network's Energy & Environmental Policy Focal Area | Click here to learn more

2024 STEP KEYNOTE: UNCOMFORTABLE KNOWLEDGE IN SCIENCE AND POLICY 

DATE: APRIL 11, 2024, AT 4:00 P.M.

LOCATION: 311 LATHAM HALL (WATCH PARTY) OR VIA ZOOM

  • This year's STEP keynote address will feature a virtual presentation by renowned research policymaking advocate, Dr. Roger Pielke Jr. A watch party will take place in 311 Latham Hall, with light snacks provided. A Zoom option is also available, and registration is required. The event is sponsored by the +Policy Network and co-sponsored by the School of Public and International Affairs and the Department of Political Science. | Register here
  • This event is hosted by the Science, Technology and Engineering in Policy (STEP) program | Click here to learn more 

TEAM SCIENCE 101 (Co-sponsored by ISCE, +Policy Network and Whole Health Consortium)

NEXT UP: MANAGING DIFFERENCE AND CONFLICT IN CROSS-DISCIPLINARY RESEARCH TEAMS

DATE: APRIL 12, 2024, 10:00-11:30 A.M. VIA ZOOM

  • Participants will learn about the basics of communicating across disciplinary boundaries. Learn how you can harness the diversity of your team, promote productive disagreement, and anticipate, prevent, and mitigate conflict.
  • Register here Click here for more information

SPRING 2024 STEP SEMINAR SERIES

DATE: FRIDAYS, 12-1 PM

The weekly STEP seminar provides a space for informative presentations and discussions around work at the science-policy interface. The seminar is open to all VT community members, and is held in-person at Architecture Annex 111 and via Zoom. | Speaker Schedule

What is the +Policy Network?


The +Policy Network, formerly the Policy Destination Area, is a cross-university, interdisciplinary group that aims to raise the visibility of policy and policy-related research and practice across the University. We are dedicated to making research more "translation-ready" by helping faculty and graduate students consider policy considerations even at the start of the research enterprise (hence, the "+ Policy"). Since fall 2021, we are funded by and operate under the auspices of the Institute of Society, Culture and Environment (ISCE). A director and stakeholders who meet monthly direct activities.

Building capacity for policy research and development that connects STEM disciplines with the social sciences and humanities sets us apart from the "policy school" approach by leveraging our strengths in policy-related theoretical and methodological innovation and sophistication and the deliberate integration of policy considerations throughout the university, so as to advance the human condition in a just and equitable manner.


We view policy broadly as making decisions with wide-ranging or heightened impact under conditions of complexity, ambiguity, and uncertainty. Under such frequently volatile and poorly understood circumstances, “policy” encompasses more than statutes, regulations, and court decisions, often producing outcomes with major social, economic, and environmental ramifications.

We work toward achieving our aims through several interlocked strategies and that also reflect the mission of our land grant University. These include concentration of focal areas that are in turn reflected in our research, graduate certificate program, or curriculum, and engagement. Specific initiatives or programs are listed below.

      

Focal Areas

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    Energy & Environmental Policy

    Policies debated and made now affect generations to come. Perhaps in few areas is this more true than for energy and environmental policies - which are national, but also international, state and local - making them especially complex.

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    Health Policy

    We view health policy as an ever-evolving, interdisciplinary field that traverses many disciplines including those traditionally within public health and medicine, as well as across liberal arts, architecture and planning, engineering, and others.

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    Technology Policy

    We are poised to enter perhaps the most consequential decade in the history of humankind. The potential of innovative technologies for good or ill, unfolding within an acceleratingly interconnected yet diverging world that is undergoing dramatic climate and social changes, means that governance and policy decisions made today have outsized ramifications across every sphere of future human activity.