View source for Consultation and dissemination

'''Work Package 5: Consultation and dissemination'''

FORECASTER is a strategic project to underpin implementation of the WFD. As such it is important that the project has a sound interface and consultation with the stakeholders who will have to adopt the measures proposed. The project therefore has a specific work package (WP5) devoted to consultation and dissemination. 

This is a research and technological development project designed to gain new knowledge to improve and the existing Guidelines and Protocols to meet needs and Community policies, particularly with respect to protecting aquatic ecosystems, and promoting sustainable measures of improvement. Therefore no commercial exploitation activities are planned.

Dissemination mainly consists of two Stakeholder Workshops planned in cooperation to reach potential end-users for the guidelines and protocols including in Central/Eastern countries (T5.1). Finally, an international conference will be hosted at the end of the project to present results to scientific community, administration and stakeholders (T5.2). Dissemination also includes development and maintenance of a project web site.

The innovation-related activities are mainly dissemination related, as producing a commercial product is not an intended goal of the project. The proposed protocols and guidelines will be freely available and it is expected they will be widely consulted and utilised in Europe and elsewhere in the world to address the problems arising from rehabilitating aquatic systems.

Consultation with stakeholders will be achieved through workshops and internet discussion groups. They will act as the interface between the implementing agencies and stakeholders and the project, and provide a mechanism for feedback of information on the guidelines and protocols. In addition, two stakeholder workshops and consultation events (see below) will be hosted during the project to obtain immediate feedback. This feedback will be incorporated into the protocols and guidelines where practical. In addition, there will be a major international conference towards the end of the project where the information will be disseminated to a wider stakeholder/scientific/policy maker audience. 

Outcomes of scientific interest will be disseminated in suitable scientific journals, scientific congresses and meetings. The general principles for publication and a fair way for sharing results will be laid down in a consortium agreement. Towards the end of the project, the achievements will be widely publicised and showcased either within a final conference or within a special event during a relevant international congress. The involvement of the IWRMNET/European Commission in this project will be demonstrated by adding the following sentence to each publication: ''This study (report, paper, workshop…) has been carried out with financial support from the Commission of the European Communities, specific RTD programme “IWRMNET “Title”. It does not necessarily reflect its views and in no way anticipates the Commission’s future policy in this area''.

'''Dissemination events within the FORECASTER project'''
{|
!Where
!When
!Title / Content
!Target groups
!Organiser
|-
|Tulcea,
Romania
|M06
|Stakeholder Workshop and consultation on practices and constraints of existing programme of measures
|Researchers , scientists, users, Water mgmt agencies, SMEs
30+ participants
|DDNRI
|-
|Lyon, France
|M18
|Stakeholder Workshop and consultation on protocols and guidelines of proposed programme of measures
|Researchers , scientists, users, Water mgmt agencies, SMEs
30+ participants
| 
|-
|Hull UK
|M23
|International Conference on Rehabilitation of Rivers (and Standing Waters)
|Int. scientific community plus Researchers , scientists, users, Water mgmt agencies, SMEs 
100-150 participants
|UHULL
|}

'''Dissemination activities within the FORECASTER project'''
{|
!Type of activity
!Type of audience
!Countries
|-
|Project web page
|Stakeholder, higher education, research, general public
|worldwide
|-
|Consultation of stakeholder institutions – 2 workshops
|Stakeholder
|Europe
|-
|Newsletter
|Stakeholder, research
|Worldwide
|-
|End-user workshops
|Stakeholder
|EU27+Accession countries
|-
|Hosting international conference
|Stakeholder, research
|worldwide
|-
|Participation at int. conferences
|Stakeholder, research
|worldwide
|-
|Press releases
|Stakeholder, research, general public
|National, EU, worldwide
|-
|Scientific publications
|research
|Worldwide
|}

Networking is, ''per se'', an ongoing but dedicated activity of the whole initiative. As the participants will meet regularly, academic and social interaction is a natural consequence and is, of course, intended. The inter-disciplinary content of the network will offer all the participants the opportunity to gain new insights outside their area of expertise. As a result, an informal network linking the researchers will be established, which will enhance their career development in the international arena and effectively contribute to overcoming fragmentation in European research, i.e. reinforcing the European Research Area. 

'''Raising public participation and awareness''' 

Awareness activities are described in detail in WP5 devoted to consultation and dissemination 
*A web-site for the project shall be established to ensure that the appropriate information regarding the project will be widely accessible to facilitate the dialogue with society within Europe Most of the project web content, in particular a project summary, will be designed for non-experts.
*A 2-4 page newsletter, glossy leaflet or flyer will be made by the co-ordinator. This will contain: e.g. general information about the work programme, participants, published results, and exploitation strategy. This leaflet will appear at least twice and will be broadly distributed (EU, participants, industry, scientific meetings, etc).
*Press releases will be sent out to newspapers and technical journals at the beginning and end of the project