In January 2012 the Helmholtz-Centre for Environmental Research – UFZ - will host in Leipzig a four-day training event for young and early career researchers: the LIAISE Winter School. The focus of this event will be on Impact Assessment (IA) as a general procedural framework for policy appraisal in decision-making processes. The LIAISE Winter School will combine different modeling strategies and approaches from the natural sciences as well as modeling in economics, and in the field of sustainability. Participatory approaches and the interrelationship between modelers and users of tools will also be addressed.

The Winter School will be part of the development and implementation of training curricula for IA researchers, which is one of the integral aims of the dissemination strategy of LIAISE. The theoretical and methodological activities for researchers will focus on capacity building at all levels on subjects such as: translating IA problems into researchable questions, development and testing of quantitative tools for IA, operational methods to enhance interdisciplinary research, methods for up- and downscaling, methods for uncertainty and post-model analysis. The main focus will be on the training and education of young researchers since they constitute the future researchers in this specific area. An International Education Programme in Impact Assessment for Sustainable Development will be developed as part of a PhD curriculum. Within this programme a variety of courses, seminars, discussion groups and yearly events will be offered and implemented in different research institutes which are part of the LIAISE NoE.

In the forthcoming months an inventory of existing IA training activities within the consortium which may be part of such a curriculum will be done. This involves two types of courses that are open to participants from outside the organizing institute: courses for early stage and experienced researchers in the field of IA for Sustainable Development, and in-depth cutting edge postgraduate courses. If you want to learn more about this work or contribute ideas to these activities, you are invited to contact the LIAISE team at info@liaise-noe.eu.