Impact Assessment (IA) of planned policies is increasingly perceived and used as a tool to consider the concerns of Sustainable Development from early on in decision making. For such assessments, a wide range of evidence from many different disciplines is needed: For example, agricultural policies impact on soil, water, climate, employment, economy, third countries, etc.

Our main objective is to build up a broad interdisciplinary community of researchers and practitioners which develops a mutual understanding of the respective needs and potentials.

This website is an important tool for information exchange within the LIAISE project and for linking-up with external parties involved in Impact Assessment. We provide daily news on different issue areas relevant for Impact Assessment and Sustainable Development. We also publish a regular News Bulletin to which you may subscribe. 

You are strongly invited to use this LIAISE website for the dissemination of your research projects and other  IA related activities. We also look forward to your feedback on this website and your views on joining the process towards an IA community. 

Impact Assessment (IA) is a process to collect and analyse the evidence from many different sources. This evidence however is often not readily available for use in IA of a planned policy. A gap prevails between scientific research and its consideration in policy development. LIAISE ('Linking Impact Assessment Instruments to Sustainability Expertise') aims to bridge this gap in order to improve the quality and relevance of scientific knowledge, and to increase the awareness of policy makers on the potentials and capacities of researchers.

LIAISE was established as part of the European Commission’s FP7 work programme (2009) as a Network of Excellence (NoE) in order to improve the application of Impact Assessments by both the research and the policy making communities. Its focus is on policy development relating to sustainable development strategies.

The mission or the overarching objective of LIAISE is to contribute to the renewed EU Sustainable Development Strategy by bridging the gaps between science, policy making and implementation, with academically-grounded approaches to IA. To do this it has identified three strategic goals.

1. The centrepiece of the LIAISE project will be a virtual facility called the 'Shared IA Toolbox’. This will be a durable and flexible infrastructure on a dedicated web platform providing access to the most up to date and relevant IA tools together with a help desk facilities. There will also be the capability to make technical enhancements to improve the applicability of tools to policy makers and at the same time provide development opportunities to researchers.

2. Expertise within the LIAISE NoE will be harnessed to provide a continuously updated ‘Shared Research Agenda’ on IA issues identifying needs, gaps and the application of new techniques and technologies. As well as engaging existing scientists and practitioners, capacity building initiatives, information dissemination and training modules will spread the results of research activities to new IA users and researchers.

3. The LIAISE NoE will be developed with a governance structure and a business plan that will aim to be inclusive to all parties with an interest in developing standards of excellence in IA. It will ensure the IA toolbox is durable with a long term future well beyond FP7 funding.  

For a brief overview of the project, please browse the article below appeared in "International Innovation".

 Concepts and objectives

Policies aiming at sustainable development need a solid foundation in IA using a variety of IA tools. However, existing research points out that the full potential of IA is not being realised. Many tools to support IA have been developed, but are not yet being fully employed by policy makers. These missed opportunities are symptomatic of a large and deep gap between the two broad communities of IA researchers and IA practitioners. Practitioners tend to look for tools that are simple and transparent while the researchers are more interested in the sophistication and innovative aspects of assessment tools. The main purpose of LIAISE is to identify and exploit opportunities to bridge the existing gap between these two communities in a way that leads to an enhanced use of IA tools in policy making. Key to this aim will be the development of a shared toolbox on IA, which will be of great use both to policy makers and to the research community. The LIAISE consortium will:

• Unite the multi-disciplinary competences of a core of large European institutes, that in turn consolidate the expertise from large FP6 projects such as SEAMLESS, SENSOR, MATISSE, Sustainability A Test, IQ Tools and EVIA;

• Combine researchers that analyse current policy needs and link them in innovative ways (i.e. targeted, co-designed and co-produced IA ‘test cases’);

• Develop a roadmap towards a virtual centre of excellence on IA, that can operate as the durable hub of existing academic and practitioner networks relevant to the themes of the NoE;

• Maintain the flexibility to support ‘real life’ IA processes, informed by a structured dialogue with the IA user community, represented by a high level Policy Advisory Board;

• Develop a business plan to ensure durable operation, scientific credibility and efficient usability of the shared toolbox, also in the post-project period.

As a result of the project, the following outputs are envisaged:

• A shared toolbox: a durable and flexible infrastructure to support IA with improved tools;

• A continuously updated shared research agenda fed from scientists of different disciplines and practitioners;

• Capacity building and training components to spread the results of research activities to target groups in communities of IA users and IA researchers;

• A virtual centre of excellence: an internationally visible, integrated and interdisciplinary scientific community providing excellent and applicable research in support of IA.

 Workpackages

The activities of LIAISE will be divided into eight WPs, each one under the responsibility of single research institutes in the Consortium, as described below:

• WP0: Management and coordination of LIAISE - ALTERRA

• WP1: IA for sustainability: policy needs, assessment procedures and governance contexts - UEA

• WP2: Science for IA tools and procedure - ZALF

• WP3: Shared toolbox: back-office and improvement of selected IA tools - ALTERRA

• WP4: Shared toolbox: front-office - FUB

• WP5: Shared toolbox: governance and post-project durability - NERC-CEH

• WP6: Test cases in sustainability priority areas - SYKE

• WP7: Dissemination and Training - FEEM