CWTS Special Webinar on Ethics of Quantification

Please Join Webinar Online @ CWTS, Leiden University on 5th February 2021, 14:00-16:45 CET (8.00-10:45 EST)

https://www.cwts.nl/events

Numbers are at the core of the nexus between technoscience, society and the new media. The potential of numbers to inflict harm is on par or superior to those of any other technologies, when we consider both visible and invisible numbers, e.g. the use of artificial intelligence and big data algorithms. And yet, numbers are so deeply entrenched in our existence that we barely reflect on them critically any more.

Following the publication of the Nature commentary last June on ‘Five ways to ensure that models serve society’, which was focused on modelling, we propose a broader discussion on the ethics and politics of quantification. How can we develop frameworks for observation, critique and improvement of the social uses of quantification? (See WP: https://www.ucl.ac.uk/bartlett/public-purpose/publications/2021/jan/why-ethics-quantification-needed-now)

Programme

Chair: Ismael Rafols (CWTS, Leiden Univ.)

14:00 Presentations

Andrea Saltelli (Open Evidence, Open Univ. Catalonia (UOC)):

Do we need an ethics of quantification?

Wendy Espeland (Dept. Sociology, Northwestern Univ.):

Why numbers that make up people and mediate their interests require an ethics

Andy Stirling (SPRU, Univ. Sussex):

From ethics of quantities to politics of qualities: mitigating power-driven closures

15:30 Break

15:45 Discussion

Comments to presentations followed by open discussion.

Discussants:

Gaby Umbach (Global Stat, European Univ. Institute)

Sarah De Rijcke (CWTS, Leiden Univ.)

Niels Mejlgaard (Danish Centre for Studies in Research and Research Policy, Aarhus Univ.)

Wolfgang Drechsler (Nurkse Dept. Innov. & Gov., Tallin Tech, & IPP, UCL)

16:45 Closing

 

 

School of the Built Environment Researchers helping Thames Valley Towns reduce CO2 emissions and improve air quality

University of Reading researchers are helping towns across Berkshire reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions and improve air quality through a mix of energy management and traffic management initiatives.

The Thames Valley Live Lab, part of the £22.9m Department for Transport funded ADEPT SMART Places Live Labs programme, went live in 2019. The project is a collaboration between the University of Reading (School of the Built Environment), energy software specialist Smarter Grid Solutions, technology giants O2 and Siemens, engineering consultancy Stantec, and the six local authorities across Berkshire.

For further information please click on this link.

UK Collaborative Housing Centre published the report Delivering Design Value: The Housing Design Value Conundrum

Flora Samuel and colleagues from the UK Collaborative Housing Centre have just published the report Delivering Design Value: The Housing Design Value Conundrum, funded by all four governments of the UK and featured widely in the press.

Creating well-designed homes and neighbourhoods is a shared ambition of the four UK governments, but is rarely achieved in practice. The aim of this report was to understand why design quality is so often undervalued and how design-sensitive planning and development might be encouraged in the future. Sponsored by the RTPI and the four UK governments, the report examines the process of planning, designing and developing new homes and neighbourhoods using data collected from across the UK. It finds that the design quality of new homes and neighbourhoods is stubbornly low and that the responsibility for delivering design value is shared by the public and private sector. The report includes a large format downloadable diagram that identifies the ‘critical points of intervention’ for delivering design value in the planning and development process. Its principal recommendation is that the four UK governments should adopt ‘design value standards’ that place neighbourhood urban form principles in regulation and embed the economic, social and environmental value of design at the heart of planning and housebuilding.

The full report can be downloaded here.

 

Social Value Toolkit for Architecture written by Flora Samuel published by RIBA, July 2020

The Social Value Toolkit for Architecture has been developed to make it simple to evaluate and demonstrate the social impact of design on people and communities.

Social value outcomes are increasingly being considered necessary benefits in public and private procurement through quality scores of bids and tenders. To provide evidence that meets these key performance targets and metrics, practices need to demonstrate value quantitatively and this toolkit provides a post occupancy evaluation survey and methodology for reporting social value as a financial return on investment.

The Social Value Toolkit was developed through a research project led by the University of Reading and included representatives from the RIBA and research leaders in architectural practice. Download the guidance below to hear from some of these researchers on how their practice is building social value into their projects and design processes.

The Social Value Toolkit for Architecture was published in July 2020 by RIBA and can be accessed here.

 

University part of successful funding bid for Oxford Road ‘Community Story Telling’ project

Academics from the University of Reading have been part of a successful bid to secure over £9,000 from Historic England, to initiate four exciting ‘Community Story Telling’ activities focussed around the Oxford Road in west Reading.

The bid was a joint collaboration with Reading Borough Council’s High Streets Heritage Action Zone (HSHAZ) team, who received the funding, and other partners.

Please read the full press release here.

Free Webinar: Understanding Energy Systems Models

The ARUA Centre of Excellence in Climate & Development (ARUA-CD) and the African Centre of Excellence for Inequality Research (ACEIR) are hosting a webinar as part of their joint project on Transforming Social Inequalities Through Inclusive Climate Action (TSITICA) on 9 December 2020  at 11:30 – 13:00 (SAST)  

Brief Description

Faced with uncertainty about growth, technical change, potential climate impacts, and the difficult task of deciding today which policies we should put in place and which energy equipment we should procure – scenario-based models are a useful set of tools that can help us navigate complexity, and systematically explore the decision and uncertainty space.

Scenario-based models help us ensure that the descriptions of the world in the future are at least internally consistent, the decisions made are rational and the basis transparent. There are two main approaches for tackling the problem: Bottom-up engineering models, with detailed technology representation (but are partial equilibrium and sector specific) and Top-down economic models, with the whole economy represented (but lack strong technical foundations).

In this webinar Bruno Merven from the Energy Systems Research Group, based at the University of Cape Town will be giving an overview of Bottom-Energy Models, describing how they help, what they can and can’t do, and provide a brief overview of the different types of models out there.

If you are interested in attending, please register.

Dr Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA) – Green Recovery and Global Climate Policy

Tuesday  24 November 2020 at 16:00 – 17:00 GMT

About this Event

Covid-19 has sparked the most severe economic crisis since the Great Depression, and with much of the world now experiencing a second wave and with lockdowns returning, the crisis is far from over. The major stimulus and recovery packages being implemented by governments around the world in response present a pivotal moment for tackling climate change. The colossal investment in these packages could either redirect the global economy on a pathway to limiting warming below 2 degrees through a green recovery, or it could lock us into a fossil-fuel based system for years to come making it almost impossible to meet 2 degrees, beyond which the consequences of climate change become much more severe. Given what is at stake, how can countries realise a green recovery? What policies should be prioritised as most effective in addressing climate change, whilst also facilitating economic recovery? And given the stimulus programmes which have already been implemented, are we on track for a green recovery at all? Finally, what will be the implications of the Covid-19 recovery packages on global climate policy and COP26?

To provide insight into these questions we are delighted to be joined by one of the world’s leading energy and climate policy experts Dr Fatih Birol, Executive Director of the International Energy Agency (IEA).

Dr Fatih Birol is the Executive Director and head of the International Energy Agency (IEA). The IEA is the world’s highest authority on energy – advising governments and industry on energy policy and solutions for climate change mitigation, energy security and energy affordability. Dr Birol has served as Executive Director of the IEA since 2015 and previously served as the Chief Economist and Director of Global Energy Economics at the IEA in Paris. He is responsible for the IEA’s flagship World Energy Outlook publication, which is recognised as the most authoritative source for strategic analysis of global energy markets. He is founder and chair of the IEA Energy Business Council which provides a forum for cooperation between the energy industry and policymakers. He has also been named by Forbes Magazine among the most influential people on the world’s energy scene. He chairs the World Economic Forum’s (Davos) Energy Advisory Board and serves on the UN Secretary-General’s Advisory Board on ‘Sustainable Energy for All’. He is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Japanese Emperor’s Order of the Rising Sun, the Order of the Polar Star from the King of Sweden and the highest Presidential decorations from Austria, Germany and Italy.

To register for this event please click here

This event will be live-streamed on YouTube channel