Date/Time
Date(s) - 04/24/2015 - 04/25/2015
All Day
Location
Eckerd College
Address
4200 54th Ave S.
St. Petersburg, FL, 33711
Website
http://www.eckerd.edu/food/
Categories
The Institute on Science for Global Policy (ISGP), in partnership with Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society and Eckerd College, announces a new conference focused on linking scientifically credible information to the formulation and implementation of sound, effective domestic and international policies.
The distinctive, if not unique, ISGP model emphasizes critical debates and extended caucus discussions among highly credible scientists, policy makers, students, and the public. These debates seek to clarify the scientific and technical (S&T) understanding for the nonspecialists who are often responsible for making or directly influencing, local, regional, national, and global policy decisions. ISGP conferences also provide opportunities for scientists to experience the challenging tasks routinely faced by those responsible for formulating and implementing effective policies that involve S&T issues.
The debate/caucus model, pioneered by the ISGP, has been successfully used to examine a wide range of contemporaneously critical issues, including:
- emerging and persistent infectious diseases
- food safety, security, and defense
- climate change
The critical debates and caucuses at the ISGP/Sigma Xi Eckerd Conferenceare open to the public and press and have been organized in conjunction with Eckerd students and faculty. This conference is designed to provide a forum in which the scientific and technological issues facing societies worldwide can be view through the personal life choices and communitywide decisions facing the St. Petersburg area.
The ISGP-Eckerd Conference on Food Security: Focus on Production and Sustainability
The conference program will be convened in two parts:
- On Friday, April 24, 2015, three internationally recognized scientists will debate their respective policy position papers, which express their views of the current realities and the scientific opportunities and challenges, and their recommendations for policy related to current food production and sustainability. The scientists will defend their positions in debate sessions that involve critical questioning by a panel of about 45 debaters, composed of Eckerd students and faculty, scientists and academics, and representatives from government, the private sector, and the community. Participants in the audience will be able to submit written questions that are given to the moderator. Representatives from the media will be invited to observe these debates, but will not be able to pose questions during the debates.
- On Saturday, April 25, 2015, conference participants, including those in the audience who attended the debates on Friday, will join small-group caucuses. These caucuses will identify areas of consensus and actionable next steps to be considered by governmental and societal leaders. The conference concludes with a plenary session that synthesizes the conclusions from all the individual caucuses. Summaries of these conclusions and of the debates will be prepared by Eckerd students and faculty in collaboration with ISGP staff and published with the scientists’ policy position papers in a publicly available book shortly after the conference.
To learn more about the ISGP-Eckerd College Conference on Food Security: Focus on Production and Sustainability and how to obtain an invitation, please email weppnesp@eckerd.edu.
Click here to register for the event: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1xoOmoleRv4uP38pamBUFIDgD8UC3bN2t-HbOOH8R38s/viewform
