Enhancing collaboration between agricultural scientists and policy makers in Central Europe
Hoping to enhance interaction between agriculture experts and policy makers, the CEEC AGRI POLICY project is mapping research potential in Central and Eastern Europe, and establishing a database of organisations and experts. The project's coordinator, Olivier Chartier from EUROQUALITY in France, first spoke to CORDIS News in 2004 in his capacity as coordinator of another project (CEC Animal Science), aimed at promoting animal science collaboration in Central Europe. He spoke then of the potential in these countries, and the need to raise the profile of the expertise in Central Europe while at the same time transferring knowledge between researchers in the EU's older and newer Member States, as well as those in the candidate countries. The CEEC AGRI POLICY project, which began in May 2005, continues this theme, involving nine of the EU's new Member States as well as Bulgaria, Croatia, Romania, Turkey, Bosnia Herzegovina and Serbia Montenegro in the project. The resulting database of expert profiles is intended to help researchers to initiate cooperation and to identify experts with specific competences. The mapping report will be delivered in 2006, and will identify research potential in agricultural policy analysis. It will also indicate the main players in agricultural policy analysis in each country covered by the project. The project team will also provide six-month reports that monitor agricultural policy as well as market and trade developments and rural vitality. An annual report will also reflect on policy demand and the activities of scientists developing agricultural policy analysis. This report is intended to identify potential gaps between the needs of policy makers and the work of scientists. The project partners are inviting all experts from the EU's new Member States, the candidate countries and the Western Balkans involved in agricultural policy analysis to register their profiles.