Objective The project aims to investigate the new social networks which increasingly, and in variable ways in different countries, influence environmental science and technology policy processes. In particular we shall examine their social composition and their links with formal policy bodies; and we will include in this empirically based analysis an assessment of how such networks are enhancing the effectiveness of existing policy bodies, and effecting democratic legitimacy, given their potential for increasing the participatory breadth of policy inputs. The research falls under Area 1: Evaluation of Science and Technology Policy Options in Europe. It is focused on Technological development, sustainable growth, employment, environment and the organization of society (1.2) and looks at "interfaces, communication and networks in innovation and RTD processes" (1.1) in this context. While each European country faces a common challenge to respond to the need for sustainable development, meeting that challenge in practice is strongly conditioned by national institutional traditions and policy styles. The project seeks to identify the sources of divergence and convergence in environmental science and technology policy among a wide range of European countries: five EU member countries (Denmark, Great Britain, Italy, the Netherlands and Sweden) as well as Lithuania and Norway. The project is divided into four work packages: 1) national experience papers, presenting the processes of policy reconstitution and network-building in the different countries, 2) public-policy interface, examining the interactions between policy-makers and public representatives, including environmental organizations 3) networks and brokers, in which the key actors are subjected to more detailed analysis 4) transnational linkages, investigating the connections that are being established across national boundaries, and their role in European and national policy-making. A central ambition in the project is to carry out systematic comparative analysis and derive conclusions which can be useful to policy deliberations at both national and European levels. Fields of science natural sciencesearth and related environmental sciencesenvironmental sciencessocial scienceseconomics and businessbusiness and managementemployment Programme(s) FP4-INCO - Specific research, technological development and demonstration programme in the field of cooperation with third countries and international organizations, 1994-1998 Topic(s) 0102 - Cooperation with the countries of central and eastern Europe and with the new independent states of the former Soviet Union Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator LUND UNIVERSITY EU contribution No data Address Magle Stora Kykogata 12B 220 02 LUND Sweden See on map Total cost No data Participants (1) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all Kaunas University of Technology Lithuania EU contribution No data Address 20-313,K. Donelaicio Street 20-313 3000 Kaunas See on map Total cost No data