The Bergen Knowledge Hub aims to
- Provide knowledge and ideas that connect research and scholarship with policymaking
- Engage with the public and society to promote the best research from the region and for the region
- Become a platform to develop science advice on marine, maritime, energy and environmental issues, with emphasis on the 17 UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The Academia Europaea is the pan-European Academy of Humanities, Letters, Law, and Sciences. The Academia was founded in 1988 as the functioning Europe-wide Academy that encompasses all fields of scholarly inquiry.
What would you do if you invented a time machine? Would you travel back to the past, to alter history or fix mistakes? Or would you rather jump forward, to collect future knowledge and bring back advanced technologies? These and other challenging questions were asked of two of Europe’s top experts on climate change and energy: Professor Nebojsa Nakicenovic, Chief Scientific Advisor to the European Commission, and Professor Peter Lund, co-chair of the SAPEA working group on Europe’s energy transition, at an event co-hosted by SAPEA during Berlin Science Week.
The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences has awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics 2021 “for ground-breaking contributions to our understanding of complex physical systems”. Half of the Prize was jointly awarded to Professor Syukuro Manabe MAE of Princeton University and Professor Klaus Hasselmann MAE from the Max Planck Institute for Meteorology, “for the physical modelling of Earth’s climate, quantifying variability and reliably predicting global warming”. The second half of the Prize was awarded to Professor Giorgio Parisi MAE of Sapienza University of Rome, “for the discovery of the interplay of disorder and fluctuations in physical systems from atomic to planetary scales”.
Energy transition is not just about new technologies and innovation. Our current lifestyles are also contributing to energy and climate problems, and the move away from fossil fuels towards different energy systems will impact on everyone in society. Change has to be fair and inclusive. It requires public engagement and active participation across the whole of society. Addressing these issues is even more important given the context of the upcoming global climate conference, COP26.
Professor Lise Øvreås has been elected new president of The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. She will be the third woman to hold this top position. In her election speech, she mentioned sustainable change, scientific advice, and the promotion of free and independent research as some of her flagship issues for the Academy in the future.
The publication of the first findings of the sixth IPCC climate report coincided with the start of the Norwegian climate conference Rosendalsveko (August 9th – 11th). For the young participants at the conference, the dire findings of the report and warnings of a “code red for the planet” came as no surprise.
Årets Rosendalsveko (9. – 11. august), med overskriften «Klima, energi, næring og bærekraft på Vestlandet» ble avsluttet med en paneldebatt over temaet «Vestlandet i et globalt perspektiv», et tema som også sammenfatter mange av diskusjonene fra konferansen som helhet. Den avsluttende debatten ble ledet av vitenskapelig leder i AE-Bergen, Eystein Jansen.
Rosendalsveko går av stabelen for andre gang 9. – 11. august, med «Klima, energi, næring og bærekraft på Vestlandet» som hovedtema. I år er arrangementet utvidet med Rosendalshelga i forkant av uken. Både Academia Europaea Bergen Knowledge Hub (AE-Bergen) og UiB er bidragsytere til Rosendalsveko.
The SAPEA report “A systemic approach to the energy transition in Europe” suggests several possible pathways towards a carbon-neutral future. However, the SAPEA evidence review report concludes that achieving carbon-neutrality by 2050 will require urgent action.
Maria Leptin was appointed President of the European Research Council (ERC) by the European Commission on June 30th. Professor Maria Leptin is a highly respected scientist working on developmental biology and immunology.
The pandemic will have a lasting impact on Academic life and the operations of academies such as ours. The next semester will likely see us moving into some more physical meetings and events. There will be a phase of trying out how to balance physical and online activities, Academic Director Eystein Jansen writes in his summer greetings.