“We live at times of confusion whereby scientific knowledge as a basis for policies is under threat. A hub like this can be one avenue for disseminating research based information.” Eystein Jansen is the new Academic Director of Academia Europaea in the Bergen Knowledge Hub.
Eystein Jansen holds his position as professor at the Department of Earth Science, having previously led the Bjerknes Centre for Climate Research for 13 years. He is still active in the centre, as well as in the new Centre for Early Sapiens Behaviour (SapienCE) at University of Bergen.
As the academic director of the Hub, Eystein Jansen is responsible for establishing links between academics and society in areas of societal relevance and interest. In Bergen the focus is on marine, maritime and polar affairs, including the Nordic societal model, and energy and sustainability with a Nordic perspective.
Eystein Jansen is the new Academic Director of Academia Europaea in the Bergen Knowledge Hub
Activities for the Nordic members and policy holders in Europe
Working with the hub means production of scientific plans and programming, leading to activities and events, for the AE members in the Nordic region.
“We aim to establish activities in support of science advice, whereby independent academic insights are used to help develop policies both in Europe and in Norway,” says Eystein Jansen.
In june 2018 the first local meeting was held. And soon there will be events involving Europe´s marine research policies and issues in the transformation to renewable energy supply.
Nordic input for the European Commission
So far there is no specified time limit for the Hub. The Hub is a small organisation with a limited budget, so the capacity is limited. However, Jansen is optimistic.
“As long as we are successful in developing the Hub, and enjoy ourselves doing it, we can go on for several years. I hope that within one or two years we have established ourselves as a hub for collaboration in the science advice mechanisms of the European Commission, also in collaboration with national academies in Norway and the Nordic region,” the new director states.