Diary

Article Type: Diary From: Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal, Volume 21, Issue 6

2nd International Conference on Science in Society

11-13 November, Madrid, Spain

The Second International Conference on Science in Society will be held at the Carlos III University of Madrid, Madrid, Spain from 11 to 13 November 2010. This Conference will address disciplinary and interdisciplinary challenges in the sciences, and in particular the relationships of science to society.

Key themes addressed by the Conference include the social impacts of science,the values and ethics of science, the pedagogies of science, the knowledge-making processes of science, the politics of science and the economics of science. At first glance, the scope and concerns of the Conference are enormous. However, in contrast to conferences with a specialist disciplinary focus, this Conference aims to explore, in an interdisciplinary spirit, linkages between different areas of concern and practices of investigation. It welcomes presentation proposals, which range from broad explorations of philosophical,theoretical, methodological and policy questions, to proposals which present finely grained evidence of the connections of science to society in microcosms of research, teaching and practice.

Participants at the Conference will include researchers, teachers,administrators and policy makers from the basic natural-physical sciences, the applied sciences, the social sciences, history and philosophy of science, the humanities, and the professions. Further information is available at: www.ScienceinSocietyConference.com

Sustainable Development in Europe

17-19 November, Brussels, Belgium

A three-day conference on sustainable development is being organised by the Centre of Studies on Sustainable Development of the Free University Brussels from 17 to 19 November 2010. The primary aim of the conference is to highlight critical insights gained through the development and implementation of almost a decade of sustainability evaluation: How is SD integrated into various EU-level evaluation procedures (e.g. EU Structural Funds, IA of trade measures and agreements, work of the European Court of Auditors)? What are the remaining methodological and policy challenges related to the EU and national sustainability evaluation procedures? What is the role of the different actors in these procedures (e.g. EU Parliament, European Court of Auditors,stakeholders)?

Being the last of the EASY-ECO 2002-2010 series of events, the Brussels conference also aims to explore the future of SD evaluation, and in particular the current challenges and forthcoming demands, the expectations, uses and effects related to SD evaluation: Who are the effective and potential users of SD evaluations? What types of uses have been made of sustainability evaluations?What effects of SD evaluations are expected and which are achieved? How does SD evaluation support actors in managing competing agendas? Will reorienting SD evaluation towards integrated evaluation make a difference? Further details are available at: www.sustainability.at/easy/?k=conferences&s=brussels

Transitions to Sustainability

30 November to 3 December, Auckland, New Zealand

Before 2050, our global civilisation faces one of its greatest challenges: to match our demands to the limited resources of the planet. Business as usual will not be enough to ensure the ongoing viability of our community. Radical changes in mindsets, behaviour and whole systems are needed to avoid the collapse of our social structure, our economic structure and our environment. For many 2050 is a long way off, but the changes that we need to make before then are fundamental and urgent. It requires leadership from scientists, engineers, and designers to create a future that serves the needs of the people, while protecting our planet. We need change that sweeps through our economic, education and infrastructure systems and engages and motivates the individuals that make up our society.

What are the transition pathways to a more sustainable future? What can engineers and scientists do to help this change? This Conference will build momentum for that transition by showcasing current successes, sharing the challenges and highlighting the directions and connections required to Transition to Sustainability. Further details are available at: www.nzsses.auckland.ac.nz/conference/index.htm

2nd International Conference on Production and Industrial Engineering (CPIE 2010)

3-5 December, Jalandhar, Punjab, India

The 2nd International Conference on Production and Industrial Engineering(CPIE-2010) is being organized by the Department of Industrial & Production Engineering at Dr B. R. Ambedkar National Institute of Technology, Jalandhar,India. The first International Conference (CPIE, 2007) was held in 2007 and was a success. The focus of the conference is on recent advances in the area of Production and Industrial Engineering.

CPIE 2010 invites papers on (but not limited to) the following topics:

• metal cutting & machining;

• casting, forming & joining processes;

• CAD/CAM, automation and robotics;

• Micro/nano manufacturing;

• Materials and metallurgy;

• Non-conventional machining;

• Artificial intelligence in manufacturing;

• Human factors engineering;

• Environment and pollution control;

• Advanced operations management;

• Quality engineering;

• Reliability & maintenance engineering;

• Technology, change & knowledge management;

• Agile manufacturing;

• Modelling & simulation;

• Logistics & supply chain management;

• Product design & development; and

• Other allied topics.

Further details are available at: www.cpie.in