Monday, November 19, 2012

全球環境政策暑期課程心得


2012/09/02-14 Global Environmental Policy Program(GEEP), Executive Summer School

GEPP 結束前的座談

日內瓦大學和聯合國環境保護計畫(UNEP)合辦全球環境政策暑期學校,課程的目的邀請各國與環境政策相關的工作者一起討論如何有效落實全球環境政策,例如荷蘭環保部門的智庫、澳洲環保部門的NGO主任,今年有14位來自11個不同國家的人參與。上課內容主要從五個主題來與全球環境政策作連結,分別為綠色經境、組織管理、風險管理、環境健康與環境正義,並且由協商技巧建立共識以及參與式決策來與這五個主題做橫向連結(請見下圖)。授課者大多來自在日內瓦的國際組織,都具有全球環境政策的實務經驗,例如UNEP、World Economy、Global Health Forum等。

五大主軸與兩個橫向串聯的主題

很難用很短的文字說明課程裡面主要的主軸是什麼,因為每一個主題由淺入深的說明得很仔細。另外要靈活運用出這些知識是需要花時間慢慢揣摩與體會,目前我只能將課程的內容有系統的放進我的知識庫中。會議結束後,我所分配到的工作是協助摘要的撰寫,有興趣想要看英文摘要,請由此聯結下載。

除了一般的授課方式,課程中還有兩次的角色模擬練習,訓練參與者在這兩週內所學知識與溝通技巧。其中之一是討論一件在開發中國家環境敏感地區的礦場開發案,參與的角色有政府代表、非政府組織(NGO)、當地居民、還有環境健康的專家,我扮演的角色是環境專家,負責分析廠商已經提供的健康評估資料並且對於礦場開發將造成的衝擊提出建議,在正式討論前,主辦單位已經提供許多相關資料的第一手資料,精準的資料很有效的協助建立相關的知識,討論的過程中,開發單位與當地居民有共識建立一個共同的監督平台,但是對平台中的成員組成卻有很不同的意見,針對如何組成,雙方運用所學溝通技巧,按照協商的要領,嘗試了解造成雙方意見不同的原因為何,接著討論不同的替代方案,複雜的論點很難達成共識,模擬結束之後,設想現實的談判場合,不認同的意見將更多,需要更多的耐心來理解對方。

回顧這兩週所學的內容,五個主題在全球環境政策的架構下是互相影響,設計出好的環境政策需要將這五個因素納入考慮,另外協商技巧扮演穿針引線的效果,除此之外為了維持政策持續的財務模式與無法掌握的不確定性(如天災或是恐怖攻擊),也都會影響政策的實行,最後每個國家、地區都有其地域特殊性,也必須將當地的特殊性納入政策設計的考量中。

Sunday, May 13, 2012

My thesis topic searching trail to finish in 2 year in Industrial Ecology program

My thesis topic searching trail
- Life will find their way.


I started to think about thesis topic before I started the IE program. At that time, the thesis topic in my mind was about increasing water efficiency in agriculture or industrial field.

After one year study in the Netherlands, in May 2011 I started to search my topic and planned for the graduation in summer in 2012. Last time I did my thesis topic research is in the beginning of the program, and I asked the director of the program about thesis preparation. I still remembered he recommended me to finish the first year courses first, and not think about too much for the graduation. In June 2011 it was the time Professor Pong rose the food production issue in Taiwan. I was really enthusiastic about this topic and thought some ideas about how to increase the Taiwan food and energy dependency, such as creating some scenarios by using material flow analysis or agent based modeling. These scenarios can help me to find the key points in the food and energy issues. It is important to make sure how to set up the model and find a high quality data for modeling. Another idea is about how to use agriculture waste. This topic may link back to my chemistry back ground. Some crazy ideas, like using algae produce fuel or gasification the agriculture waste, started to full in my mind. However, after discussing with some friends, I realized it is difficult to get sufficient data from Taiwan if I did my research in the Netherlands. To do systematic analysis or modeling in Taiwan, it will be too time consuming on collecting data. Especially, I don't want the collection data will not be my main point of research.

Before the summer break, professors were not be available in the universities. I found it was also difficult to find some one is knowledgable to discuss with. I spent lots of time reading relative materials, but the topic was still not clear. The purpose to contact with experts was to know their opinions about your idea. They knew what is going on in their field, and capable to guide me to find a suitable detail direction. I felt this thesis guide support in the IE program was not so clear for me in the second semester. However, in the end of May 2011 the thesis issues pup out was more or less like “The is the time to decide your topic, try to make it clear before summer break...”

There are some main difficulties to contact with experts.
They are busy so they may not reply your email or your call in time.
They don’t know who you are so they don’t know how to respond.

Therefore, until the thesis finding pressure is big enough. The pressure can lead the lives will find their way. My solution was came out.
  • Exposure to the thesis contact network, such as attend some conferences may help network building.
  • Don’t be afraid to express thesis ideas with friends and professors, although they may sound naive.

After the summer break, I started again and dived in the thesis topic preparation is in the beginning of October. Arranging appointments with experts will take around one week, it is very important to bear in mind. I tried my best to arrange several discussions to find my thesis direction. It was really tough process because I spent lots of time but there was still no suitable projects. Sometimes I didn’t feel energetic because I knew if it could be a day to do literature researches but change the direction in the end. Or I may spend lots of time on writing emails but didn't get any responses.

However, I really want to graduate in time and be depressed cannot help anything. I set up the end of October was a deadline for thesis topic research.

Professor Hemmes gave me a big shock. His message was I still didn’t decide my topic yet from May to October. I needed to decide it soon if I really want to graduate in time. He advised me try to find some direction is related to my chemistry background since industrial ecology was a broad training and difficult to decide a direction.

The first two weeks of November was a key period. There were three possibilities of thesis topics: a LCA research in a tape company, a bioplastic project in a green chemistry lab and a green campus design. They were interested, so I had to figure out which one was suit for me. I checked my thesis topic criteria and my experiences. After talking with key project person, I decided to do a lab thesis because I wanted to have a solid research and it also linked to my chemistry background. Most of the programs in Industrial Ecology give a very nice overview of the solutions in the field of technology, urban design, social science and policy. I found the final conclusion or advise is usually too broad to be practiced. Therefore, it is hard to really give feedbacks to the original problem. For example, we all know industrial symbiosis is a good practice to optimize the industrial cluster, but if I decide to do industrial symbiosis in a company, I don’t have knowledge to design a heat exchange system or logistic to exchange materials. Therefore, I wanted to go deeper in the green chemistry field and linked it back to the systematic thinking in IE.

Suggestions - my rule to find a topic
  • Before find a professor, think how and what you can do this this expert and how realistic it is. Take into account everything, such as working environment (work alone or in a group), what the expectation of the result is, what kind of knowledge you may gain, what kind of job it will be after the thesis work, what kinds of methods it will be, how much knowledge you have in this topic. Keep in mind thesis is only your responsibility to solve.
  • Set up a deadline for the topic since there are always nice topics. If the topic is more or less on the track, give it a try. Wondering around too long is not good.
  • Contact with professors and knowledge people as earlier as possible. Prepare some proposals before talking with them. Then they will have some ideas how to guide you.
  • Deal with negative Emotion. 
The negative emotion makes me feel depress if I cannot find a topic. Find your way to solve it. Talk with other IE people or sport.
  • If you want to go deeper in one field, prepare the topic earlier. Otherwise, it is easy to get lost during the topic research.
Create an expectation for your self.
Do a good research and finish it in time!

Wish everyone find their coolest and brilliant ideas.