Open assessment workshop 2009

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Open assessment workshop 2009 is the third workshop about new methods in assessments (previously more narrowly on risk assessment), organised by the National Public Health Institute (KTL), Kuopio, Finland. Its main purpose is to provide the workshop participants a broad perspective to assessments, promote the idea and practice of open assessment, as well as further develop methods to perform open assessments. The workshop has started following the needs of several EU-funded research projects, notably Intarese, Beneris, and Heimtsa. The workshop is mainly targeted to postgraduate students working in the fields of environmental health or risk assessment, but it is also open to anyone interested. If you want to join the workshop, please create a user account (by following the log in/create account link in the right-top corner of the page) with your contact information and add your username to the list on the bottom of this page. There is no deadline for registration nor a registration fee for the workshop, but early registration is highly recommended in order to help both the organizers and the participants to arrange the facilities, accommodation, programs etc.

General information

Time: 16.2. - 20.2.2009
Place: KTL, Kuopio, Finland (Kuopio info)
Organizer: National Public Health Institute (KTL), Department of Environmental Health

<googlemap lat="62.903976" lon="27.638855" type="map" zoom="11" width="375"> m62.893334, 27.679328, Kuopio, Finland 62.890603, 27.627397, KTL Neulaniementie 4, 70701 Kuopio, Finland 62.866252, 27.648468, Jätkänkämppä smoke sauna </googlemap>


5-day weather forecast for Kuopio by the Finnish Meteorological Institute.

5-day weather forecast for Kuopio (in Finnish) by Foreca.

Description

The workshop will provide information on designing, executing and using assessments by considering these issues according to the open assessment (OA) methodology. The main topics are:

  • Assessment process
  • Assessment product structure
  • Assessment product use
  • Appraisal of impacts
  • Performance of assessments

The core of the workshop are practical group work exercises related to a real-life assessment case: open assessment on health impacts of climate change mitigation (ETS-CL). The exercises are complemented with lectures and guidance aiming to provide understanding of the necessary concepts and methods as well as sufficient command of the technical tools for carrying out the exercise tasks.


Daily program

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Tursday Friday
Introduction to workshop Lecture 3: Variables Lecture 5: Lecture 7: Lecture 8:
Lecture 1: Environmental health assessment Lecture 4: Base and model connections Lecture 6: Outdoor activities: Skating Group work: Performance evaluation
Lunch Lunch Lunch Outdoor activities: Skating Lunch
Introduction to case study Group work: variables Group work: variables 2 Lunch Group work presentations
Lecture 2: Open Assessment concepts Group work: variables Group work: variables 2 Group work: Assessment Summary and feedback
Practical arrangements Group work presentations Group work presentations Group work: Assessment
Evening program: dinner and smoke sauna Evening program: skiing / sledding Group work presentations
  • Morning session: 9:00 - 11:45
  • Lunch 11:45 - 12:45 at Microteknia canteen (at participant's own cost).
  • Afternoon session: 12:45 - 16:45
  • Evening: 17:00 →


Group work exercises

There are four exercise sessions, one every day from Tuesday to Friday, each consisting of working on group specific tasks and presenting the outcomes to other groups. On Tuesday and Wednesday the exercises relate to developing the contents of certain important variables belonging to the case assessment. On Wednesday the exercise focuses to certain aspects of the case assessment general description. On Friday the exercise is about evaluating the performance of the assessment. The groups will be mixed for each exercise.

Each group specific task consists of a particular defined target of work (variable, assessment attribute, group of variables), all located in [[1]], and particular defined methods to be applied in developing the content of the target of work. A tentative list of tasks will be presented below soon.

The expected outcome of these exercise tasks consists of multiple aspects:

  • improved information content of the target of work in Opasnet
  • possibly improved content of the description of the method used
  • increased understanding among the group members of both the target of work and the method
  • understanding conveyed to other groups in a form of a presentation

Variables to be worked on in the exercises (tentative list)

  • PM2.5 exposure-response function
  • Emission factors of fuels
  • IPCC scenarios
  • Population of Europe
  • Greenhouse gas emissions
  • DALY weights
  • Background incidence rates

Assessment (ETS-CL) aspects to be worked on in the exercises (tentative list)

  • Conveyance and convergence of information to main target use (COP-15 meeting)
  • Assessment-specific analyses
  • Parts and relations (causal diagram description) of assessment
  • Scenarios

Methods to be applied in exercises (tentative list)

  • Assessment process
    • argumentation - roles and relations free discussion, argumentation and corroborated information content
    • collaboration - assessments as mediated processes of creating shared knowledge
    • scientific method - assessments as testing of networked hypotheses
  • Structure
    • causal diagram - application of causal diagrams in different phases of an assessment
    • Bayes network - Bayes networks of variable results, creation and application
    • information objects - types and roles (similarities/differences) of different information object types
    • information structure - roles and relations of different attributes
    • combining models - assessments and variables as meta-models comprising of sub-models
  • Appraisal
    • appraisal matrices - targeting assessment information according to receivers
    • DALY - making and use of DALYs
    • monetarisation - conversion and communication of impacts as euros
  • Use process
    • information need - identification of need and its translation to research questions
    • policy advice - addressing real need in assessment design, execution and communication
    • publishing/dissemination - targeting assessment information to secondary (?) receivers (scientists, stakeholders and public)
    • communication - conveyance and convergence of assessment information
  • Performance
    • assessment performance - evaluating/communicating performance as quality of content, applicability and efficiency
    • quality criteria - evaluating goodness of contributions, contributions and group output
    • method development - applying scientific method in developing assessment methodology


Your suggestions

Workshop program is still being adjusted and further suggestions are welcome. See other people's suggestions and give your own suggestions on the discussion page. You can also have a look at the workshop program 2008 and the lecture slides from workshop 2008 as well as other preparation material at the end of this page.


Remote participation

If there should be any people who would like to participate in the workshop, but cannot come to Kuopio to attend the workshop in person, we try to organise a web-conference for the lecture sessions using Skype. The group work will be worked on using the Opasnet website, so also outsiders can relatively easily take part in that as well. This way you may also participate from wherever you are, as most major things - except the social program - will be made available via the Internet. Add your name on the list of remote via internet participants at the end of this page if you want to follow the workshop, but are unable to attend in person.

Social activities

Activities included in workshop program:

  • Tuesday evening: smoke sauna and dinner on Jätkänkämppä
  • Wednesday evening: skiing, sledding etc.
  • Thursday morning: skating on lake Kallavesi

Other activities available

  • Finland Ice marathon 18-22 February, 2009 [2]
  • Tahko (ski resort 1 hour drive from Kuopio) [3]
  • Puijo tower [4]
  • Rauhalahti Spa [5]

Getting around in Kuopio

Arrival/departure by air

The distance from Kuopio airport to the city is about 17 km. There are two options to get from the airport to the hotel - bus and taxi.

Bus:

Airport buses (5 €/trip) operate (by Linja-Karjala Oy) from all domestic flights, except for the flight AY519, arriving 00.25! The bus leaves from the airport approximately 5-15 minutes after the flight has arrived (the bus will wait for the passengers to collect their luggage before leaving). Get off the bus at Market Square in the center of Kuopio. From the Market Square it is possible to walk to the hotel (distance 2,4 km, see map) or alternatively you can take a bus line 5 (2,70 €/trip) that goes by the hotel. Line 5 buses leave from the Market Square close to the Market Hall on the south end of the square (see map. The timetable (unfortunately only in Finnish) for line 5 can be seen here.

Airport buses operate to all domestic flights. Bus to the airport leaves from Market Square (front of Anttila department store, east end of the square, Puijonkatu 19) 55 minutes before flight departure.

Taxi:

After each flight arrival there will be taxis waiting outside the airport. You may choose the airport taxi service (18 €/person), which means that the driver will wait until the car is full (in practice 2-3 persons/taxi) before leaving and then takes each passenger to their destination. Alternatively you may choose the normal taxi service (about 30 €/trip). If there are 2 people or more sharing a normal taxi it will be cheaper to take the it instead of the airport taxi service. If there are no taxis waiting at the airport you can order one by calling +358 17 106 400.

When going to the airport, make your airport taxi bookings (18 €/person) at least 2 hours before your scheduled departure by calling +358 17 106 400. The taxi will come to pick you up from agreed location approximately 1 hour before the scheduled departure time. Again, if there are 2 or more people sharing the taxi, it is also possible to order a normal taxi from the same taxi center number +358 17 106 400.

Arrival/departure by train

Kuopio railway station is located close to the center. It is possible to walk to the hotel (distance 2,1 km, see map) or alternatively walk to Market Square and take bus line 5 going by the hotel. Line 5 buses leave from the Market Square close to the Market Hall on the south end of the square (see map. The timetable (unfortunately only in Finnish) for line 5 can be seen here. Getting from hotel to the railway station happens similarly, but vice versa.


Lectures and group work will take place at KTL, Neulanen building (see map). Meeting at the reception at 08.45, where you will receive your visitor cards.

Attendees

Please list your name and organisation here: (Requires login)

No accommodation needed:


Accommodation needed:

  • Eva Kunseler (probably), PBL, Quality of the Local Environment
  • Anne Knol, RIVM
  • Audrey de Nazelle, CREAL
  • Tek-Ang Lim, InVS

Participation via the Internet:

  • Add your name

Workshop preparation material

  • Guidebook provides guidance on the theory and methods related to the workshop. The guidebook is under development and will be updated frequently during the following weeks. Accessing Guidebook requires being logged in!
  • Glossary is a collection of important concepts and terms and their explanations
  • Download a free 15-day trial version of Analytica or an Analytica player for viewing the model from Lumina Decision Systems website. The free trials also include the user's guide and a tutorial (see Help menu). It is highly recommended to familiarize oneself with the basic functionalities of the software before the beginning of the workshop! An educational license to Analytica will be provided to the workshop participants for the duration of the workshop. The license key and information about how to activate it will be sent to the participants by e-mail.
  • See Help:Contents for guidance on using Opasnet (this site, running on Mediawiki software platform).
  • We also recommend that you familiarise yourself with the following topics

See the contents of the workshop lectures 2008:

Also see discussion page for more detailed lecture contents.

See also

Keep an eye on this page, this is the official website of the workshop. It will be updated as new information comes available.

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