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 width="375" zoom="11" type="map" lon="27.638855" lat="62.903976"> m62.893334, 27.679328, Kuopio, Finland 62.890603, 27.627397, THL 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 aim of the workshop is to provide the participants a good understanding of how to make the practical information needs of societal action and creation of scientific knowledge meet by making use of the latest methodological developments and modern information and communication technology. This aim is pursued in the workshop lectures and exercises by discussing and considering e.g following questions:

  • How to take the practical needs of policy into account in assessments?
  • How can scientific validity of assessments be ensured?
  • How to increase the applicability and enhance the use of assessment outputs?
  • How should impacts be appraised?
  • How to make inferencing, information synthesis and communication more effective?
  • Overall, what makes a good assessment a good one?

Answers to the questions listed above are sought for by addressing them from the point of view of open assessment. After the workshop, the participants should have:

  • understanding and command of concepts, methods application areas of open assessment
  • Adequate command of tools applied in open assessment in order to efficiently make use of them in design and execution of assessments and use of assessment outputs
  • improved expertise in the environmental health relevant topics considered in the lectures and group work exercises

In addition to everything above, we wish that after the workshop at least some of the objects worked on in the exercises reach such a high quality in their information content that they can be considered to be the most up-to-date and comprehensive source of information regarding the topic in issue.

The core of the workshop program are the practical group work exercises related to a real-life assessment case called open assessment on health impacts of climate change mitigation (ETS-CL), aiming to influence the COP-15 meeting to be held in Copenhagen December 2009. 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. The guidance will be provided by workshop organizers, as well as other participants suitably experienced in the question in issue, according to demand as the workshop progresses. Lectures and group work are explained in more detail below.


Daily program

Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday
Introduction to workshop Lecture 3: Variables and their relations, causal diagrams, information structure Lecture 5: Scientific validity and practical need Lecture 7: Assessment-level analysis, synthesis and conclusions Lecture 8: Performance of assessment
Lecture 1: Purpose of assessment, identification of a need Lecture 4: Information collection and synthesis Lecture 6: Collaboration Outdoor activities: Skating on lake Kallavesi Group work: Assessment performance evaluation
Lunch Lunch Lunch Outdoor activities: Skating lake Kallavesi Lunch
Introduction to case study Group work: Variable development in a closed system Group work: Variable development through open collaboration Lunch Group work presentations
Lecture 2: Decisions, actors and indicators Group work: Variable development in a closed system Group work: Variable development through open collaboration Group work: Assessment development Workshop summary and feedback
Practical arrangements Group work presentations Group work presentations Group work: Assessment development
Evening program: dinner and smoke sauna Evening program: skiing, snowboarding, sledding on [Puijo] Group work presentations

Morning sessions begin at 9:00. Lunch is available at Microteknia canteen (at participant's own cost) 11:45 - 12:45., after which the afternoon sessions continue until approximately 16:45. Exceptions to this are Thursday when we have a later lunch time as well as delayed afternoon session due to a skating trip to lake Kallavesi in the forenoon, and Friday when the afternoon session will end already by 14:00 due to travel schedules of some workshop participants.


Lectures

The lectures are conducted in a form that attempt to emphasize practicality of discussed topics as well as dialogue among the lecturers and participants. The whole set of lectures comprise a discussion that continues and develops throughout the workshop week and guides the participants from considerations regarding the purpose of assessments to detailed contents of individual variables and on to a synthesis and an evaluation of overall outcomes of assessments. As well as the group work exercises, also the lectures are designed to focus on an example case related to climate change. This aims to make it easier for the participants to convert the information provided in the lectures in to practical actions in the group work exercises. The lecture topics can be seen in the daily program above.


Group work exercises

There are four exercise sessions, one every day from Tuesday to Friday, each consisting of first working in small groups on specific tasks and then presenting the outcomes of that work to other groups. On Tuesday and Wednesday the exercises focus on developing the contents of a chosen set of variables belonging to the ETS-CL assessment. On Thursday the exercises focus on certain assessment level aspects of the ETS-CL case drawing together the work on individual variables on previous days. The last exercise on Friday is about evaluating the goodness of the assessment and its parts in their current form. The groups will (probably) be reconfigured for each exercise.

The specific tasks for each group focus on one particular object, or a part of that object (a variable, an assessment attribute or group of variables located in Opasnet). The idea is to develop the information content by applying certain specified methods of open assessment. Tentative lists of objects and methods is presented below. The tasks are designed to be focused enough so that the group will be able to get a good grasp of the issue at hand, familiarize themselves adequately with the method(s) to be used, and produce some concrete output on the corresponding opasnet pages. Methodological and tool support (also substantial expertise, if available) will be provided according to demand by workshop organizers as well as other workshop participants already familiar with the tools and methods in question.

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

  • improved information content variable or assessment pages in Opasnet
  • improved information content of method descriptions in Opasnet
  • increased understanding among the group members of both the substance that the objects describe and the methods applied
  • understanding conveyed to other groups through group work presentations

Exercises on variables

Variable Specific tasks, Tuesday Related methods, Tuesday Specific tasks, Wednesday Related methods, Wednesday
PM2.5 exposure-response function: (Concentration-response to PM2.5 or ERF of PM2.5 on mortality in general population?)
Emission factors for fuels element element
European population element element
DALY weights element element
Background incidence rates of cardiopulmonary mortality and morbidity element element

Possible additional variables

  • Future pathways according to IPCC scenarios
  • Global greenhouse gas emissions (UNFCC)

Exercises on assessment-level

Assessment-level aspect Specific tasks, Thursday Related methods, Thursday
Meeting needs of primary intended use (COP-15)
  • Collaboration
  • DALY
  • Monetization
Assessment-level analysis
  • VOI
Assessment optimization
  • BBN
Parts and relations of assessment
  • Variable types
  • Causal diagram representation
Scenarios - alternative EU ETS phase III compositions


Methods to be applied in exercises

  • 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


Facilities

A working space with a wireless internet connection will be provided for all participants at the premises of THL (formerly known as KTL). Each participant is recommended to bring along a laptop computer. If this is not possible for you, please inform the organizers about this and we will see what we can do about it.

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


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 make it 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 arranged as part of the workshop program:

It is still possible to adjust the social activities program. If you have wishes or suggestions, go ahead and let us know by writing them down on the discussion page

Please note that the social activities are voluntary and the costs of activities will be borne by the participants themselves. Participating in the social activities happens at each participant's own risk, the participants are not insured against any accidents by the workshop organizers. It is recommended that each participant makes sure before the workshop that they have a valid insurance that covers also the free-time activities during the workshop.

Examples of other activities, sites etc. available:

Accommodation

We have a block reservation for the workshop participants at Hotel Savonia see map. The hotel is the same as where most of the 2008 workshop participants stayed.

Room prices for workshop participants:

  • Single room 80 euros/night
  • Double room 96 euros/night

If you need accomodation, please (in addition to mentioning it in the registration below) inform the organizers about the desired room type and duration of your stay. If you wish to save some money by sharing a double room with someone, but you do not have a room mate, we can try to do some matchmaking on behalf of you. However we can not guarantee finding a room mate for everyone. If you wish to stay in Kuopio over the weekend before or after the workshop, the above-mentioned workshop room rates apply also for weekend nights.

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. Kuopio airport transport connections

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. You can also take a taxi to the hotel in front of the railway station.

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
  • Danielle Vienneau, IC

Participation via the Internet:

Useful links while preparing for the workshop

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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