(Source: Grist.org via T4America)

Image Courtesy: Photo illustration by Tom Twigg/Grist

You’ve heard all the reasons before: We drive too much. We eat too much meat and processed food. We spend too much time with plugged-in devices—computers, TVs, air conditioners.

But what problem are we talking about—climate change, or the worldwide rise in obesity?

Both, according to Globesity: A Planet Out of Control?, a book by four public-health researchers who show how climate change and obesity draw from a shared web of roots. Both problems worsen as car culture spreads, desk jobs replace manual jobs, and carbon-intensive foods (including meat) become available to more and more eaters, according to the book, published first in French and this spring in English.

The two issues spread across the planet in similar ways. Those paying attention to climate change know the planet can’t afford for the developing world to emit carbon dioxide at the same levels as the industrialized world. Public-health workers, too, foresee enormous trouble if developing countries adopt the worst dietary and lifestyle habits of rich countries. That shift is well underway, according to Michelle Holdsworth, Globesity’s lead author and a nutritionist with the World Health Organization (WHO) in Montpellier, France.

Rates of obesity—defined by the WHO as a body mass index of 30 or higher—are now higher in Germany, Finland, and the Czech Republic than in the U.S., according to data from the International Obesity Task Force (IOTF). The same is true in some Mediterranean countries famed for their healthy diets: Greece, Egypt, and Cyprus. Traditional olive oil-centric diets have become too high in fat for populations that are less active than they used to be, said Holdsworth. And traditional diets are losing ground.

July 29, 2009

8:00 a.m. – 3:00 p.m.

Embassy Suites DC Convetion Center

900 10th Street NW

Washington, DC 20011

Register HERE for this Forum

On July 29, 2009, at the Embassy Suites DC Convention Center, Washington, DC, The Infrastructure Security Partnership (TISP) hosts its Summer Forum on Enhancing Infrastructure Resilience through Planned Investment Strategies with a focus on the Transportation and Energy CI/KR Sectors. Resilience is more than a buzzword used to describe the strength of community. When considering the subject of infrastructure protection, we ignore many other crucial aspects of securing the nation and its critical infrastructure. Infrastructure resilience addresses the development and implementation of exercised measures and policies to reduce the disaster and devastation impacts of all types of hazards to manageable effects that can be quickly overcome. Investment strategies that take into consideration the reduction of risk, stabilization of the work force, improved efficiencies (such as improvements to the road and rail transportation system that result in faster cargo supply chains), redundancy, business continuity and quick recovery from a catastrophic event will realize significant returns to stakeholders and investors. Infrastructure operations, safety, maintenance, protection and resiliency are so closely intertwined in today’s world that they must all be part of any investment strategy if it is to be cost-effective and long-lasting.

Facilitating public and private sector discourse regarding investment strategies for infrastructure resilience is essential to the TISP mission to lead collaborative effort that advances the practice and policies of infrastructure security and resiliency. We will bring together decision makers, policy analysts, and experts in transportation and energy infrastructure resilience and planning. This forum is designed to encourage audience participation, with a morning discussion of cross-sector topics and with two afternoon breakout sessions (one for transportation and the other for energy sectors).

The issues and recommendations identified by the Forum will be documented and distributed via a summary report to of all participating organizations and an article published in the TISP e-Newsletter and shared with infrastructure resilience stakeholders.

Registration Rates

TISP Dues-paying Members: $75.00

Public Agency Rate: $75.00

TISP Partners (non-paying members): $100.00

Hotel Location and Directions

Embassy Suites DC Convention Center

900 10th Street NW

Washington, DC 20011

202-719-1423

Map and Directions

Register HERE for this Event.

For more information about TISP and this Forum, contact Mr. Bill Anderson, 703-549-3800 Ext 170. For assistance in registering for this Forum contact Carie Losinski, SAME Online Registration Specialist, at 703-549-3800, Ext. 154.

(Source: Wall Street Journal, T4America@twitter)

Sec. LaHood proposes 18-month extension for SAFEAT-LU  and shortly thereafter Rep. Oberstar says delay is unacceptable (via T4America@Twitter & WSJ)

Image Courtesy: Apture - Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood

USDOT published a news release this afternoon offering Sec. Ray LaHood’s proposed extension:

“This morning, I went to Capitol Hill to brief members of Congress on the situation with the Highway Trust Fund. I am proposing an immediate 18-month highway reauthorization that will replenish the Highway Trust Fund. If this step is not taken the trust fund will run out of money as soon as late August and states will be in danger of losing the vital transportation funding they need and expect.

“As part of this, I am proposing that we enact critical reforms to help us make better investment decisions with cost-benefit analysis, focus on more investments in metropolitan areas and promote the concept of livability to more closely link home and work. The Administration opposes a gas tax increase during this challenging, recessionary period, which has hit consumers and businesses hard across our country.

“I recognize that there will be concerns raised about this approach. However, with the reality of our fiscal environment and the critical demand to address our infrastructure investments in a smarter, more focused approach, we should not rush legislation. We should work together on a full reauthorization that best meets the demands of the country. The first step is making sure that the Highway Trust Fund is solvent. The next step is addressing our transportation priorities over the long term.”

Shortwhile ago, WSJ published an article covering today’s development, which featured Secrtary’s proposal to delay the reauthorization.  This aricle also captured an interesting response from Rep. Oberstar, delivered his press conference Wednesday.  It notes that Rep. Oberstar was adamant that Congress must pass a new law before the current one expires.

“Extension of current law is unacceptable,” Mr. Oberstar said. “Now is the time to move.”

Bill in the Works at Congress (via WSJ)

House Democrats are busy crafting a transportation spending bill that would cost roughly $450 billion over six years, but no consensus has emerged on how to fund it, reports WSJ citing familiar sources.

The bill for the first time would establish standards — like reducing oil consumption and spurring economic growth — that would influence which highway and transit projects get federal funding. It would also consolidate to six or fewer the number of Transportation Department programs used to channel money to states, giving local officials more flexibility to combat their transportation challenges.

Image Courtesy: Apture

The legislation is being drafted by House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman James Oberstar (D., Minn.), who plans to release a blueprint of his bill tomorrow at a press conference starting at 11:00AM.  Since this is the internet age, there will be a live webcast of the news conference (an invitation-only press conference). Transportation for America informs that Chairman Oberstar is releasing a 12-page paper and a 100-page outline of the bill and it’s likely that at least one of those — probably the shorter white paper — will be released the first press conference.

The current system relies heavily on taxes from gasoline and vehicle purchases. Revenue from these sources is dropping as Americans drive less and opt for more fuel-efficient cars and trucks. Meanwhile, states are encountering similar funding problems due to declines in tax revenue. The result is a growing gap between the nation’s infrastructure needs and what is being spent to maintain and upgrade it.

The Obama administration has opposed any gas-tax increase. The White House also opposes any quick transition to a new system, which has been tested in Oregon, where drivers are taxed based on the miles they drive rather than the number of gallons they pump into their gas tanks.

People familiar with the matter say Mr. Oberstar hasn’t come up with a funding solution, and the task of writing the bill’s funding component will fall to the Ways and Means Committee. Things may proceed even slower in the Senate. That makes it unlikely Congress will pass a new bill by the time the old one expires at the end of September.

Meanwhile, states may be forced to further curb their transportation spending if Congress doesn’t come up with more money soon. Last year, Congress opted to transfer $8 billion from the Treasury’s general fund into the Highway Trust Fund to prevent last-minute cutbacks.   Click here to read the entire article.

Grading the Transportation Bill (via T4America)

To help us all judge whether the bill delivers the promised transformation, Transportation for America has developed this scorecard (see below) laying out the changes that must be included to clear the bar. When the bill is released, we can begin using this as our measuring stick. Click here to download the PDF version of this awesome scorecard.

(Source: RAND & Progressive Railroading.com)

The U.S. freight transportation system’s long-term efficiency and effectiveness is “threatened” by capacity bottlenecks, inefficient use of some components of the freight infrastructure, interference with passenger transport, the system’s vulnerability to disruption, and the need to address important emission and energy constraints, according to a study recently released by RAND Corp.

Despite the global financial crisis, experts continue to estimate that there will be increased demand for freight transportation in the future, even as the capacity of the nation’s highways, port and railroads are nearing their limits in key urban areas and transportation corridors.  The annual average road delay in the United States for rush hour travelers increased from 14 hours per year in 1982 to 38 hours per year in 2005. And the Association of American Railroads predicts that by 2035, more than half of the national rail network will be operating near or above capacity, resulting in significant travel delays and limiting the ability to maintain tracks and equipment. This would limit the opportunity to increase rail’s share of freight, which could help tackle environmental concerns and road congestion.

Titled “Fast Forward: Key Issues in Modernizing the U.S. Freight Transportation System for Future Economic Growth,” the study was supported by the Dow Chemical Co., U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, and Union Pacific Railroad.  The authors provide a broad overview of U.S. freight transportation, discuss its role in the supply chains of various types of businesses, and provide data about its capacity in relation to demand for goods movement. They conclude with a discussion of the need to modernize the freight-transportation system and the overarching issues this involves: increasing capacity through operational improvements and infrastructure enhancement, making the system more adaptable and less vulnerable to disruption, addressing the energy and environmental concerns associated with freight transportation, and building support for public and private investment in the system.

The report description on RAND’s website offers the following: Efficient movement of freight within the United States and across its borders is a critical enabler of future U.S. economic growth and competitiveness.

Freight transportation system delays and “uncertainty in the performance of the system” have meant higher prices for consumers and reduced productivity, according to the study.

RAND researchers determined there are four freight transportation and infrastructure issues that need to be addressed:

• increasing national and international freight system capacity through a combination of operational improvements and selected infrastructure enhancements;

• creation of an adaptable, less-vulnerable and more-resilient freight transportation system;

• critical energy and environmental issues associated with freight transportation; and

• the pursuit of public and private investments in supply-chain infrastructure, and sustainable funding priorities.

The study also recommends that “responsible” agencies conduct system-level modeling of the freight transportation system to determine where bottlenecks occur and to understand vulnerabilities, and shippers be encouraged to use alternative ports to reduce strain on the system.

Increasing the nation’s freight transportation capacity can be done by using a variety of strategies, not just through a massive program of adding new roads or rail lines. Suggested strategies include regulations, pricing, technology, improved operating practices and selective infrastructure investments. Examples of these improvements include adopting congestion pricing to promote more highway transportation during non-peak hours, encouraging more goods to be shipped by rail instead of truck and expanding some port operations to run 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

To make the system more flexible and less vulnerable to disruption, the report recommends that responsible agencies conduct system-level modeling of the freight transportation system to determine where bottlenecks occur and to understand its vulnerabilities. Encourage shippers to use alternative ports, instead of relying on just the largest, also would reduce strain on the system.

Transportation accounts for 25 percent of the nation’s hydrocarbon fuel use; of that amount, about 25 percent is freight transportation. So while passenger vehicles are the primary energy users and emitters of pollution, the freight transportation industry also must consider environmental effects as it develops expansion plans. Methods to reduce pollution include increasing the operational efficiency of freight transportation (which also increases capacity) and such direct mitigation measures as cleaner fuel, better engines and more-aerodynamic vehicles.

Finally, the report suggests that a greater effort needs to be focused on developing sustainable priorities for public investment in the freight transportation system.

Click here to access the PDF version of the Full Report or the Executive Summary.

(Source: USDOT)

U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) Secretary Shaun Donovan, U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) Secretary Ray LaHood, and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson today announced a new partnership to help American families in all communities –- rural, suburban and urban – gain better access to affordable housing, more transportation options, and lower transportation costs.

Earlier this year, HUD and DOT announced an unprecedented agreement to implement joint housing and transportation initiatives.   With EPA joining the partnership, the three agencies will work together to ensure that these housing and transportation goals are  met while simultaneously protecting the environment, promoting equitable development, and helping to address the challenges of climate change.

Testifying together at a Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee hearing chaired by U.S. Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Secretary LaHood, Secretary Donovan and Administrator Jackson outlined the six guiding ‘livability principles’ they will use to coordinate federal transportation, environmental protection, and housing investments at their respective agencies.

DOT Secretary LaHood said, “Creating livable communities will result in improved quality of life for all Americans and create a more efficient and more accessible transportation network that serves the needs of individual communities.  Fostering the concept of livability in transportation projects and programs will help America’s neighborhoods become safer, healthier and more vibrant.”

“As a result of our agencies’ work, I am pleased to join with my DOT and EPA colleagues to announce this statement of livability principles” said HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan. “These principles mean that we will all be working off the same playbook to formulate and implement policies and programs. For the first time, the Federal government will speak with one voice on housing, environmental and transportation policy.”

“It’s important that the separate agencies working to improve livability in our neighborhoods are all pointed in the same direction.  We’re leading the way towards communities that are cleaner, healthier, more affordable, and great destinations for businesses and jobs,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson. “This partnership provides a framework to guide decisions that affect all communities.  This way, investments of financial and human resources by any one of our agencies will meet shared goals and confront significant challenges we all face together.”

The Partnership for Sustainable Communities established six livability principles that will act as a foundation for interagency coordination:

1. Provide more transportation choices.
Develop safe, reliable and economical transportation choices to decrease household transportation costs, reduce our nation’s dependence on foreign oil, improve air quality, reduce greenhouse gas emissions and promote public health.

2. Promote equitable, affordable housing.
Expand location- and energy-efficient housing choices for people of all ages, incomes, races and ethnicities to increase mobility and lower the combined cost of housing and transportation.

3. Enhance economic competitiveness.
Improve economic competitiveness through reliable and timely access to employment centers, educational opportunities, services and other basic needs by workers as well as expanded business access to markets.

4. Support existing communities.
Target federal funding toward existing communities – through such strategies as transit-oriented, mixed-use development and land recycling – to increase community revitalization, improve the efficiency of public works investments, and safeguard rural landscapes.

5. Coordinate policies and leverage investment.
Align federal policies and funding to remove barriers to collaboration, leverage funding and increase the accountability and effectiveness of all levels of government to plan for future growth, including making smart energy choices such as locally generated renewable energy.

6. Value communities and neighborhoods.
Enhance the unique characteristics of all communities by investing in healthy, safe and walkable neighborhoods – rural, urban or suburban.

Click here to access the USDOT Press Release on this new partnership.  Also check out the Secrtary of Transportation’s blog post on this significant interacgency partnership in his FastLane blog.

(Source: U.S. Global Change Research Program)

New Report Provides Authoritative Assessment of National, Regional Impacts of Global Climate Change Details Point to Potential Value of Early, Aggressive Action.

Image Courtesy: U.S. Global Change Research Program (USGCRP)

Climate change is already having visible impacts in the United States, and the choices we make now will determine the severity of its impacts in the future, according to a new and authoritative federal study assessing the current and anticipated domestic impacts of climate change.

The report, “Global Climate Change Impacts in the United States,” compiles years of scientific research and takes into account new data not available during the preparation of previous large national and global assessments. It was produced by a consortium of experts from 13 U.S. government science agencies and from several major universities and research institutes. With its production and review spanning Republican and Democratic administrations, it offers a valuable, objective scientific consensus on how climate change is affecting—and may further affect—the United States.

“This new report integrates the most up-to-date scientific findings into a comprehensive picture of the ongoing as well as expected future impacts of heat-trapping pollution on the climate experienced by Americans, region by region and sector by sector,” said John P. Holdren, Assistant to the President for Science and Technology and director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy. “It tells us why remedial action is needed sooner rather than later, as well as showing why that action must include both global emissions reductions to reduce the extent of climate change and local adaptation measures to reduce the damage from the changes that are no longer avoidable.”

Some key findings includes:

• Climate changes are underway in the United States and are projected to grow. Climate-related changes are already observed in the United States and its coastal waters. These include increases in heavy downpours, rising temperature and sea level, rapidly retreating glaciers, thawing permafrost, lengthening growing seasons, lengthening ice-free seasons in the ocean and on lakes and rivers, earlier snowmelt, and alterations in river flows. These changes are projected to grow.
• Crop and livestock production will be increasingly challenged. Agriculture is considered one of the sectors most adaptable to changes in climate. However, increased heat, pests, water stress, diseases, and weather extremes will pose adaptation challenges for crop and livestock production.
• Threats to human health will increase. Health impacts of climate change are related to heat stress, waterborne diseases, poor air quality, extreme weather events, and diseases transmitted by insects and rodents. Robust public health infrastructure can reduce the potential for negative impacts.
  

Here are the key messages of the report pertinent to Transportation:

• Sea-level rise and storm surge will increase the risk o • f major coastal impacts, including both temporary and permanent flooding of airports, roads, rail lines,and tunnels.
• Flooding from increasingly intense downpours will increase the risk of disruptions and delays in air, rail, and road transportation, and damage from mudslides in some areas.
• The increase in extreme heat will limit some transportation operations and cause pavement and track damage. Decreased extreme cold will provide some benefits such as reduced snow and ice removal costs.
• Increased intensity of strong hurricanes would lead to more evacuations, infrastructure damage and failure, and transportation interruptions.
• Arctic warming will continue to reduce sea ice, lengthening the ocean transport season, but also resulting in greater coastal erosion due to waves. Permafrost thaw in Alaska will damage infrastructure. The ice road season will become shorter.

Click here to download a copy of the full report.  Alternatively, you can specific sections of the report here.

(Source: NY Times – Green Inc.)

Having shipped hundreds of electric vehicle charging stations, and with repeat orders now coming in from Europe, Coulomb Technologies, a privately-held Silicon Valley company, expects to be profitable by the 2010 introduction of the Chevy Volt, according to its chief executive, Richard Lowenthal.

(Mr. Lowenthal appears in the video above, explaining the company’s ChargePoint Network.)

“Our plan was to sell a thousand stations, but we will probably double that,” he told NY Times’ Green Inc. last week after the company secured its third Bay Area order this year. “Our company is structured to be profitable based on early adapters.”

Image Courtesy: Coulomb technologies

Founded in 2007, Coulomb is looking to crack the chicken-and-egg riddle that bedeviled the hydrogen fuel cell industry. Without a refueling infrastructure, consumers won’t buy vehicles. But no one invested in refueling stations without potential customers on the road.

“It is a very fundamental issue for the business,” Mr. Lowenthal said. “What do you do about the road trip?”

With electric vehicles, the additional problem is that in cities like San Francisco, where almost half of all vehicles park on the city’s streets, many potential buyers couldn’t recharge their cars overnight.

Mr. Lowenthal, a Cisco veteran who served as mayor of Cupertino, said that municipalities, parking companies and condo developers represent the first tranche of customers for charge points that will be deployed on city streets and in garages. They sell for $2,500 to $4,000 and can recharge an electric vehicle battery in four to ten hours.

In what might shape up to be the VHS/Betamax duel of the industry, a Coulomb rival, Better Place of Palo Alto, is looking to develop refueling stations where consumers on road trips can swap batteries in a matter of minutes. Still other companies are building rapid recharge points.

Mr. Lowenthal predicted the next three years would define the nascent charging station industry. By 2012, he said, the car industry will have an understanding of the early adoption rate for electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles.

Click here to read the entire article.

(Source: Times, UK)

As a sales pitch for a holiday paradise, you would think it left much to be desired. “We have hoardings obscuring heritage sites, we have terrible roads, we have sewage and solid waste problems. And we have some of the lousiest airports in the world.”

But Amitabh Kant’s blunt critique of his homeland’s shortcomings is part of an approach that has earned glowing reviews from some of the tourism industry’s fussiest arbiters – picky Western travel writers.

When he is not deploring the state of Indian public toilets, the dapper civil servant, who in 2001 was handed the job of rescuing India’s sinking tourism industry, likes to measure his success by counting the billions of dollars that he has helped to add to the country’s foreign currency reserves by luring upmarket travellers to the lush backwaters of Kerala and the grand palaces of Rajasthan.

In industry circles, he is treated as something of a guru. The day before talking to The Times, Mr Kant had been the guest of honour at a lavish Mumbai reception hosted by Ratan Tata, India’s most-fêted businessman.

Mr Kant’s journey in the tourism industry began at a similarly inauspicious time for the tourist trade. In 2001, when he became joint secretary of the Ministry of Tourism in Delhi, India’s tourism-related revenues were languishing at $2 billion a year, less than 0.5 per cent of the industry’s global turnover.

Across the country, hotel room occupancy rates had fallen to 25 per cent and tour operators were refusing to offer trips to India in their brochures. Faced with a crisis, he says, his objective was clear: to redefine India as a luxury destination, and to discourage those looking for an ultra-cheap getaway.

In an effort to dissuade the gap-year students, Goa-bound ravers and ageing hippies that have travelled India for decades, Mr Kant tried to stop cheap charter flights flying to popular seaside locations such as Kerala. To replace them, he promoted new, sometimes controversial, “high-value” forms of tourism.

Among the most radical moves was the decision to promote India as a destination where foreigners can access cheap medical care. The resulting steady stream of middle-class Western patients has proven lucrative, but some feel that Indian doctors would be better employed treating Indian patients.

Across the country’s seldom-travelled agricultural hinterlands, “rural tourism” was championed, with villagers being trained in how to host Westerners and sell them handicrafts. Entrepreneurs have been encouraged to set up homestays, houseboats and treehouse hotels.

But the main tool he used to attract these well-heeled travellers was the “Incredible India” campaign. A series of adverts displayed internationally but co-ordinated by Mr Kant from Delhi, it represented India’s first attempt to sell itself under a single banner.

Visible today in London and New York, it was launched in 2002, just as the post-9/11 malaise in the global tourism industry was approaching its nadir. As rival destinations slashed their promotional budgets, India, under Mr Kant’s direction, ramped up its spending, splashing out to create a marketing strategy far slicker than anything it had used before.

The gamble worked. Last year, when Mr Kant’s tenure at the ministry ended (and he was rotated to a posting in his home state of Kerala), India’s annual earnings from tourism had risen more than fivefold, to $11.6 billion, and the readers of Conde NasteTraveller had ranked India as the world’s “No1 preferred travel destination”.

The most commonly cited example of India’s lax attitude towards its cultural assets is that of the Taj Mahal, a building often referred to as the world’s most magnificent monument to love but which is near a heavily polluted river and is serviced by a dank, smelly, intimidating train station.

Mr Kant blames “a failure of municipal governance” for the Taj’s inglorious surroundings. India’s state chief ministers, arguably the country’s most powerful politicians, need to realise that tourists can be more lucrative even than that totem of India’s economic renaissance: software.

“The size of the tourism industry is $4.6 trillion [£2,800 billion], whereas the software industry globally is a mere $500 billion,” he said. “The tourism industry globally generates over 250 million jobs, whereas the software industry generates only 20 million.

“But you can’t cultivate tourism by having the Taj Mahal, a great heritage site, and having garbage and filth outside. The entire experience has to be spiritually and mentally rejuvenating.”

Click here to read the entire article.

Note: A couple of comments under this article were too compelling to not publish.  So, I copied and pasted them here:

Just returned from 6 weeks back-packing in South India and have to say that it was undoubtedly ‘incredible’ – that’s incredible noise, incredible pollution, incredible poverty but then again incredible sights, incredible food and most of all incredible people. Amitabh Kant’s campaign is spot -on!

Jim Blair, UK

Just returned from business to Mumbai, Agra, Delhi and Chennai. Could not agree more with Mr Kants assessment of the airports – shockingly bad and very indifferent to business and first class passengers. However, every Indian I met was extremely helpful. Customer service everywhere puts UK to shame!

Andy Dean, UK

(Source: Eventbrite via Bernie Wagenblast)

Newcastle University and Imperial College would like to invite you to participate in a different sort of Workshop to help shape future research into sustainable intelligent transport.

It will be sparky; it will be challenging; it will think the unthinkable – and it will be FREE with refreshments provided.

You’ll not want to miss it, will you?

• Will the Internet and technology influence how we travel? Whether we travel at all?
• Can technology help mobility?
• How useful is “user-generated content”?
• How far can mobile Internet and Web2.0 get you? – literally
• Where is transport research going?
• Did Beethoven have a food processor?

Come and listen to new thoughts on old problems; share with us what you think matters; show us what you’re up to; join in when people ask the questions they’ve always wanted to pose on transport and the Internet; suggest the areas you think need investigation.

Proceedings will be live blogged and tweeted from the event; together with remote contributions. These will be forwarded to EPSRC as the outcome of the workshop and the SIMM final report.

If you’d like details about attending, exhibiting, making a short presentation or demonstrating a product or technology, or following the workshop online please contact Hannah Bryan:hannah.bryan@newcastle.ac.uk at Newcastle University (0191 222 6420).

This is the outline programme. It is still a work in progress, and is likely to change before the actual event, especially as we’d like your comments on it .

So, your thoughts and comments are welcome, particularly for the interactive panel sessions in the afternoon…