Adaptation to climate change in megacities of Latin America: Regional Learning Network of the research project ClimateAdaptationSantiago (CAS)

The main objective of this publication is to document the current state of urban climate change adaptation practice in Latin America. It is a summary of the three workshops of the Regional Learning Network that was set up under the ClimateAdaptationSantiago project (CAS), encompassing six large Latin American cities (Bogotá, Buenos Aires, Lima, Mexico City, São Paulo and Santiago). It aims to synthesize information on the manifestations and impacts of climate change in those Latin American cities that participated in the network, and above all, governance in the form of concrete actions. The publication is based on information obtained from the participants in the three workshops, but also includes additional scientific input and reflections by the editors. All of this information makes a major contribution to highlighting the different paths these six cities are pursuing in response to climate change. To that end, the publication discusses the various courses of action on climate change adaptation, with the aim of learning from these cases and highlighting practical examples.

Collaborating or Colluding: A Practice Research Project with Ex-Offenders and their Families in Singapore

Working with the family members of ex-offenders is a daunting and newly developing aspect of offender rehabilitation in Singapore. A small scale practice research project was carried out by three social work practitioners and two academics over a period of 22 months, with the aim to explore the pertinent issues and challenges in working with family members of ex-offenders. Systematic documentation of the process of working with three cases was carried out. Specific skills and strategies were suggested, and recommendations for changes to service delivery and policy for working with ex-offenders and family members were made to the authorities. This article highlights the enriching journey of collaboration between the academics and practitioners.

Evidence Based Nursing Research Project

Introduction: A need for baccalaureate prepared nurses to find and use evidence in practice exists. Whereas using this evidence in practice may be a masters level expectation, current practice demands that baccalaureate prepared nurses acquire a basic understanding of how to use evidence in practice. Nursing students at the senior level have had exposure to critiquing research, however, they have difficulty translating evidence to practice. [See PDF for complete abstract]

Floods at the northern foothills of the Tatra Mountains — A Polish-Swiss research project

The present paper introduces the topical area of the Polish-Swiss research project FLORIST (Flood risk on the northern foothills of the Tatra Mountains), informs on its objectives, and reports on initial results. The Tatra Mountains are the area of the highest precipitation in Poland and largely contribute to flood generation. The project is focused around four competence clusters: observation-based climatology, model-based climate change projections and impact assessment, dendrogeomorphology, and impact of large wood debris on fluvial processes. The knowledge generated in the FLORIST project is likely to have impact on understanding and interpretation of flood risk on the northern foothills of the Tatra Mountains, in the past, present, and future. It can help solving important practical problems related to flood risk reduction strategies and flood preparedness.

Ways to Liberalization: A report on an ongoing research project

The talk presents the theoretical approach, the design of the data collection and some preliminary results of an ongoing research project on economic liberalization in mature democracies. Starting from findings of an analysis of austerity policies, I show that there is hardly the choice to avoid liberalization, but there are several ways of liberalization. Negotiated liberalization is feasible if problem pressures are low and actors have incentives to negotiate. These incentives are outcomes of politico-institutional configurations.