Governance
Why technology alone won’t secure Europe’s rail future
Rail transport carries only a modest share of passengers and freight across the EU, yet it is widely regarded as one of the most important tools available for meeting Europe's climate targets. The European Union has spent decades building a Single European Railway Area but persistent gaps in governance, infrastructure investment and cross-border coordination continue ...
STOA’s annual lecture: Academic Freedom in the US
In the past year, tensions between the US administration and many major American universities – apparently revolving around « Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) » policies and the handling of student and faculty protests - have reached a critical point. From legislative restrictions on teaching and frozen grants to political pressure on university governance, academic ...
A scientist’s opinion: interview with Dr Samanta Bačić on nature-based solutions for climate adaptation
Dr Samanta Bačić is a Senior Assistant in the Faculty of Civil Engineering, Architecture and Geodesy at the University of Split, Croatia. Her primary area of expertise is in geoinformatics with a focus on Geographic Information System (GIS) models tailored for urban environmental management in the context of climate change and green transition goals. She ...
A scientist’s opinion: interview with Prof. Silvana Di Sabatino on nature-based solutions for climate adaptation
Silvana Di Sabatino is a Professor in Atmospheric Physics at the University of Bologna, Italy, where she coordinates the atmospheric physics group that works on matters relating to meteorology, dealing with extreme weather events and climate adaptation. Professor Di Sabatino was the coordinator of the Horizon 2020-funded OPERANDUM project which set out to provide science-based evidence ...
A multilingual news platform for better-informed EU citizens
Wouldn't it be great to be able to access foreign news in your own language? A recent STOA study explores the idea of a news streaming platform that could transform how EU citizens access information across linguistic boundaries. The ESMH spoke with the two main authors of the study from the Centre for Media Pluralism ...
A scientist’s opinion: interview with Dr Michael Hennessy Picard on space sustainability
Dr Michael Hennessy Picard holds a PhD in Law from the University of Quebec in Montreal (Canada) and is a Lecturer in International Environmental Law at the University of Edinburgh (UK). He is working on the regulatory oversight of satellite re-entry, ablation and atmospheric pollution. Can you explain the concept of “space debris” and what ...
Towards a sustainable space economy
The space economy is a rapidly developing sector projected to grow at an average annual rate of 9%, reaching over 1.5 trillion euros by 2035. However, to ensure the long-term sustainability of space activities, it is essential to address their environmental impact on Earth and beyond, from atmospheric emissions to the growing accumulation of space ...
A scientist’s opinion: interview with Prof. Pascale Ehrenfreund on space sustainability
Pascale Ehrenfreund is the President of the Committee of Space Research (COSPAR) and Research Professor of Space Policy and International Affairs in Washington DC. She serves on the Board of Directors of the Space Foundation and as Member of the Global Future Council on Space of the World Economic Forum. For three decades she contributed ...