PLANET4B on the Graz Seed Festival

Mariann Kovács • 2024-04-04

Written by Borbála Lipka

This was the 11th year that the urban gardeners and seed enthusiasts of Graz organised a small festival to celebrate the diversity of seeds. As PLANET4B hosts a sectoral case study in Hungary that focuses on agrobiodiversity, seeds and seed systems, this was an excellent opportunity for two ‘neighbouring’ cases to meet on this event: the intensive case carried out in Graz that focuses on green urban spaces’ accessibility for women, and the Hungarian case that aims to discover the Hungarian seed systems.

Mapping the needs of decision-makers to tailor capacity development activities – BioAgora Deliverable 5.1 is out

Mariann Kovács • 2024-02-14

The Science Service aims to ratchet up the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 by linking scientific and non-scientific knowledge more efficiently with policymaking and implementation. Functioning as a hub for science-policy-society interactions, the Science Service could play a crucial role in enhancing the implementation of biodiversity policies. However, existing research underscores a variety of challenges in this process, necessitating focused efforts on capacity development for key stakeholders. Our freshly published report, employing a diverse methodology of expert interviews, surveys, workshops and desk research, thoroughly examines capacity needs in science-policy-society interfaces (SPSIs) and potential ways the BioAgora project and the forthcoming Science Service could enhance these capacities.

Common Signs Miniconference with and for deaf and hard-of-hearing people in Hungary

Mariann Kovács • 2023-11-22

On 22 September 2023, we organised the national workshop of the YouCount project case study in Szeged (Hungary), the Common Signs Miniconference. The event was organised in collaboration with the Environmental Social Science Research Group (ESSRG), the Research Centre of the Faculty of Economics of the University of Szeged and the National Association of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing People. In the spirit of communication accessibility, the conference provided written and sign language interpretation and live transcription. About 40-45 people from different organisations were present: the deaf community, the Szeged School for the Hard of Hearing, students, sign language learners, staff of the Faculty of Economics and the local government. We, as organisers, hope everyone planning an academic or public event as a hearing person will take this practice as an adaptable model for more inclusive interactions.

Social innovation and citizen social science through participatory film – YouCount National Workshop in Budapest

Mariann Kovács • 2023-11-20

The YouCount research team, active in Siklósbodony since 2021, presented their methodological findings at the conference titled “Visuality, Action, Participation – Visual Interventions and Participatory Research” on 20 October, 2023 at Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE), Budapest. The conference organisers invited artists, filmmakers, social researchers, and students from different universities in Hungary to provide an overview of the current field of visual social interventions within the social sciences.

Joined-up land use strategies tackling climate change and biodiversity loss

Mariann Kovács • 2023-11-10

Urgent and concerted action can stop and reverse unsustainable land use and the over-exploitation of land resources.

Diverse values of nature for sustainability

Mariann Kovács • 2023-08-15

Eszter Kelemen is among the authors of the article published in Nature on 8 August, 2023

Pascual, U., Balvanera, P., Anderson, C.B. et al. Diverse values of nature for sustainability. Nature (2023). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-023-06406-9