New book Social Science and Sustainability (Eds. Heinz Schandl and Iain Walker) on 1 June 2017

Post from Ms.Karin Hosking, CSIRO

We are delighted to announce the release of the new book Social Science and Sustainability (Eds. Heinz Schandl and Iain Walker) on 1 June 2017.

Sustainability policies shape the ways that society and the economy interact with the environment, natural resources and ecosystems, and address issues such as water, energy and food security, and climate change. These policies are complex and are, at times, obscured by contestation, uncertainty and sometimes ignorance. Ultimately, sustainability problems are social problems and they need to be addressed through social and policy change.

Social Science and Sustainability draws on the wide-ranging experience of CSIRO’s social scientists in the sustainability policy domain. These researchers have extensive experience in addressing complex issues of society–nature relationships, usually in interdisciplinary collaboration with natural scientists. This book describes some of the evidence-based concepts, frameworks and methodologies they have developed, which may guide a transition to sustainability. Contributions range from exploring ways to enhance livelihoods and alleviate poverty, to examining Australians’ responses to climate change, to discussing sociological perspectives on sustainability and how to make policy relevant.

Researchers, policy-makers and decision-makers around the globe will find this book a valuable and thought-provoking contribution to the sustainability literature. It is also suited to academics and students in postgraduate-level courses in social sciences and sustainability, or in courses in applied sociology, applied social psychology and other applied social sciences.

The book is available for sale at http://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7583/ and https://www.amazon.com/Social-Science-Sustainability-Iain-Walker-ebook/dp/B071Z8F4NK/

Many thanks and best wishes

Karin

Post from Prof. Simron J. Singh about Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship of University of Waterloo.

----------------
Banting Postdoctoral Fellowship
https://uwaterloo.ca/postdoctoral/funding-and-awards/banting-postdoctoral-fellowships/

The Fellowship is for those who wish to spend some time in Canada at a Canadian University as a postdoc.
The competition has just been launched. This link is to attract scholars (Canadian or international) to Waterloo.

I am particularly keen to review and help potential candidates who wish to work with me on an exciting IE topic.
Here is my homepage:
https://uwaterloo.ca/school-environment-enterprise-development/people-profiles/simron-singh

Thank you!

Simron
—————
Prof. Simron J. Singh
Associate Dean, Graduate Studies | Director, Master of Development Program (MDP)
Faculty of Environment
University of Waterloo
Canada
----------------

Post from Dr. Stefan Pauliuk

Dear colleagues,

the ISIE council has approved of a task force on data transparency (cc) to develop proposals for how to increase the transparency and data availability of industrial ecology research, including MFA.

The rationales behind the initiative are i) to speed up progress and facilitate cumulative research by making more data easier available, ii) to increase the usage of research results outside our own field, and iii) to respond to the increasing number of transparency demands from research funders.

Part of our mandate is to review data sharing practice (with a focus on best practice) and recommend improvements for the different IE research fields. In that regard, I have two requests:

1) For a JIE forum piece on the topic, which is to be launched at the Chicago conference, we are looking for examples for exceptional transparency in MFA research. What are, in your opinion, good examples of MFA research where
+ an MFA article surprised you by publishing its entire or large parts of its data inventory alongside the final results?
+ the authors of an MFA study made part of their data inventory public whilst at the same time protecting specific proprietary data points?
+ a recent article managed to format its data or results such that they were easy to import and re-use?
+ a recent publication was accompanied with methods such that you could readily reproduce all its calculations and data manipulations?

2) To encourage data sharing we want to point to specific data formats. In MFA a widely accepted data format, that could play a role similar to the one of ecospold in LCA or SUTs in IO, is still absent. Based on previous experience from working with Daniel Müller and with input from Rupert Myers, who is currently building a database for the STAF project at Yale, I developed a template that lists the mandatory and optional attributes and descriptors of MFA data that are needed when exchanging MFA data from one researcher/project/software to another, and that could be developed into a data format later on. The template is attached; it includes some examples for datasets and detailed explanations. It is meant as a point of departure to establish a minimal consensus of how MFA data should be structured, and it is clear that many MFA results will require additional specifiers, represented as columns in the template, to be fully described. The plan is to publish the attached template as supplementary material along with the forum piece.

On behalf of the task force, I would very much appreciate your input on transparent MFA research and your feedback on the data template!

Maybe there is a data expert in your group who could contribute to the process?

Please respond by April 30 so that we have time for revisions and a possible second feedback round.

Please use this link to the template for the readers to download:

http://www.omnibus.uni-freiburg.de/~sp1046/Documents/MFA_Data_template_Proposal.xls

Also, please forward this email to colleagues who also might be interested!

Best regards,

Stefan Pauliuk, PhD
Assistant professor for sustainable energy and material flow management
Faculty of Environment and Natural Resources
University of Freiburg
Tennenbacher Str. 4, D-79106 Freiburg, Germany
phone +49-761-203-98726
www.indecol.uni-freiburg.de/en

Post from Prof. Helmut RECHBERGER

The second edition of the Handbook of Material Flow Analysis by IS4IE members Paul H. Brunner and Helmut Rechberger has recently been released. 
The Handbook continues to serve as the only book on MFA, it provides MFA definitions and describes all the relevant MFA procedures from the framework of Anthropogenic Metabolism. 
It features a concise description of MFA freeware STAN, explores a fresh, data-based treatment of uncertainty and contains new case studies about resource and waste management.
---------------------------------------------------------
Handbook of Material Flow Analysis
For Environmental, Resource, and Waste Engineers,
Second Edition

Paul H. Brunner
Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria
Helmut Rechberger
Vienna University of Technology, Vienna, Austria

In this second edition of a bestseller, authors guide professional newcomers as well
as experienced engineers and scientists towards mastering the art of material flow
analysis (MFA) from the very beginning to an advanced state of material balances of complex systems. This book serves as a concise and reproducible methodology and a basis for analysis, assessment and improvement of anthropogenic systems through an approach that is helpfully uniform and standardized; a vital resource for the growing MFA community working in the fields of industrial ecology, resource
management, waste management, and environmental protection.

KEY FEATURES
• Continues to serve as the only book on material flow analysis (MFA)
• Provides Material Flow Analysis definitions and describes all the relevant MFA procedures from the framework of Anthropogenic Metabolism
• Features a concise description of MFA freeware STAN and includes software STAN and links to STAN2WEB
• Explores a fresh, data-based treatment of uncertainty
• Contains new case studies about resource management and waste management

Catalog no. K25579
December 2016, 435 pp.
ISBN: 978-1-4987-2134-9
$169.95 / £108.00

SAVE 20% when you order online and enter Promo Code EEN17
FREE standard shipping when you order online.

Post from Dr Tommy Wiedmann

JECS Special Issue on MRIO for global resource policy

The Journal of Economic Structures is calling for papers on "Multiregional input-output analysis for global resource policy".

The Special Issue aims to summarize the recent progress of MRIO analysis focusing on natural resources and to understand its potential for the design of global resource policies. We are inviting papers on the analysis of natural resource use with MRIO models and welcome any analysis on specific resources or specific countries. Submission deadline for abstracts is 31 May 2017.

For details see:

http://resource-cms.springer.com/springer-cms/rest/v1/content/12073252/data/v1/Call+for+papers

Dr Tommy Wiedmann

Associate Professor of Sustainability Research
Sustainability Assessment Program | School of Civil and Environmental Engineering
UNSW Sydney, NSW 2052, Australia
E: t.wiedmann@unsw.edu.au
T: +61 2 9385 0142
http://www.sustainabilityresearch.unsw.edu.au

POST from Dr. Dombi Mihály,

Dear Colleagues!

The membership of the Socio-Economic Metabolism section of International Society for Industrial Ecology will be probably interested in the call for papers attached to my letter. CASES (Change and Adaptation in Socio-Ecological Systems) is an open access interdisciplinary journal that deals with the interrelations of human beings with ecosystems in sustainable land use and land development.

---------

SPECIAL ISSUE ON SIZE OF THE SOCIETY – LINKAGES BETWEEN MATERIAL FLOWS AND STOCKS OF SOCIO-ECONOMIC METABOLISM

GUEST EDITORS:
Mihály Dombi, University of Debrecen, Hungary (Coordinating Editor)
Luis Inostroza, Technische Universität Dresden, Germany
Dominik Wiedenhofer, Alpen-Adria University, Institute of Social Ecology Vienna, Austria
DESCRIPTION

Socioeconomic metabolism research has been developing intensively in the last decades. Methods and tools of different temporal and spatial analyses were successfully established and applied by a broadening scientific community. Recently, one of the paths providing a deeper understanding of sustainability problems and resource requirement in particular, has been the joint analysis of material stocks and flows. Results have revealed an extremely high physical amount of stocks, relative to flows, in societal systems thus material stocks may intensely influence or even determine the resource use. From the perspective the Special Issue on the “Size of the Society” will focus on (but will not be restricted to) the following subjects:

• Accounting for material flows and stocks of the socioeconomic metabolism
• Role of stocks in the socioeconomic metabolism
• Stocks and flows of food supply chain
• Urban metabolism

Growing material requirements of the global society performs as the main driver of unsustainable development paths. Utilization of increasing amounts of natural resources will lead to significant changes in the ecosystem, to which adaptation capacity is uncertain. This special issue will include submissions from the meeting “The Size of The Society – International workshop on linkages between material flows and stocks of socio-economic metabolism” (Debrecen, Hungary, January 27-28, 2017) and is open to contributions from other researchers dealing with these topics. Articles submitted to CASES Special Issue will deal with theoretic issues and evidences for crucial role of material stocks and flows in the socio-ecological systems.

JOURNAL INFORMATION, HOW TO SUBMIT & DEADLINE: April 15, 2017

CASES (Change and Adaptation in Socio-Ecological Systems) is an interdisciplinary journal that deals with the interrelations of human beings with ecosystems in sustainable land use and land development. Socio-Ecological Systems are a leading and internationally approved concept for understanding, describing and modeling the complex human-nature environment. By focussing on socio-ecological systems, we open a wide view on many complementary disciplines that help us to develop a vision of the world of tomorrow. Feel invited to join and share your ideas!

http://www.editorialmanager.com/cases/default.aspx

The authors are kindly invited to register at CASES paper processing system and submit their contribution using a special track established for this Special Issue (Size of the Society). All papers will go through CASES high standards, quick, fair and comprehensive peer-review procedure. In case of any questions please contact the Coordinating Editor Mihály Dombi or the Journal Editor, Christine Fürst.

As an author of CASES Special Issue Size of the Society on you will benefit from:
 transparent, comprehensive and fast peer review managed by our Guest Editors
 efficient route to fast-track publication and full advantage of De Gruyter Open e-technology
 no publication fees
 free language assistance for authors from non-English speaking regions

---------
Yours sincerely,
Mihály Dombi

Dr. Dombi Mihály
adjunktus
Debreceni Egyetem
Gazdaságtudományi Kar
Közgazdaságtan Intézet
Környezetgazdaságtan Tanszék
+36/52-508-444/88024

Mihály Dombi, Ph.D.
professor assistant
University of Debrecen
Faculty of Economics and Business 
Institute of Economics
Department of Environmental Economics
+36/52-508-444/88024

Post from Dr. Xavier Gabarrell Durany

Dear  Colleagues
 
I wanted to let you know of a information about: 

5 Postdoctoral Fellowships in Climate and Global Change
Institute of Environmental Science and Technology (ICTA)
‘Maria de Maetzu’ Unit of Excellence
More information on:
http://ictaweb.uab.cat/noticies_news_detail.php?id=3312

Thank you very much!
Best regards

Dr. Xavier Gabarrell Durany