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Session Detail (plenary)

Closing roundtable discussion about the interface between research and policy and the implications for improving connections between Europe and the Pacific



Session presentation

This roundtable will discuss paths for building long-term research cooperation and dialogue between European and Pacific scholars and policy makers with a special focus
on the goal of ECOPAS to reinforce the interface between research and policy. The European Consortium for Pacific Studies (ECOPAS) emerged from contacts between representatives of the European Commission and scholars of the Pacific that were established at previous ESfO conferences. ECOPAS was formed by two Pacific institutions (University of the South Pacific and PNG’s National Research Institute) and four European research centres (Bergen, Marseille, Nijmegen, St. Andrews) in response to the EC’s support and coordination funding call ‘Climate Change Uncertainties: Policymaking for the Pacific Front’. Since the ESfO conference in Bergen was held in December 2012, ECOPAS contributed to raise the profile of Pacific Studies in Europe and beyond, while it has also contributed towards professionalizing ESfO by institutionalizing the network of European and non-European scholars doing research in the Pacific. The main goal of the roundtable discussion is to evaluate and discuss ECOPAS’ strategies to achieve its aims and objectives to improve connections in the fields of research and policy between Europe and the Pacific.