2nd COST Action TU1401 Training School 2017 - A great success!
Theme: Questions of Power and Participation: Renewable Energy and Landscape in Policy and Planning
Date & Location: Reykjavík, 22 - 26 Mai2017 (5 days including a 1 day field trip)
HOST: University of Iceland, Faculty of Life and Environmental Sciences, Askja, Sturlugata 7, Reykjavík, Iceland

The training school was a great success and highly appreciated not only among participants and trainers but also recognised among the Islandic people and media.

Click on the article to see the translation.

You'll find further information about the outcomes of the training school here (on Icelandic)- publications will follow in the next month.

Learning outcomes:
Having completed the training school, the participants should:
• understand the importance of strategic and spatial planning for renewable energy.
• realise the complexities involved in taking local views and subjective landscape values into consideration in planning processes.
• recognise the possible contradictions between expert-based planning and political decisions.
• have experimented with methods that can be used in energy planning and policy making.
• be able to critically analyse particular cases of renewable energy planning proposals at different levels of planning.

About this Training School

This Action investigates the inter-relationships between renewable energy production and landscape quality, and the role of public participation for the acceptance of renewable energy systems. The Action will develop a better understanding of how landscape protection and management, and renewable energy deployment can be reconciled to contribute socio-environmentally to the sustainable transformation of energy systems. This Action will consolidate and extend knowledge from a pan-European perspective using a modular methodological framework. This Action will enhance the science base for decision-making, and develop guidelines for public participation in planning renewable energy systems. The potential of sustainable landscape development, with innovative land uses producing synergies for landscape quality and renewable energy, will be revealed.
Early Stage Researchers, PhD students and MSc students in geography, landscape, environmental science and ecology are eligible to apply for a grant as trainee in order to participate to the 2nd Training School of RELY (COST Action TU1401).
The duration of the 2nd Training School is five working days, including a one-day field excursion. The Grant of up to 800 EURO will partially cover the travelling costs, accommodation and subsistence during the Training School.

Application process

Applicants to the training school do so with:
1. A motivation letter, one page. NB: Must include a clear indication of preferences regarding group work (see below).
2. A short CV.
Email these to the Action Coordinator of Training Schools (Dr Karl Benediktsson kben@hi.is) and Action Chair (Prof Michael Roth Michael.Roth@hfwu.de), see complete contact data below. The applicant will be informed on the candidature for grant by means of an official email via the e-COST tool.
Closing date for applications is 28th February, 2017

 Read here the full information about the training school.

1st COST Action TU1401 Training School 2016 - Call for Trainees
Theme: Renewable energy and landscape quality
Content: VIA/LCA Techniques, Communities and Planning
Date & Location: Dublin, 22 - 26 August 2016 (5 days including a 1 day field trip)
HOST: Dublin Institute of Technology

This Action investigates the inter-relationships between renewable energy production and landscape quality, and the role of public participation for the acceptance of renewable energy systems. The Action will develop a better understanding of how landscape protection and management, and renewable energy deployment can be reconciled to contribute socio-environmentally to the sustainable transformation of energy systems. This Action will consolidate and extend knowledge from a pan-European perspective using a modular methodological framework. This Action will enhance the science base for decision-making, and develop guidelines for public participation in planning renewable energy systems. The potential of sustainable landscape development, with innovative land uses producing synergies for landscape quality and renewable energy, will be revealed.
Target Group: Early Stage Researchers in geography, landscape, environmental science and ecology, PhD students and MSc students that are eligable to apply for a Grant as Trainee in order to participate to the 1st Training School of RELY (COST Action TU1401).

Grant: The Grant of up to 800 EURO will partially cover the travelling costs, hotel accommodation and subsistence during 5-day Training School.

Application process
Applicants to the training school do so with:
- A motivation letter, one page
- A short CV
Email these to the Action Coordinator of Training Schools and Action Chair (Michael Roth). The Applicant will be informed on the own candidature for grant from the Grant Holder by means of an official email via the e-COST tool (https://e-services.cost.eu/).
Closing date for applications is 20th May, 2016

Short description of the Training School
The training school will include lectures, a field trip and a series of workshops where the following themes are addressed:
The following broad themes are addressed in the training school:
1 Communication and perception of RE in the landscape: experts and the general public
a. Exercises in Q method
b. planning simulation
2 Visual impact assessment/landscape character assessment techniques with GIS
The training school is designed around a set of workshops where students address a number of issues relating to renewable energy and landscape quality. The landscape in question will be in Co Wicklow and area to the south of Dublin with a mix of agriculture, forestry and protected landscapes.
Day 1 Guest speakers, trainers present on current theory and Irish scenarios
Day 2 A field trip, a tour of energy installations in Wicklow, local authority, Wicklow Uplands Council
Day 3 Laboratory and case study working groups
Day 4 Laboratory and case study working groups
Day 5 Group presentations and poster session

For more information or contact Ken Boyle