Global boards show progress in sustainability, but AI and geopolitical risks loom large

New global survey by INSEAD, Heidrick & Struggles and BCG, reveals growing confidence in sustainability governance, but boards and CEOs still lack confidence in each other’s leadership

INSEAD Asia Campus

 

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 Boards and Society: How Boards Are Evolving to Meet Challenges from Sustainability to Geopolitical Volatility

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Credit: INSEAD Corporate Governance Centre, Heidrick & Struggles and Boston Consulting Group (BCG)

INSEAD Corporate Governance Centre, in partnership with Heidrick & Struggles and Boston Consulting Group (BCG),  today published a report exploring how boards are responding to complex trends and disruptions they currently face.

The report Boards and Society: How Boards Are Evolving to Meet Challenges from Sustainability to Geopolitical Volatility reveals boards have made meaningful advances to address sustainability topics, but are less confident when it comes to their understanding of other issues such as the rising importance of generative AI, intensifying trade and geopolitical disruptions. These four interconnected pillars are forcing directors and CEOs to navigate an increasingly unpredictable environment filled with conflicting and often politically charged demands.  

Additionally, the report shows evidence of simmering discord among company leadership on how best to enhance competitiveness amid the challenges they face.

Key Findings from the Boardroom

• 77% of boards believe their company has a responsibility to address sustainability concerns
• 36% feel prepared to leverage the disruptive potential of AI
• 37% believe their company has a sufficient strategy around geopolitical risk
• 29% of directors do not have faith in their CEO to navigate uncertainty 
• 26% of CEOs do not have faith in their board’s effectiveness
• Half of respondents are not confident their company is equipped to identify new threats and opportunities related to sustainability, generative AI and geopolitics

The report reveals that 77% of the global board members surveyed believe their company has a responsibility to address societal concerns, although more than half (54%) believe that business objectives should remain the primary focus. In contrast to this enthusiasm around sustainability, only 36% of directors feel prepared to leverage the disruptive potential of AI, while just 37% agree that their companies have sufficient strategies in place to manage geopolitical risks.

These findings highlight an urgent need for greater balance between traditional governance with forward-looking strategies and increased investment in board competency. Despite lower levels of confidence for the prevailing risks and emerging technologies of our time, it is encouraging to note that more than 60% of directors stated that their boards are “leaning in” on risk management, suggesting a desire to tackle these challenges head on, regardless of their complexity.

Lack of Confidence Amid Growing Complexity
In a concerning indication of division within the boardroom, the new report reveals that 29% of directors lack confidence in their CEO’s ability to navigate disruption and boost long-term value. Meanwhile, a comparable number of CEOs (26%) are equally skeptical of their board’s effectiveness, reflecting an increasing tension between top leadership teams grappling with a more complex and diverse range of issues than ever before.

The report also finds that roughly half of directors are not confident their company is equipped to identify new threats and opportunities related to sustainability, generative AI and geopolitics, nor are they able translate them into a competitive advantage. As global business landscapes continue to shift, the ability of boards to stay cohesive, align with leadership, and adapt to new challenges with innovative corporate strategy will be more critical than ever. Effective governance that embraces both foresight and resilience will be key in turning these disruptions into opportunities, allowing businesses not only to survive but to thrive in an increasingly volatile world.

Sonia Tatar, Executive Director of INSEAD Corporate Governance Centre, said, "Boards today can benefit from moving from being reactive to proactive. Beyond understanding disruptions, they can focus on looking ahead—anticipating future shocks and potential risks and finding ways to capitalize on the emerging trends to leverage opportunities. By translating insights that inform decision-making into strategic actions, they will be better positioned to guide companies in becoming more resilient and navigating change effectively."  
  
Commenting on the findings, Jeremy Hanson, Partner with Heidrick & Struggles and Co-author of the report, commented: “While it is encouraging that boards are stepping up on sustainability, this year’s survey reveals tensions between directors and management regarding each other’s capacity to navigate disruption. With so much at stake—and an increasing complexity to unpack—alignment between board directors and management isn’t just a best practice; it’s essential for addressing both today’s challenges and those of the future. Importantly, alignment does not mean boards should shy away from constructive debate with management. In fact, fostering open, even difficult, conversations is crucial for boards to reach resilient, well-rounded decisions in today’s demanding environment.”

Also commenting on the report, David Young, Managing Director and Senior Partner of BCG added: “Boards are facing new and increasingly complex challenges, amid geopolitical uncertainty, rapid advances in technology, and continued concerns over the impact of climate change. But boards have made notable progress in tackling sustainability--and now there is opportunity for them to learn from these efforts as they engage in deep conversations with executive leadership to confront this expanding agenda.”

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Media Inquiries:

Heidrick & Struggles: heidrick@cw8-communications.com

BCG: Gregoire.Eric@bcg.com 

INSEAD: news@insead.edu 

 

 

About Heidrick & Struggles

Heidrick & Struggles (Nasdaq: HSII) is a premier provider of global leadership advisory and on-demand talent solutions, serving the senior-level talent and consulting needs of the world's top organizations. In our role as trusted leadership advisors, we partner with our clients to develop future-ready leaders and organizations, bringing together our services and offerings in executive search, diversity and inclusion, leadership assessment and development, organization and team acceleration, culture shaping and on-demand, independent talent solutions. Heidrick & Struggles pioneered the profession of executive search more than 70 years ago. Today, the firm provides integrated talent and human capital solutions to help our clients change the world, one leadership team at a time. For more, please visit www.heidrick.com

 

About BCG

Boston Consulting Group partners with leaders in business and society to tackle their most important challenges and capture their greatest opportunities. BCG was the pioneer in business strategy when it was founded in 1963. Today, we work closely with clients to embrace a transformational approach aimed at benefiting all stakeholders—empowering organizations to grow, build sustainable competitive advantage, and drive positive societal impact.

Our diverse, global teams bring deep industry and functional expertise and a range of perspectives that question the status quo and spark change. BCG delivers solutions through leading-edge management consulting, technology and design, and corporate and digital ventures. We work in a uniquely collaborative model across the firm and throughout all levels of the client organization, fueled by the goal of helping our clients thrive and enabling them to make the world a better place.

About INSEAD Corporate Governance Centre  

The INSEAD Corporate Governance Centre (ICGC) has been actively engaged in making a distinctive contribution to the knowledge and practice of corporate governance globally. Its vision is to be the leading center for research, innovation, and impact in corporate governance. Through its educational portfolio and advocacy, the ICGC seeks to build greater trust within the public and stakeholder communities, so that businesses are a powerful force for improvement, not only of economic markets but also for the global societal environment. For more, visit www.insead.edu/centres/corporate-governance.

Researchers catalog the microbiome of US rivers

River microbes found near wastewater treatment plants expressed high levels of antibiotic resistance genes

Colorado State University

Rivers and streams serve as critical connectors across vast geographical landscapes, trickling out of tucked-away headwaters and snaking thousands of miles toward oceans and deep seas. These waterways directly impact human and environmental health, agriculture and energy production, and supply the United States with two-thirds of its drinking water. And yet, compared with other larger waterbodies, the microbiology of rivers is relatively understudied.

A Colorado State University-led team of scientists have contributed to changing that — detailing for the first time both broad and specific information about the presence and function of microorganisms in rivers covering 90% of the watersheds in the continental U.S. Cataloging the microbiome of these rivers is the result of a yearslong participatory science effort published this week in the journal Nature.

This new research suggests that microbes play a significant role in shaping the overall health of rivers. The paper’s authors describe river microbes as “master orchestrators of nutrient and energy flows that will likely dictate water quality under current and future water scenarios.” What’s more, the authors found these microbes are interacting with contaminants found in the water, adding new detail to an existing body of evidence showing that rivers are impacted by artificial inputs such as antibiotics, disinfection products, fluorinated compounds, fertilizers and microplastics. Notably, river microbes had the ability to degrade microplastics into smaller carbon compounds, and microbes found near wastewater treatment plants expressed high levels of antibiotic resistance genes.

The study also found that river microbe behavior supports a decades-old idea known as the River Continuum Concept — a macro-ecological theory that views rivers as one continuously integrated system. For example, a particular type of fish thriving at a particular spot in a river is inextricably linked to what’s happening upstream. Turns out, this is also true of river microorganisms.

“People used to think of rivers almost just as pipes, a way to move water from one place to another,” said CSU Research Professor Mikayla Borton, lead author on the Nature paper. “But rivers are much more than that — they’re performing all kinds of activities. And there’s a pattern to it; those activities can be predicted. Now, we know what microbes are performing some of those activities.”

The study involved cataloging more than 2,000 microbial genomes from about 100 rivers across North America — a majority from water samples collected by local community members through a sampling program run by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, or PNNL, an environmental and physical sciences research lab located in Washington state and operated by Battelle, a private nonprofit, on behalf of the U.S. Department of Energy.

“When we look at how the land around a river is managed, we can see the processing of certain kinds of anthropogenic contaminants or chemicals through the microbes in their DNA,” said Kelly Wrighton, a professor in CSU’s College of Agricultural Sciences and a co-author on the paper. “There’s a very strong relationship — it suggests there’s a signal in the microbiome of how we’re living on and managing the land that is perpetuated into the river system and then downstream.”

Microbiome science is an emerging scientific field. One of the key promises of this research area is that microbes can function as a kind of canary in the coal mine for the health of both humans and critical ecosystems — soils, oceans, or, say, the overall wellness of a river. “Our hope,” said Wrighton, one of the leaders of CSU’s Microbiome Network, an interdisciplinary research group, “is that this information can eventually be used to develop new diagnostics that are indicators of a healthy river versus an unhealthy river.”

Participatory science on a large scale

In addition to unlocking new insight into river microorganisms, the research published this week also showcases how participatory science can be successfully executed on a large scale, Wrighton said.

Wrighton first considered the project in 2018, while attending a national Department of Energy research meeting in Washington, D.C. At the meeting, Wrighton met James Stegen, a PNNL earth scientist, and learned that Stegen and his colleague, Amy Goldman, were already overseeing a massive, worldwide river sampling effort known as the Worldwide Hydrobiogeochemistry Observation Network for Dynamic River Systems, or WHONDRS. The program enlisted both scientists and non-scientists to collect river samples locally and send the samples to PNNL for analysis. Wrighton realized those same samples could also be analyzed for microbial data.

“There’s a lot of interest in mapping microbiomes, and there was this huge absence of microbial river data,” Wrighton said. “But I was also thinking, ‘Can we do this science at scale?’ Because if we can do science like this, if we can demonstrate that it works, we can tackle the world’s big problems like climate change. We could take this and apply it everywhere. We’re already working on a similar approach with wetlands.”

Stegen is excited by the results and the possibilities for new research to flow out of this work. “This is new frontier kind of stuff; we’re really opening the doors to a deeply under-characterized part of the Earth,” Stegen said. “It is extremely gratifying to have built something that will benefit a lot of folks beyond our team.”

One of the keys in opening this work to a broader audience, Borton said, was to make the information accessible in a user-friendly database. To accomplish that, Borton turned to CSU Associate Professor Matt Ross, an ecosystem scientist who works with data analytics. Ross’ lab helped build the river microbiome data into a searchable, web-friendly platform.

“I’m really proud of the data accessibility part of this project,” Borton said.

Ross, a co-author on the paper, also helped Borton contextualize the data for the paper’s final analysis. He was somewhat surprised that granular microbial data connected so well to longstanding theories about big river ecosystems. “One of the key ideas from the paper was that this tied back to river theory — how rivers change from small creeks to really large rivers,” Ross said. “This work aligns quite well with these old theories.”

In addition to being impacted by land use, river microbes were affected by other variables such as the size of the river, how much light hit the water surface, air temperature and the speed of the water flowing in the river. Those same factors also impact larger river species. What’s more, these factors were predictive of what microbes the researchers found, regardless of where in the U.S. the river was located. In fact, the team found six microbes in particular that were present and active in each of the roughly 100 rivers they studied. All six of those core microorganisms used light as an energy source.

“Microbes are active in these systems in such a way that is predictable across the continental U.S.,” Borton said. “I thought that we would find similar organisms in these different river systems, but I didn’t think the microbes would follow the tenets of these old river concepts for macro-organisms. That’s very cool, and I think says a lot about the robustness of the science that was done prior to our work.”

Borton hopes non-microbiome scientists will start using the data infrastructure they’ve built around river microbiomes, including incorporating microbial processes into efforts to better model ecosystems on a large scale. “We need to be better at studying across landscapes,” Borton said, “and better understanding rivers can help us do that.”

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Journal

Nature

DOI

10.1038/s41586-024-08240-z 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

‘A functional microbiome catalogue crowdsourced from North American rivers’

Article Publication Date

20-Nov-2024

 

Females sleep less, awaken more frequently than males

A new study in mice shows that males and females have profoundly different sleep patterns

University of Colorado at Boulder

Females sleep less, wake up more often and get less restorative sleep than males, according to a new animal study by CU Boulder researchers.

The findings, published in the journal Scientific Reports, shed new light on what may underlie sleep differences in men and women and could have broad implications for biomedical research, which for decades has focused primarily on males.

“In humans, men and women exhibit distinct sleep patterns, often attributed to lifestyle factors and caregiving roles,” said senior author Rachel Rowe, assistant professor of integrative physiology. “Our results suggest that biological factors may play a more substantial role in driving these sleep differences than previously recognized.”

Sleep research has exploded in recent years, with thousands of animal studies exploring how insufficient sleep impacts risk of diseases like diabetes, obesity, Alzheimer’s and immune disorders—and how such diseases impact sleep. Meanwhile, mice have often been the first to be tested to see whether new drugs, including medications for sleep, work and what the side effects are.

But many of those results may have been skewed due to a lack of female representation, the study suggests.

“Essentially, we found that the most commonly used mouse strain in biomedical research has sex-specific sleep behavior and that a failure to properly account for these sex differences can easily lead to flawed interpretations of data,” said first author Grant Mannino, who graduated with degrees in psychology and neuroscience and was named outstanding undergraduate of the College of Arts and Sciences in May.

How mice sleep

For the non-invasive study, the authors used specialized cages lined with ultrasensitive movement sensors to assess the sleep patterns of 267 “C57BL/6J” mice.

Males slept about 670 minutes total per 24-hour period, about an hour more than female mice. That extra sleep was non-Rapid Eye Movement (NREM) sleep—the restorative sleep when the body works to repair itself.

Mice are nocturnal and are “polyphasic sleepers”—napping for a few minutes before arousing briefly to survey their environment and then resuming their slumber. Females, the study found, have even shorter bouts of sleep—essentially, their sleep is more fragmented.

Similar sex differences have been seen in other animals, including fruit flies, rats, zebrafish and birds. Evolutionarily, it makes sense.

“From a biological standpoint, it could be that females are designed to be more sensitive to their environment and be aroused when they need to be because they are typically the one who is caring for the young,” Rowe said. “If we slept as hard as males sleep, we would not move forward as a species, right?”

Stress hormones like cortisol (which promotes wakefulness) and sex hormones likely play a role. For instance, women tend to report worse sleep during the time in their menstrual cycle when estrogen and progesterone are at their lowest.

Some have hypothesized that females inherently require less sleep.

“For me, the question is: Are we creating too much stress for ourselves because we don’t sleep as much as our husband or partner and think our sleep is poor when actually that is a normal sleep profile for ourselves?” said Rowe.

The authors hope their findings inspire more research into underlying biological differences. More importantly, they hope the study prompts scientists to re-evaluate how they do research.

Progress made but more work to be done

In 2016, the National Institutes of Health began requiring scientists applying for funding for animal studies to consider “sex as a biological variable.” Progress has been made, but research has shown that sex bias still exists. And it can have real consequences, the authors found.

When they simulated a sleep treatment that worked best in females, they found that it was accurately reflected only if the sample size was made up evenly of males and females.

Bottom line: If females are underrepresented, drugs that work best for them may seem ineffective, or side effects that hit hardest may go unnoticed.

“The pipeline from bench to bedside is decades-long and often things that work in animals fail when they get to clinical trials. Is it taking so long because sex isn’t being considered enough?” said Rowe.

The authors encourage researchers to include both sexes equally when possible, analyze data for males and females separately, and re-evaluate past studies that underrepresented females.

“The most surprising finding here isn’t that male and female mice sleep differently. It’s that no one has thoroughly shown this until now,” said Rowe. “We should have known this long before 2024.”

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Journal

Scientific Reports

DOI

10.1038/s41598-024-70996-1 

Method of Research

Meta-analysis

Subject of Research

Animals

Article Title

The importance of including both sexes in preclinical sleep studies and analyses

 

New Editors-in-Chief join the lead at invasion science journal NeoBiota

Pensoft Publishers

NeoBiota, a leading peer-reviewed, open-access journal dedicated to the study of alien species and biological invasions, announces the appointment of new Editors-in-Chief. 

The new leadership team sees Dr. Ana Novoa Perez, Prof. Tammy Robinson, Prof. Phil Hulme and Dr. Andrew ("Sandy") Liebhold join forces to bring a wealth of expertise to NeoBiota. 

They have already begun working in close collaboration with Prof. Ingolf Kühn, who has been serving as Editor-in-Chief ever since the journal was founded in 2011. Throughout these years, he has played a pivotal role in establishing NeoBiota as a leading platform for invasion science, contributing to the journal's growth and impact. 

“After more than 13 years, I thought that it was time to hand the responsibilities for NeoBiota over to dedicated colleagues. We thought of our dream team, and fortunately, all agreed without hesitation.”

Covering both an extensive range of invasion science fields and a wide international representation, this diverse editorial team will be looking to maintain NeoBiota's reputation as a leading outlet in its field and expand its global reach and impact.

Today, NeoBiota is one of the most prominent open-access journals in biological invasions, with a Journal Impact Factor of 3.8 and a Scopus CiteScore of 8.1 for 2023. Currently, the journal ranks 11th in the Biodiversity Conservation category on Web of Science and 9th in the Ecological Modelling category on Scopus.

 

Meet the editors

Dr. Ana Novoa is a scientist at the Estación Experimental de Zonas Áridas of the Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas (EEZA-CSIC) in Spain and the Institute of Botany of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. Her research explores the socioecological factors influencing the invasion and management of alien species, with a particular interest in the human and social dimensions of biological invasions. She is also Secretary of the European Group on Biological Invasions (NEOBIOTA).

“I’m honored to collaborate with Ingolf, Tammy, Phil and Sandy in guiding the journal forward,” said Ana. “I look forward to supporting innovative research across the diverse aspects of invasion science.”

Prof. Tammy Robinson holds a Research Chair at the Centre for Invasion Biology, Stellenbosch University, South Africa. She is a marine invasion biologist with an ecological background, an interest in evidence-based management of alien species, and a focus on protected areas. She is an associate member of INVASIVESNET, the global network of networks on invasive species. 

“I’m really excited about joining this dynamic team,” said Tammy. “I’m looking forward to fostering an increase in the number of aquatic papers that appear in NeoBiota.”

Prof. Philip Hulme is a Distinguished Professor of Plant Biosecurity at Lincoln University, New Zealand, and Director of the Centre for One Biosecurity Research, Analysis and Synthesis (COBRAS). His research focuses on predicting risks associated with plant invasions, examining traits of successful invasive species, identifying introduction pathways, assessing spread rates, evaluating habitat vulnerability, quantifying impacts, and predicting the influence of climate change on invasive species distributions. His work also includes broader assessments of biosecurity policy and implementation across the human, animal, plant and ecosystem sectors, emphasizing human perspectives, such as trade and economic impacts. Having authored, reviewed, and edited numerous papers in NeoBiota, he was also one of the people behind the journal’s foundation.

“Having been involved with the journal since its foundation it is a real pleasure to have the opportunity to shape its future and continue the amazing work Ingolf has undertaken to ensure NeoBiota is THE leading biological invasions journal in the world”.

Dr. Andrew "Sandy" Liebhold is a lead scientist with the Czech University of Life Sciences in Prague, where he directs The Forest Risk Research Centre. He is also a Scientist Emeritus with the U.S. Forest Service. His research focuses on the macroecology, population ecology, community ecology, and management of insect invasions. He has received numerous awards, including the IUFRO Scientific Achievement Award and is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and the Entomological Society of America. 

“I am excited about being part of the NeoBiota editorial team and look forward to working with my colleagues to continue the journal’s high level of excellence and advance the field of invasion biology.”

 

Meet the NeoBiota journal

Founded in 2011 after participants at the 6th NEOBIOTA conference in Copenhagen agreed that a new international, open-access, peer-reviewed journal would definitely benefit the research community, and published by Pensoft Publishers, NeoBiota focuses  on the mechanisms and consequences of biological invasions across all disciplines.

Featuring research on the ecology, evolution, biogeography and human and social dimensions of biological invasions, the journal is committed to publishing high-quality research on the introduction, establishment, spread, and management of invasive alien species worldwide. As biological invasions pose a set of social, legal, and policy challenges, NeoBiota is keen on exploring how they can be managed and controlled.

The open-access journal prides itself on a rapid publication process, typically completing publication within 1-2 weeks after a manuscript's acceptance. NeoBiota also supports advanced data publishing workflows, strongly encouraging open data publication. This commitment to open access and rapid publication, combined with a broad, interdisciplinary scope, makes it a leading journal in the field of invasion science. 

“The onboarding of additional well-renowned Editors-in-chief at NeoBiota promises a dynamic new chapter for the journal. There is no doubt that the team's diverse expertise and commitment to open science will set the journal on a positive trajectory as one of the leading academic outlets in invasion science,” said Prof. Lyubomir Penev, CEO and founder of Pensoft.

 

Healthy New Town: Revitalizing neighborhoods in the wake of aging populations

Community-led urban transformation through the Senboku Hottokenai Network Project

Peer-Reviewed Publication

Osaka Metropolitan University

 

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An aging population prompts the need for community-led urban redevelopment.

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Credit: Kazuhiko Mori, Osaka Metropolitan University

Planned suburban residential neighborhoods in metropolitan areas known as new towns were initially developed in England. The new town movement spread from Europe to East Asia, such as to Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Singapore. In Japan alone, 2,903 New Towns were built, but many experienced rapid population decline and aging in the 40 years after their development. Therefore, they changed into old new towns and had to transform their facilities.

Dr. Haruka Kato, a junior associate professor at Osaka Metropolitan University and Professor Emeritus Kazuhiko Mori conducted action research in Senboku New Town, one of the largest old new towns in Japan. Senboku-NT’s population declined from approximately 170,000 to 115,000 in 2022. In addition, the older generation increased by about 42,500 people, accounting for 37.1% of the total population. The demographic change made it difficult for older people to live in Senboku-NT as neighborhood shops closed one after another, leaving frail older adults unable to maintain their daily life within walking distance.

To address this problem, residents began to explore community-led projects with the help of community federations, NPOs, social welfare organizations, the government, and universities. The Senboku Hottokenai Network Project is an example initiative that gradually transformed vacant building stocks into supportive housing for older people, a group home for people with disabilities, and a community restaurant. In addition, this community-led urban transformation project spread to neighboring areas. The results of this study shed new light on the importance of community-led co-creation in transdisciplinary projects toward the Healthy New Town.

“Hottokenai in Japanese translates to ‘leave no one behind,’ which is the central promise of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and its Sustainable Development Goals,” said Dr. Kato. “Our insight provides the need to implement a new town movement program to extend the urban transformation project for the Healthy New Town to other old new towns in East Asia.”

The findings were published in Habitat International.

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About OMU 

Established in Osaka as one of the largest public universities in Japan, Osaka Metropolitan University is committed to shaping the future of society through the “Convergence of Knowledge” and the promotion of world-class research. For more research news, visit https://www.omu.ac.jp/en/ and follow us on social media: X, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn.

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Journal

Habitat International

DOI

10.1016/j.habitatint.2024.103197 

Method of Research

Data/statistical analysis

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Community-led urban transformation project as transdisciplinary approach: Case of Senboku Hottokenai Network Project

 

A mixed picture: E-participation in Germany`s Energiewende

Citizens’ and institutional stakeholders’ views on e-participation in the context of the German Energiewende

Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) – Helmholtz Centre Potsdam

Can e-participation build acceptance and strengthen the democratic legitimacy of infrastructure planning? A new study by the Research Institute for Sustainability (RIFS) evaluates the use of e-participation technologies in the context of the German energy transition for the first time. RIFS-researcher Jörg Radtke finds that e-participation solutions that inform citizens’ while also harnessing their creative input can play a key role in the implementation of the energy transition. 

In recent years, various forms of e-participation have emerged that experiment with visual and interactive technologies. So far, however, little research has been conducted to evaluate the use of e-participation formats in the context of the German energy transition. Published in the journal Technological Forecasting & Social Change, Jörg Radtke’s study “E-participation in energy transitions: What does it mean?” closes this gap: The study draws on interviews with stakeholders in a wind farm project in North Rhine-Westphalia as well as the findings of an online survey on attitudes towards wind power.

"Most of the citizens surveyed are open towards using new options for creative input and visualization-based online tools because they make planning processes more transparent and tangible. It is also clear that citizens appreciate being involved decision-making processes at an early stage," says RIFS-researcher Jörg Radtke. 

The study also shows that many people would be willing to participate in planning processes if e-participation formats were more inclusive and oriented towards citizens’ needs. However, this requires clear communication strategies that build trust as well as the willingness to tangibly engage with citizens' concerns in planning processes. Most online participation offerings are simply not of interest to many citizens. Radtke emphasises the need for mobilisation strategies that can generate interest in e-participation and leverage this untapped potential to build acceptance and strengthen the democratic legitimacy of the energy transition.

Addressing the concerns of institutional stakeholders

However, institutional stakeholders have concerns around the efficiency and integrity of e-participation processes, in particular with respect to data security. The research also revealed concerns on the part of some institutional stakeholders that e-participation formats could be difficult to control and may exacerbate existing conflicts. Misleading charts and statistics on wind power that are disseminated through social media could spread uncontrollably in e-participation spaces, for example. In light of this, local government bodies often view e-participation merely as a means to deliver information and are reluctant to afford processes any real decision-making power. 

“Citizens are extremely critical of this kind of alibi participation,” says Radtke of the study’s findings. Instead, he recommends that organisers facilitate constructive debate through effective content and community moderation. The study also shows that e-participation could potentially reach a larger number of citizens than conventional participation formats thanks to its flexibility and accessibility. E-participation especially benefits people with mobility issues or limited opportunities to attend face-to-face events, enabling them to participate in public debate and contribute their opinions.

Visualisation tools in planning and participation

The study also examines the use of 3D visualisation tools and augmented and virtual reality technologies in e-participation processes. These technologies can be used to present infrastructure proposals in a manner that is easy to comprehend, enabling citizens to better evaluate plans, make specific suggestions, and provide concrete feedback. Visualisation technologies also enable planners and citizens to gain a better picture of the impacts of new infrastructure – in contrast to conventional participation formats such as dialogue events and public meetings, where proposals are frequently discussed without any real understanding of how infrastructures will impact landscapes.

Augmented reality technologies can be used to illustrate the integration of wind turbines in a specific setting, for example, enabling citizens to experience their likely visual and acoustic impacts from their “own living room window”. Using visualisation technologies in this way can help to avoid misunderstandings and invites citizens to provide creative feedback, which can improve the overall outcome of the planning process. Radtke anticipates that the adoption of AI technologies will improve accessibility and help to bridge the gap between today’s already sophisticated technical applications and citizen’s restrained interest in e-participation. Virtual flights and tours through planned wind farms, guided by virtual assistants who answer citizens’ questions, are likely to become reality one day.

Ultimately, the advantages can outweigh the possible disadvantages of digital tools: The targeted use of 3D, AR, VR and AI technologies, moderated discussion forums and new options for civic participation – such as inviting community input on the allocation of revenues from energy infrastructure – could accelerate the energy transition while also building acceptance and generating greater democratic legitimacy, says Radtke. "This analysis provides valuable insights into current attitudes towards the use of e-participation in Germany’s energy transition and concrete recommendations for the design and implementation of e-participation in future energy policy."

Publication:
Jörg Radtke: E-participation in energy transitions: What does it mean? Chances and challenges within Germany's Energiewende, Technological Forecasting and Social Change Volume 210, January 2025. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123839
 

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Journal

Technological Forecasting and Social Change

DOI

10.1016/j.techfore.2024.123839 

Method of Research

Survey

Subject of Research

People

Article Title

E-participation in energy transitions: What does it mean? Chances and challenges within Germany's Energiewende

 

New theory reveals the shape of a single photon 

University of Birmingham

 

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A new theory, that explains how light and matter interact at the quantum level has enabled researchers to define for the first time the precise shape of a single photon.

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Credit: Dr Benjamin Yuen

A new theory, that explains how light and matter interact at the quantum level has enabled researchers to define for the first time the precise shape of a single photon. 

Research at the University of Birmingham, published in Physical Review Letters, explores the nature of photons (individual particles of light) in unprecedented detail to show how they are emitted by atoms or molecules and shaped by their environment. 

The nature of this interaction leads to infinite possibilities for light to exist and propagate, or travel, through its surrounding environment. This limitless possibility, however, makes the interactions exceptionally hard to model, and is a challenge that quantum physicists have been working to address for several decades. 

By grouping these possibilities into distinct sets, the Birmingham team were able to produce a model that describes not only the interactions between the photon and the emitter, but also how the energy from that interaction travels into the distant ‘far field’. 

At the same time, they were able to use their calculations to produce a visualisation of the photon itself. 

First author Dr Benjamin Yuen, in the University’s School of Physics, explained: “Our calculations enabled us to convert a seemingly insolvable problem into something that can be computed. And, almost as a bi-product of the model, we were able to produce this image of a photon, something that hasn’t been seen before in physics.” 

The work is important because it opens up new avenues of research for quantum physicists and material science. By being able to precisely define how a photon interacts with matter and with other elements of its environment, scientists can design new nanophotonic technologies that could change the way we communicate securely, detect pathogens, or control chemical reactions at a molecular level for example. 

Co-author, Professor Angela Demetriadou, also at the University of Birmingham, said: “The geometry and optical properties of the environment has profound consequences for how photons are emitted, including defining the photons shape, colour, and even how likely it is to exist.” 

Dr Benjamin Yuen, added: “This work helps us to increase our understanding of the energy exchange between light and matter, and secondly to better understand how light radiates into its nearby and distant surroundings. Lots of this information had previously been thought of as just ‘noise’ - but there’s so much information within it that we can now make sense of, and make use of. By understanding this, we set the foundations to be able to engineer light-matter interactions for future applications, such as better sensors, improved photovoltaic energy cells, or quantum computing.” 

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Journal

Physical Review Letters

DOI

10.1103/PhysRevLett.133.203604 

Method of Research

Computational simulation/modeling

Subject of Research

Not applicable

Article Title

Exact Quantum Electrodynamics of Radiative Photonic Environments