The Executive Director of the European Environment Agency is in Aberdeen today (Thursday 3rd June), to discuss science-based policy making.

Professor Jacqueline McGlade will join staff and visitors at the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute to deliver the annual T.B. Macaulay Lecture. The talk will examine the role of scientific research in support of environmental policy-making at both a European and national level.

The role of the European Environment Agency is to help the European Community and member countries make informed decisions about improving the environment, integrating environmental considerations into economic policies and moving towards sustainability. Europe’s populations and economies fundamentally depend on the supplies of food, water, energy, and material, both from within and from beyond the borders of Europe. The sustainable use of the natural capital plus the security of our environmental resources are necessary to sustain today’s economies and people in good health, and to achieve this robust scientific research from a range of disciplines is required.

Speaking ahead of her lecture, Professor McGlade says, “To address our sustainable use of resources we need reliable environmental information. However, there are sometimes vested interests entangled in much of the evidence brought forward to support various policies and actions. I aim to examine the differing roles of academics, research institutions and independent bodies in creating the sufficiently robust evidence necessary for policy-makers.”

The 34th T. B. Macaulay Lecture will take place at the Macaulay Land Use Research Institute, Craigiebuckler, Aberdeen on Thursday 3rd June at 2pm.

ENDS

Any media wishing to attend should contact Clare Neely on 01224 395087 or e-mail c.neely@macaualy.ac.uk.

Information for Editors

Professor Jacqueline McGlade
Jacqueline McGlade is the Executive Director of the European Environment Agency. She is currently a Trustee of the Natural History Museum and a member of the Environment Advisory Committee of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, UK-China Forum and UK-Japan 21st Century Group. Her main areas of specialisation include spatial data analysis and informatics, expert systems, environmental technologies and the international politics of the environment and natural resources.

The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute
The Macaulay Land Use Research Institute was founded in 1930 and is an international centre for research and consultancy on the environmental and social consequences of rural land uses. With an annual income from research and consultancy of over £14m, the Institute is the largest interdisciplinary research organisation of its kind in Europe, and aims to provide evidence to help shape future environmental and rural-development policy on a national and international basis.

Dr. T.B. Macaulay
The Institute was founded in 1930 through a benefaction from one of Canada’s Scottish sons, Dr T.B. Macaulay (1860 – 1942), of the Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada. His aim was to improve the productivity of Scottish agriculture.

It was established to carry out research in support of the agricultural industry, taking account of the interaction between the industry and other land users, and set in the context of the environmental objectives of the UK Government and the European Union.