Policy Domains Research Articles

Advancements in solar panel efficiency: Developing community-based energy solutions

Introduction: The advance towards sustainable energy across the globe has lead to the technological advancement in the solar industry where today’s photovoltaic (PV) panel boasts an efficiency ranging to a record high of 44.5%. This significant uplift has been accompanied by the decrease in costs of solar energy and has established it as a fundamental part of community sustainable energy project. However, the shift from large-scale traditional power structures to small-scale community renewable mini-grids projects has many policy and, economic and technical and social barriers. Materials and Methods: This systematic review aggregates data from 64 scientific papers, published between 2007 and 2023, addressing consumer-oriented aspects of PV energy communities. The literature was systematically analyzed across eight key areas: policy initiatives, generation and trading structures, tendencies, and impacts, economic analysis, business cases, energy policies and plans, demand side integration, mathematical and simulation tools, and consumers’ characteristics. Results: The review also shows major developments on the materials and structure of a solar cell that has made it more efficient coupled with a reduced cost implication. New business models and revenue streams such as virtual utility business models of community solar and peer-to-peer trading platforms based on blockchain are identified as evolving. However, there are still challenges such as regulatory limitations, absence of adequate funding structures and low customer awareness. Best practices underscore the need for targeted policies, new forms of industry structure, and customer involvement. Discussion: True, technology is advancing steadily, yet unlocking the full potential of CSPs demands a systems-approach addressing multifaceted challenges. Policy reforms for community ownership, standardisation of interconnection procedures and laying down fair schemes of sharing the benefits are important. Strategic financing solutions, energy management systems integrating IoT and AI, and specific focus on educational outlooks can boost the rate. The review also points out gaps on the assessment of non-energy benefits and the integration of storage at the community level. Conclusion: Community-based solar energy systems represent a promising pathway for accelerating the clean energy transition while fostering local resilience and energy democracy. However, their widespread implementation necessitates coordinated efforts across policy, technology, and social domains. This review provides a comprehensive framework for researchers, policymakers, and practitioners to address key barriers and leverage emerging opportunities in community solar development. Future research should focus on developing standardized metrics for assessing community solar impacts and exploring synergies with other distributed energy resources.

Mighty Millets for Food, Nutrition and Health Security

The United Nations General Assembly declared 2023 as the International Year of Millets to promote the nutritional benefits and climate resilience of millets, an ancient food for over half a million people in Asia and Africa. Millets are produced in over 130 countries and are cultivated in rainfed regions, providing income and livelihood security to farmers. They are also known as ‘Smart Food’ due to their high protein, antioxidants, and micronutrient content, making them popular among celiac disease sufferers and those on gluten-free diets. However, global millet cultivation has declined significantly in the last five decades, with a 22.5 lakh ha area per decade decline. India is the largest producer of millets, with 37.5% of the total global output. The decline may be attributed to limitations in crop improvement efforts, shift towards high-value cash crops, inadequate policies, and low farm profitability. The M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation organized an International conference on Mighty Millets for food, nutrition, and health security in August 2023. The paper emphasizes the need to achieve Food, Nutrition, and Health security through millets, adding gaps and priorities in research, innovation, development, extension, and policy domain to sustain efforts. Addressing these gaps and priorities is timely and imperative to sustain the efforts and ensure the sustainability of millets as a sustainable food source for millions of people worldwide.

Prevention Platform

A brand new prevention platform calls for decisive investment in prevention.
 It is unique because the platform acts across policy domains, as well as policy levels and language borders.
 The platform aims to promote health for all, contributing to more quality of life and healthy life years. We aim at a transformation from curative care (curative) to ensuring that people are born healthy and stay healthy (preventive).
 This fits seamlessly with the goal of integrated care: enabling people to maintain or regain their independence and improve their quality of life. Prevention and self-care are as essential to achieving this goal as the coordination of health and social care services. 
 With prevention support, people should be able to make informed decisions about their care and well-being; develop skills and knowledge to self-manage their long-term conditions; remain active in their communities and not become socially isolated.
 Prevention, especially primary prevention, is the basis of the new, integrated health and well-being policies we are pursuing. This requires many initiators from the health and welfare sector, as well as schools, businesses, social services, sports clubs to pull on the same sea.
 Driven by the Health in All Policies idea, the prevention platform groups together everyone - institutions and individuals - who want to give priority to prevention, to join forces to this end (to 'unbundle').
 The prevention platform focuses on the question of how to make prevention structurally permeate all sections of society. 
 Structural attention and a long-term strategy for prevention are the message here.
 Major investments in better prevention and health promotion within a strengthened primary care system as well as in an integrated social, welfare and healthcare concept: from ""taking care of sick people" to "making sure people are born healthy and stay healthy".
 We are working on a Community. There is a common concern to work preventively, health and wellness-wise, from very different, missions and experiences. There is no common language around prevention. By working together, talking together and setting concrete goals, prevention will have richer content.
 
 First achievement of the platform during the corona crisis was the call to the GEMS "Create a healthier living environment and make a healthy lifestyle a basic rule".
 The great interest in the platform compelled us to draft a charter.
 Round table discussions were organised across Flanders for the charter's signatories. This gets the conversation going across domains and levels.
 The charter has so far been signed by 820 organisations, academics or citizens.
 Major organisations such as VVSG, Domus Medica, Zorgnet Icuro, VRP, VAD, ... put their backs into it. 
 At the launch conference of the platform, ministers from the federal and Flemish levels were present together.
 The Prevention Platform is taken up as an important stakeholder in various consultative forums, as an independent advocacy platform, striving for transformation.
 The platform aims for an Interfederal plan for Belgium: Bringing together the prevention & health promotion sector (regional level) and the curative sector (national level) to work together on government-wide policies for Health for All.

Implementation of Preventive Care in the setting of primary care: opportunities, hurdles and policy needs for integration of Preventive Care in the daily practice of primary care practitioners.

In Flanders, as in the entire industrialized world, the population is eldering and chronic conditions and comorbidities are increasing importantly. Today, non-communicable diseases (NCD’s) have an important negative impact on the quality of life and represent the most important cause of premature and/ or preventable death. Moreover, they also put an enormous burden on the health care system, in terms of need for health professionals, procedures and medicines, short and long term care institutions as well as on the affordability of the health care system. The knowledge that the majority of these NCD’s can be avoided by prevention, through a healthy lifestyle and early detection, calls for more emphasis on and means for preventive health care.
 Traditionally and still today, the primary and secondary care practice in Flanders is focused on curation and preventive health care is mainly practiced by others, such as school health services and Maternal and child health services. The fundamental principles of curative and preventive care are very different. Curative care is based on an individual approach and is driven by individual demands. However preventive health care is mainly based on population health management and driven by, often not expressed, population needs.
 When it comes to implementation of preventive care, the WHO advocates a Health in all Policies approach, in which preventive care is implemented in all life settings surrounding the citizen, in order to achieve an integrated preventive care policy that is supported by all policy domains and is part of daily life. One of these settings is health care.
 In this workshop we want to exchange experiences on implementation of preventive health care into primary healthcare and to explore the opportunities, hurdles and policy needs to come to a successful adoption of preventive health care in the setting of primary healthcare. To introduce the debate, the session will start with two short presentations of 10-15 minutes in which experiences in two different health care systems, i.e. a national health care system and a predominant private health care system, are shared with the participants.

Connecting government officials and behavioral scientists to promote evidence-based decision-making: An interview with Bill de Blasio

Supporting evidence-based management and policy decisions by government officials is a key objective for behavioral scientists. Yet researchers often face formidable barriers to developing effective working relationships with government officials. In an interview, former New York City mayor Bill de Blasio argues that researchers can overcome these challenges by making a commitment to building long-term relationships and, critically, trust with government officials. Doing so requires persistence, especially because efforts to connect with officials often fail—at least at the outset. Researchers also can develop skills for communicating more effectively with officials, who are neither specialists in policy domains nor experts in research methods. He suggests highlighting core messages from complex data and beginning communication of those messages with straightforward solutions to problems; only after those proposals are under consideration should issues related to their complexities be raised. Last, de Blasio suggests that the best way for researchers to develop trusting relationships with government officials, as well as a deeper appreciation of the challenges they face, may be to devote time to government service in posts that embed them in decision-makers’ daily work. He illustrates his points with lessons from the successful adoption and implementation of policies and programs in New York City, including those that aimed to provide free prekindergarten education (Pre-K for All), respond to the COVID pandemic, reduce traffic accidents and fatalities (Vision Zero), and prevent overdose deaths through the use of supervised drug-consumption sites.

How Do Professional Associations Influence Health System Transformation? Lessons from Ontario, Canada

Introduction: Internationally, there are increasing collaborative efforts to transform health care systems in ways that align with the principles of integrated care. Within the Canadian context, the current province-wide reorganization of health care into Ontario Health Teams (OHTs) is an example of a large-scale system transformation, requiring collaboration between system stakeholders at macro-, meso- and micro-levels. Literature on the topic inter-organizational collaboration does not fulsomely consider the role of local professional associations in health system transformations. There is value in examining the role of professional associations in influencing health system transformations, as they have significant expertise and influence, particularly in the domain of health policy. 
 Methods: We used a qualitative descriptive approach to explore the research question: what strategies have local professional associations used to influence the development of Ontario Health Teams? We collected data from eight, 60-minute interviews with senior level leaders from eight professional associations. Interviews were transcribed and data were analyzed using content analysis to construct four descriptive themes. 
 Results: During times of health system transformation, professional associations balance the functions of: (1) supporting members, (2) negotiating with government, (3) collaborating with stakeholders, and (4) reflecting on their role. In this presentation, we focus primarily on themes #2 and #3, given the specific relevance of governance, leadership, and collaboration. In both themes, participants emphasized the importance of findings areas of alignment with the government and other stakeholders; and using shared aims as way to amplify their influence. Characteristics of a “good” collaborator included consistent demonstration of mutual respect, clear communication, and interest in building trusting relationships. Participants also described barriers to collaboration, such as power imbalances and lack of role clarity. These challenges were heightened within the context of the “low rules” OHT rollout, in which OHTs had a high degree of control in adapting their team structures to ideally meet the needs of their local care partners and patient population(s),
 Conclusion and Implications: Professional associations are highly connected groups, deeply engaged with their members (often frontline clinicians) and regularly engaged with other key stakeholders and decision-makers (e.g., government). PAs play a critical role in influencing health system transformations, by bringing forward practical solutions to government that reflect the needs of their members, often frontline clinicians. Sharing insights from this work with an international audience could support global dialogues with health system leaders, policymakers, and researchers about leveraging the strengths of professional associations to enhance large-scale health system transformations via strategic collaboration.
 Next Steps: This research was conducted to fulfill the requirements of the Health System Impact Fellowship (doctoral level, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research). We have continued to engage selected professional associations in building a collaborative framework, grounded in their experiences of participating the development of Ontario Health Teams.

Reforming Social Protection under Ideological Influences and Preferences. Social Protection Between Austerity and Other Reforms - The Case of North Macedonia

This research provides an analysis of reforms in the transition period with a special focus on the last decade regarding the social protection system as a crucial social policy domain in North Macedonia. From a methodological point of view, the research is based on a literature review and quantitative methods. It provides empirical evidence in the form of a survey conducted with various interest groups and political parties nationwide. The empirical results in the form of perceptions show a tendency of interest groups and political parties preferring social-democratic ideological values on issues such as social protection financing, social services delivery and the central role of the state in welfare provision. On the other hand, based on the literature review and policy analyses, there is evidence of a tendency of neo-liberalizing social policy in the country, in which principles of conditionality and eligibility, cuts in benefits, marketization of social services, etc., have become dominant trends in the last decade, thus transforming the social protection system in essence. Therefore, two questions should be asked: What kind of social protection system do we have? What kind of social protection do we prefer ideologically?

Public values? A systematic literature review into the outcomes of public service co-creation

ABSTRACT Co-creation is viewed as a promising way to realize public values. Reviewing 88 items following the PRISMA-protocol we confirm that public service co-creation realizes public values in terms of better services and democratic quality of governance, not necessarily in terms of better relations between citizens and government. We find some preliminary evidence that co-creation might not lead to the same outcomes across different policy domains. Professional facilitation is of uttermost importance given the demanding nature of co-creation to attain positive outcomes, especially when working with vulnerable groups. We offer a conceptual framework to research public service co-creation conditions and outcomes.

Computational analysis of financial system through non-integer derivative

The context-specific meaning of finance includes, among other things, increasing support for social goals, developing skills, increased education, economic health, and fairness. To put it another way, it is an effective tool for ensuring a more prosperous and unrestricted society and it helps you decide what is the best course of action for your money both now and in the near future. In this study, we structured a fractional financial model to explain the intricate phenomena of finance. We introduced the essential theory and results of fractional theory for the analysis of financial model. A numerical scheme is presented to investigate the dynamical behavior of the recommended financial system. We have shown the impact of different input parameters on the system numerically. Moreover, we present the dynamical behavior and phase portrait of the system to conceptualize the most sensitive parameters effecting the financial system. Through the identification and emphasis on pivotal factors, our research outcomes provide policymakers with essential information. This research serves as a foundation for subsequent in-depth analysis, fostering an environment of informed decision-making within the domain of financial policy.

Appraising systematic reviews: a comprehensive guide to ensuring validity and reliability.

Systematic reviews play a crucial role in evidence-based practices as they consolidate research findings to inform decision-making. However, it is essential to assess the quality of systematic reviews to prevent biased or inaccurate conclusions. This paper underscores the importance of adhering to recognized guidelines, such as the PRISMA statement and Cochrane Handbook. These recommendations advocate for systematic approaches and emphasize the documentation of critical components, including the search strategy and study selection. A thorough evaluation of methodologies, research quality, and overall evidence strength is essential during the appraisal process. Identifying potential sources of bias and review limitations, such as selective reporting or trial heterogeneity, is facilitated by tools like the Cochrane Risk of Bias and the AMSTAR 2 checklist. The assessment of included studies emphasizes formulating clear research questions and employing appropriate search strategies to construct robust reviews. Relevance and bias reduction are ensured through meticulous selection of inclusion and exclusion criteria. Accurate data synthesis, including appropriate data extraction and analysis, is necessary for drawing reliable conclusions. Meta-analysis, a statistical method for aggregating trial findings, improves the precision of treatment impact estimates. Systematic reviews should consider crucial factors such as addressing biases, disclosing conflicts of interest, and acknowledging review and methodological limitations. This paper aims to enhance the reliability of systematic reviews, ultimately improving decision-making in healthcare, public policy, and other domains. It provides academics, practitioners, and policymakers with a comprehensive understanding of the evaluation process, empowering them to make well-informed decisions based on robust data.

Value of art and culture institutions: a case study of Jyväskylä, Finland

This paper presents a case study about perceptions of residents about the value of publicly funded art and culture institutions (museums, city theatre, and symphony orchestra) in the Finnish city of Jyväskylä. In this study, the kinds of value that residents attribute to these local art and culture institutions and what kind of economic value the visitors’ expenditure to these institutions illustrates are explored. The analysis in this study is based on a survey conducted in 2019 that included the visitors and non-visitors to these institutions as participants. The results illustrate several values of art and culture institutions, which also point to multiple policy domains related to art, economy, social, and wellbeing effects. According to previous studies on cultural policy, it is important to be aware of the various value dimensions of future cultural policy. Though there are conflicting aims regarding cultural values, varied value dimensions complement each other in future-oriented policies.

Practicing knowledge-agency in highly vulnerable communities: the frontlines of Governance in delivering Brazilian Human services

ABSTRACT Knowledge-agency represents the skills and cognitive understandings that frontline workers acquire and practice in governing populations. Using an abductive approach, this paper explores how diverse expressions of knowledge shape frontline workers’ encounters with diverse people and places in stressful contexts. Analysing interviews with 98 frontline workers from four different policy domains serving the same communities in Brazil, we found three expressions of knowledge-agency: professional, socialized, and experiential. Our study provides a window into how frontline workers contextually mobilize their knowledge-agency when engaged in the everyday of governing citizens. We show that workers are both subjects and agents of knowledge practices.

Exploring Interdisciplinarity and Transdisciplinarity as Knowledge Regimes: A Heuristic Tool for Disentangling Understandings in Academia and Policy

This paper presents a heuristic tool aiming at bringing the multiple dimensions of interdisciplinarity (ID) and transdisciplinarity (TD) into direct conversation for researchers, funders, and policymakers. These societal actors have divergent conceptions, definitions, and practices of ID and TD that can be fruitfully put into dialogue to prosecute successful projects and programs. We anchor our study on the concept of “knowledge regime” and its three components (ideologies and myths, shared beliefs and practices, and imaginaries and values) to develop a comprehensive view of the heterogeneous understandings of ID and TD that goes beyond the cognitive dimension. Founded on a qualitative methodology, we designed a heuristic tool to disentangle this heterogeneity and bridge the different understandings in a comparable way. Through a semi-structured dialogue, users of the tool discuss ten questions that guide reflections on understandings of ID and TD used in projects, funding programs, and policy processes and their implications to reveal differences and increase mutual understanding. The findings offer details on the tool and systematize insights from those users who tested it in different contexts. We conclude by discussing the contribution this heuristic tool makes when considering ID and TD as knowledge regimes in the scientific and policy domains.

Linking Forest Ecosystem Services to the SDGs: Semi-quantitative Mapping of Perceptions towards Integrated Decision-making

With this study, we test and present the results of a reproducible semi-quantitative methodological approach, which enables us to map perceptions of complex systems, linking the forest ecosystem services (FES) of a given spatial level to the wider policy domains represented by the 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Through a participative process, we used integrated forest management and FES as entry point concepts to support and inform dialog towards a normative desired future as framed by the SDGs, taking into account interdependencies across sectors and policy domains. The scales used in the test were national (Switzerland) and international but it is possible to use the approach at any level of integration, especially the landscape one in the case of forest or other ecosystem issues to be transdisciplinary solved. We stress that the semi-quantitative aspects of the approach – be it the ranking of the importance of FES across the different SDGs, or the positive or negative weighting of interactions among these FES in cross-impact matrices – enable the perceptions held by actors to be more explicit and significant for governance or goal prioritization. The results illustrate the perceptions of selected actors on the effects of integrated forest management and provide a basis for multi-actor deliberation on emerging potential synergies or conflicts, thereby genuinely supporting science-policy-practice dialog, which is crucial to foster integrated decision-making.

Editorial Presentation - Perspectives on innovation governance: challenges and dilemmas

Editorial Presentation - Perspectives on innovation governance: challenges and dilemmas

The under-realized potential usefulness of the UK Whole of Government Accounts

IMPACT After 12 years of publication, the UK Whole of Government Accounts (WGA) is shown to be a qualified success. Compared with statistical accounting, the WGA delivers greater comprehensiveness (improved fiscal transparency) and exhibits less vulnerability to creative accounting (the perimeter is less porous). Combined with fiscal sustainability projections, the WGA highlights the fragility of UK public finances even before the Covid 19 and cost-of-living shocks. Future usefulness will depend on how effectively intermediate users can penetrate the policy domain and whether WGA production can be speeded up. The four modes of government accounting (government financial reporting, statistical accounting, budgeting and fiscal sustainability projections) provide improved information. Though tempting for hard-pressed political decision-makers claiming ‘to do good by stealth’, manipulations will undermine fiscal transparency and are likely to damage fiscal sustainability. This analysis of UK WGA shows how the modes interact, but will remain separate as they have different rationales, measurements and audiences.

Institutional work and social skill: the formation of strategic action fields for local energy systems in Britain

The concept of Strategic Action Fields (SAF) is combined with analysis of institutional work to investigate the tactics actors adopt to support or deter policy for integrated local energy systems. Integrating heat, power, and mobility systems at local or regional scale would entail highly significant changes in energy systems yet is an area of increasing policy interest. We explore how this field is being constituted differently across the devolved jurisdictions of Great Britain, but faces similar challenges. The obduracy of legacy centralised institutions is a powerful force in blocking new sustainable energy SAFs, with Government retaining significant countervailing power. Additionally we demonstrate how overlaps between policy domains can obstruct the formation of new rule structures; notably emerging local energy planning rules are constrained by wider limitations in devolved governance powers. These findings raise questions about whether net zero can happen, and in what form, under current multi-level governance structures.

Lessons learnt from 20 + years of research on multilevel governance of energy-efficient and zero-carbon buildings in the European Union

At global scale, the building sector accounts for 40% of total energy end use and almost 35% of greenhouse gas emissions. This makes it one of the most important sectors to focus on for reaching the 1.5–2 °C target of the Paris Agreement, to enhance energy security of supply and to alleviate energy poverty. The European Union (EU) is often seen as a leader in climate governance, which is also true for energy efficiency. The improvement of energy performance of buildings has been part of EU public policy for more than 50 years, making the EU a pioneer in the policy domain. Based on a semi-structured review of the scientific literature (N = 90), this paper is aimed at drawing the lessons from research on governance of energy-efficient and zero-carbon buildings in the EU. As for the findings, there is a multitude of policy instruments developed on different levels of governance, more or less integrated and managed by different actors and no single instrument is sufficient to stimulate energy-efficient and zero-carbon buildings. Five key challenges are identified in the governance literature examining the transition towards energy efficiency and zero-carbon buildings. An ambiguous leadership, heterogeneity of implementation, lack of incentives, limitations of non-regulatory policies and market-based instruments, and limited diffusion between governance levels. We also conclude that most policy instruments focus on new buildings which is problematic since the greatest challenge in the transition is the renovation of the large existing building stock.

Effects of historical inequity and institutional power on cannabis research: Moving toward equity and inclusion.

Given historical inequities in cannabis laws and policies, there is an obligation on the part of researchers and policy makers to actively work toward improving equity in cannabis research at a time when the field is rapidly expanding. We wish to propose a way forward for cannabis research that acknowledges this history of discrimination and misuse of institutional power and embraces equity and inclusion. This article provides a brief perspective on historical drug policy, recent legalization trends that have disproportionately benefitted some groups over others, and the repercussions of those trends for the cannabis research enterprise. In addition, it proposes five key actions in both policy and research domains that are necessary to move the field of cannabis research, and perhaps biomedical research in substance use more broadly, forward in a productive and inclusionary way. Specifically, recommendations focus on equity-focused legislation and policy, supporting the entry and retention of scientists of color into the field, engaging in more ethical research practices, and practicing intentionally inclusive recruitment of participants will help to move the field of cannabis research forward. These efforts will ensure that scientific gains are shared equitably moving forward.

Policy feedback and income targeting in the welfare state

Abstract In light of ongoing debates about income targeting in the welfare state, this article explores how the design and outcomes of income targeting policies are related to popular targeting preferences. Based on the unique combination of fine-grained opinion and policy indicators in a multilevel analysis, the results show that targeting preferences are indeed empirically related to targeting policies. However, whether these preferences are affected more by the de jure targeting design or the de facto targeting outcome seems to vary between two very different policy domains. In the case of unemployment benefits, the results suggest positive policy feedback: support for high-income targeting increases when unemployment benefits are designed to benefit those with previously higher incomes. For income taxation, by contrast, the results suggest negative policy feedback. In that case, it is not so much the de jure design but rather the de facto outcome that matters: the more taxes effectively work to the advantage of higher-income earners, the less support there is for a tax that levies the same amount on everyone, regardless of income.