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news about the Uk Foresight Programme

issue 16 - March 2007

esight newletter March 2007

obesity Reviews

on 8 March, the Journal "Obesity Reviews" published a set of 34 state of science reviews, commissioned by our project on Tackling Obesities: Future Choices, along with an overview. This overview explores the many facets of the issue from genetics to social norms and ethics from the perspectives of national experts, with resonances on an international scale. The conclusion is inescapable. Obesity is a complex, multifaceted problem with no easy or obvious solutions. Subsequent steps in the Foresight process will seek to provide clarity to this complexity through the use of an obesity systems map and will explore the environment for action through the development of a range of future scenarios. For access to the reviews, and more information on the project, please click here.

we have also published an evidence review on Obesogenic Environments. This is part of a longer science review looking at the impact of the built environment on obesity (the obesogenic environment). It has been carried out by the School of Environmental Science, University of East Anglia and is already being used by National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence in the development of their guidelines on Physical Activity and the Environment. To read the review, please click here.

project News

drugsfutures - following up Foresight

as part of the follow-on to the Foresight project on Brain Science, Addiction and Drugs, the UK Government has asked the Academy of Medical Sciences (AMS) to take forward a process of further deliberation around the issues raised in the Foresight report, 'Drugs Futures 2025?' An Academy Working Group has been convened to consider, in consultation with experts and the public, the societal, health, safety and environmental issues raised by the advances described in the report. A public consultation "drugsfutures" forms part of this project. It is commissioned by the AMS and funded by the DIUS 's Sciencewise programme. As well as this online consultation, there is a blog and a series of face-to-face events. For more information, and access to the drugsfutures website, please click here.

the Big Event

on 16 May, we will be inviting members of our Futures Analysts' Network (FAN Club), to draw on the evidence-base to develop advice to a future government about issues which seem deserving of greater attention, whether in terms of policy development, regulation or investment. For more information on this and other FAN Club activities, please click here.

as well as Sustainable Energy Management & the Built Environment, and Tackling Obesities: Future Choices, another Foresight project on Mental Capital & Wellbeing is underway. For the latest news and information on all three, please visit their web pages at:

energy Science Papers Published

a reminder that we have published a set of study papers which provide a body of evidence about the state-of-the-art science and technology, and future possibilities, across a wide range of technical disciplines related to energy use and supply. They include social science evidence about behaviours related to energy use, as well as an overview of existing futures work on energy from the UK and around the world. For access to these reports, please click here

some of these reviews will inform the Foresight project on Sustainable Energy Management and the Built Environment. This project is examining how the built environment could evolve, over the next five decades, to help manage the transition to sustainable energy systems that meet the needs and expectations of society. For more information on the project click here.

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