First Announcement and Call for Papers

VALDOR2006
May 14–18, 2006 • Stockholm, Sweden

www.congrex.com/valdor2006
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Dear Colleague,
The next VALDOR Symposium will take place in Stockholm
on May 14–18, 2006. The VALDOR Symposia are arranged
to support the further development of transparent risk
management.
VALDOR, meaning VALues in Decisions On Risk, is a muchappreciated forum for the discussion on values involved incomplex and controversial matters. We take a holistic anddemocratic approach to societal decision-making in complex
issues which almost always include risk related matters. TheVALDOR arena thus becomes cross-disciplinary and includes
aspects of social and natural sciences as well as policy analysis.
We strongly believe that risk management must take an
integrated approach using not only technical risk assessment
but also learning from sociology, ethics and political science.
All these disciplines are needed in order to avoid narrowframing and fragmentation of the decision-making basis.
VALDOR addresses theory and overall approaches as wellas practical case studies. We expect that the Symposium will
highlight problems and ways forward in the areas in focus
as well as give examples of good practice from case studies.
Different areas that at first glance may look quite different sharemany problems and may benefit from exchange of experiences
and comparison of approaches. In 2006 we will focus on
nuclear waste management, electromagnetic fields, cleaningup and remediation of sites contaminated with chemicals andcertain topics in biotechnology. There are certainly issues ofgeneric relevance for all these fields such as the role of expertise,various models for public participation, local fairness andresponsibility as well as the use of the precautionary principle.
The 2006 VALDOR will deal with practical experiences fromexample areas and cross-cutting themes of general importancein societal problems dealing with risk. Abstracts can now be
submitted to the conference secretariat and we hope you will
participate. We look forward to welcoming you to Stockholm
in May 2006!

WelcomeON BEHALF OF
THE SPONSORS•

Swedish Nuclear PowerInspectorate•

Swedish Environmental
Protection Agency•

Swedish GeotechnicalInstitute•

Swedish ResearchCouncil for Environment,
Agricultural Sciencesand Spatial Planning•

UK Nirex Ltd•

OECD/Nuclear Energy
AgencyMagnus Westerlind
Programme Committee Chair
Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate

Kjell Andersson
Scientific Secretary
Karita ResearchVALues in Decisions On Risk

VALDOR 2006

Union of Risk Management for Preventive Medicine (URMPM)
The second European Congress of the Union of Risk Management for Preventive Medicine(URMPM) will be held jointly with VALDOR 2006. Kjell Andersson is the President for
the URMPM conference. The web site for URMPM is: http://urmpm.org/

Invited Speakers
The following persons have been invited and accepted to take part as invited speakers.
They are all presented at the conference web site.

Speakers

Rob Hagendijk, University of Amsterdam

Risk, uncertainty and the development of biotechnology

Rob Hagendijk is the Dean of the International School for Humanities and Social Sciencesof the Universiteit van Amsterdam and associate professor of the political science department.

Or twin Renn, DIALOGIK and the State University in Stuttgar t
Risk Governance: An application of analytic-deliberative policy making
Ortwin Renn is Director of the non-profit company DIALOGIK, a research institute forthe investigation of communication and participation processes in environmental policy
making, and full professor and chair of environmental sociology of the State University
in Stuttgart.

Nick Pidgeon, University of East Anglia
Opportunities and Uncertainties: The British Nanotechnologies Report and the casefor upstream societal dialogue
Nick Pidgeon, professor in psychology, is currently Director of the Centre for Environmental
Risk at the University of East Anglia.

René von Schomberg, European Commission
How are public policy deliberations guided by the Precautionary Principle?
René von Schomberg serves at the European Commission, DG Research, Ethics and Science
department. He is an agricultural scientist and philosopher.

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VALDOR 2006

Elizabeth Ather ton, UK Nirex Ltd
Social aspects of radioactive waste management
Elizabeth Atherton works for UK Nirex Limited, the radioactive waste management
organization in the UK.

James C. Lin, University of Illinois-Chicago
The establishment and promulgation of radio-frequency exposure guidelines
for health protection
James C. Lin, Professor of bioengineering, electrical engineering, physiology and biophysics
at the University of Illinois-Chicago, is a recipient of the d’Arsonval Medal Award and a pastpresident of the Bioelectromagnetics Society.

Eilen Arctander Vik, Aquateam – Nor wegian Water Technology Centre
Environmental risk assessment and risk management of chemical contamination.
Can harmonisation of guidelines and better expertise lead to better clarification of the roleof values versus facts?
Eilen Arctander Vik is assistant manager of Aquateam, a consulting company specialized inrisk assessment and remediation of chemicals in soil, sediments and water. She is responsible
for Aquateam’s activities on risk assessment related to contaminated soil and water andindustrial discharges.

Areas in Focus
The Symposium will address theory and overall approaches as well as practical case studies.
It will give insight into the problem of transparency in risk assessment and how procedures
can be established to clarify the role of values versus facts, and to build trust. The Symposium
will consist of a combination of invited speeches and contributions resulting from the open
call for papers. Papers addressing various areas of risk management are welcome. However,
the organizers have chosen to focus the call for abstracts on four areas. These AREAS
IN FOCUS are introduced below.

Risk assessment of mobile telephone systems
Mobile telephones are an essential component of modern technology and communication.
To have a good mobile phone system is seen necessary for any country that wants to be ahigh tech society. The development has, however, caused opposition and controversy in many
countries. There are concerns over radiation risk from the phones themselves, base stations
VALues in Decisions On Risk

VALDOR 2006

and masts, although international organizations and national authorities assure that there
are no such risks. There is clearly a need for more dialogue and more transparency in order
to increase awareness in this area. The intention is that VALDOR will make a substantial
contribution to the needed dialogue.
Dariusz Leszczynski, Professor,
STUK-Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland“The question whether electromagnetic radiation, like this emitted
e.g. by mobile phones or power lines, exerts any detrimental healtheffects still remains to be convincingly answered. Many studies
have shown that this radiation induces biological effects. However,
we are still missing sufficiently robust evidence that would showthe impact of these changes on human physiology. We needmore specifically targeted research that would examine effects ofthe electromagnetic radiation on human physiology (provocationstudies) and on human cells (molecular mechanisms).”

Cleaning-up and remediation of contaminated sites
As the awareness about the existence of waste landfills, contaminated sites and contaminatedsediments, and their risks for humans and the environment, has gradually increased world-wide– so has the need for assessing and managing them in the best possible way. The technicalcomplexity, the potentially high costs associated with remediation projects and their impact
on the local area require efficient, reasonable and democratic risk reduction policies andstrategies.
Bo Lind, Research Director,
Swedish Geotechnical Institute, SGI“The management of millions of contaminated sites around theworld should be integrated into the physical planning process andthe possible decision options must be analysed with regard toland use, acceptable environmental and health risks andacceptable costs.”

Areasin Focus

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VALDOR 2006

Nuclear waste management
This is undoubtedly a very controversial area. Failures in the siting of nuclear waste
repositories have caused waste management organizations to change their attitudes andapproaches to risk communication. As a consequence, new approaches to participation andtransparency have emerged in this sector that are now being disseminated to other fields.
At the same time, several countries still face problems to find a way forward and to reachsolutions with public support.
John Dalton, UK Nirex Limited“Our experience at Nirex of dealing with the long-term managementof radioactive waste has shown that this controversial issue isnot only a scientific and technical one, but has social and ethicalaspects as well. The VALDOR Symposium provides an excellent
opportunity to discuss how the social and ethical dimensions ofsocietal problems are being dealt with in different countries.”

Issues in biotechnology and food safety
The term “biotechnology” covers a very wide range of areas with intimate links to academic
research, health care, food supply, industrial development etc. It also contains a wide rangeof controversial ethical and political issues that require transparency and understanding of thestakeholder views. The conference organizers especially encourage contributions about issues
related to agriculture such as genetically modified animal feed, food marking and geneticallymodified tree plantations. Papers about genetic testing and genetic data banks – issues that
include aspects of human health, societal security and individual integrity – are also muchwelcomed.
Kristina Glimelius, Professor and vice-rector,
Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences“The on-going controversy in Europe about genetically modified
maize demonstrates the need for bridging the gap between scienceand society. We need a better dialogue on possibilities, risks andethics with biotechnologies.”

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VALDOR 2006

Themes
The societal management of the areas in focus and other risk related areas means taking
into account scientific investigations, local perspectives, societal values and various risk
management principles. In order to give some clues to abstract submitters and to the structure
to the Symposium we have indicated the following CROSS CUTTING THEMES that papers
may address:

The inter face between risk assessment and risk management– the role of expertise
Risk assessments deal with science and technical methods are being used. However, inpolitical and societal risk management, the results of risk assessments are only one partof all the aspects that have to be taken into account. Expertise often plays a key role inpolitical and societal decisions. The question then is: what are the boundaries of expert
responsibility?

The role of risk perception and value judgement in risk management
From a societal perspective, the management of risk includes taking not only the technicalrisk assessment but also the perceptions of various risks and citizen values into account.
The Symposium will explore various ways to do this.

Risk management and democracy – the role of public participation
Public participation is widely seen as a means to take into account the different aspects of riskin the decision making processes. However, there are many models for public participation.
Furthermore, different ideas for participation correlate with different models of democracy.
VALDOR will put the democratic aspects of risk management on the agenda.

ThemesFirst Announcement and Call for Papers

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The precautionar y principle
The precautionary principle exists in many versions as a method for risk management.
One version, adopted in the Rio Declaration, is that when there are threats of serious or
irreversible damage, lack of full scientific certainty shall not be used as a reason for postponing
cost-effective measures to prevent environmental degradation. The conference organizers wantto evaluate the use of the precautionary principle by raising issues of practical, philosophicaland legal nature.

Community environmental justice in risk management
Risk management, whether related to controversial facilities or the quotidian planning andresponse to disasters, involves a policy development and decision-making process that affects
and is influenced by locally bounded communities (e.g. municipalities) as well as communities
of interest (e.g. the business community and the anti-nuclear community). Environmental
justice is only possible when all community perspectives are valued and incorporated into
the risk management decision-making process. This raises issues of fairness such providing
adequate resources for communities and ensuring equitable and fair socio-economic andpolitical contexts.

Committee

Programme Committee

Magnus Westerlind, Chairman, Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate
Kjell Andersson, Scientific Secretary, Karita Research, Sweden
Gustaf Brunius, Swedish Gene Technology Advisory Board
John Dalton, UK Nirex Limited
Kristina Glimelius, Swedich University of Agricultural Sciences
Bertil Grundfelt, Kemakta Konsult, Sweden
Britt-Marie Drottz-Sjöberg, Norwegian University of Science
Helena Helgesson, Swedish Geotechnical InstituteStephan Morgenthaler, Swiss Federal Institute of Technology; and URMPM
Claudio Pescatore, OECD/Nuclear Energy Agency
Ryoji Sakai, Union of Risk Management for Preventive Medicine (URMRM)
Dariusz Leszczynski, STUK-Radiation and Nuclear Safety Authority of Finland
Brenda Murphy, Wilfrid Laurier University, Canada
Daniel Metlay, U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board

VALues in Decisions On Risk

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Important Adresses
Scientific Secretary
Communications regarding the objectives and contents of the Symposium
should be sent to Kjell Andersson at the following address:
Kjell Andersson

Phone + 46 8 510 147 55
E-mail: kjell.andersson@karita.se
Web site: www.karita.se

Communication

Karita ResearchBox 6048
SE-187 06 TÄBYSwedenAdresses

All questions regarding the arrangements, as well as abstracts and papers should
be sent to:Congrex Sweden AB

Attn. VALDOR 2006
P. O. Box 5619
SE-114 86 Stockholm
SwedenPhone: +46 8 459 66 00
Fax: +46 8 661 91 25

General questions:
valdor2006@congrex.se
Abstracts:
valdor2006.abstract@congrex.se
Registration and hotels:valdor2006.registration@congrex.seCourier address: Karlavägen 108, SE-115 26 Stockholm, Sweden

Congrex Sweden AB has been appointed the official conference organiser for this event.
The Congrex Group works internationally with subsidiaries in the Netherlands, the UnitedStates and Sweden as well as licensed partners throughout Europe and Latin America.
Communications regarding the objectives and contents of the Symposium should
be sent to the Scientific Secretary.

Lectures and Posters
Depending on the number of contributions, either all papers or a selection will be presented
orally. In the latter case there will also be poster presentations. Furthermore, we will haveinvited speakers addressing key topics.

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VALDOR 2006

Abstracts and Proceedings
Abstracts should be submitted to Congrex no later than October 20, 2005,
on the Symposium web site: www.congrex.com/valdor2006
Abstract contributors will be notified regarding acceptance and place in the programme.
They will be requested to submit a full paper (instructions for papers will be sent
together with notification of acceptance). Proceedings containing all papers presented
orally or as posters will be available at the start of the Symposium.
The abstract must include:• Title of contribution• Name(s) of author(s) and their affiliation• For corresponding author: full address, telephone and fax numbers,
e-mail address• A text of 300–500 words / 1 500–2 500 characters including spaces(excluding the title and the authors).

Language

Abstracts

The Symposium language is English.

VenueThe Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, Stockholm, Sweden.
Address: Grev Turegatan 16.

InternetFor all further and future information please visit the Symposia website on
www.congrex.com/valdor2006

The website is updated on a regular basis.

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VALDOR 2006

Registration and Accommodation
On line registration and the possibility to book accommodation will be available
on the Symposia website from October 6, 2005 on www.congrex.com/valdor2006

Important Dates•••••

Deadline for Abstracts: October 20, 2005
Notification of acceptance: December 15, 2005
Deadline for full papers: January 31, 2006
On line registration and accommodation: From October 6, 2005
Symposium: May 14 –18, 2006

Proceedings will be available when the Symposium opens.

Cooperating Organization
Union of Risk Management for Preventive Medicine (URMRM)

Sponsors
Swedish Nuclear Power Inspectorate
Swedish Environmental Protection Agency
Swedish Geotechnical Institute
Swedish Research Council for Environment, Agricultural Sciences and Spatial Planning
UK Nirex Ltd
OECD/Nuclear Energy Agency

www.congrex.se/valdor2006
First Announcement and Call for Papers

11www.congrex.com/valdor2006

VALDOR
2006

Deadline for Abstracts
October 20, 2005

Deadline for full papers
Januar y 31, 2006
On line registration and accommodation
From October 6, 2005
Symposium
May 14–18, 2006

Production: Congrex Sweden AB / Informationsbolaget Nyberg & Co

Notification of acceptance
December 15, 2005