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The London Convention (LC), adopted in 1972, and its successor, the London Protocol (LP) of 1996, constitute key regulatory frameworks working in parallel, aimed at mitigating waste dumping at sea and safeguarding the marine environment. These treaties, which share the objective of controlling marine pollution, have also evolved to address emerging environmental issues such as marine geoengineering and carbon capture and storage within the context of the current triple planetary crisis. As the LC/LP regime marked its fiftieth anniversary in 2022, both achievements and ongoing challenges in combating pollution from dumping activities were acknowledged, emphasising the need for continual adaptation to protect the marine environment effectively. This article examines the adaptability and impact of the LC/LP regime over the past five decades, identifying strengths and proposing future steps to ensure the preservation of ocean health for future generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Horizon scanning is a process to generate foresight – insight into how the future could unfold. Horizon scanning involves systematically searching a wide range of information sources for early signals of change, collecting those signals in a database, and exploring their possible implications for the future. The focus is often on external change in the broad contextual environment of a field or organization, i.e., the social, economic, technological, and governance domains. External change could be highly disruptive and is unlikely to be on the radar of decision makers. Early awareness of changes and monitoring their development over time can help natural resource planners, managers, and policymakers prepare for emerging challenges and opportunities. This paper introduces horizon scanning, characterizes different approaches and techniques, outlines the basic process, and briefly describes artificial intelligence in horizon scanning. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article evinces that policies and plans at the national level in South Africa recognise the importance of postgraduate education within the broader national education and training system, and that they place particular emphasis on promoting access to, and success in postgraduate education as one of the priorities on the country's development agenda. It identifies and discusses ten issues that have a bearing on the national policies, plans, programmes and initiatives aimed at promoting access to, and success in postgraduate education. These issues emerge from the analysis, triangulation, and interpretation of sets of information and data obtained from multiple projects focusing on postgraduate education, that the Council on Higher Education has implemented since 2018. They are therefore referred to as "emerging issues". They include the relatively small size of the postgraduate component of higher education, the pyramidal structure of the distribution of students across the different levels of postgraduate education, and the offsetting of the increase in the numbers of graduates produced at all levels of postgraduate education, by a corresponding increase in the numbers of students taking longer to complete their studies than the periods stipulated by the institutions, and by relatively high dropout rates. Other issues are about transformation, student funding, inadequate supervisory capacity, underpreparedness of students, and lack of adequate support services for postgraduate students. The article sets the scene for, and context of the other articles contained in this special issue of the South African Journal of Higher Education, and prepares the readers to understand and appreciate the contents of those articles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of emerging issues has garnered growing interest as a way to establish proactive policy formulation. However, in fisheries research, analyzing such issues has largely depended on the literature or researchers' judgment. We use keyword analysis, targeting news application programming interfaces (News APIs) (72,981 news sources and blogs), to investigate issues in the global seafood industry from January 2019 to March 2022. Among a variety of topics identified by year and country, in general, seafood market function, health, and tariffs were the main issues in 2019, while COVID-19-related issues were primarily mentioned between 2020 and 2021. After 2022, the role of the market regained attention, and various new issues rose to the surface. To identify emerging issues, we jointly employ dynamic time warping (DTW) and growth models, which derive several keywords, including coercion, cuisines, food safety, ketones, plastic ingestions, seafood alcohol, urbanization, wastewater treatment, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). High interest in food safety, environmental change, trade conflict, and seafood value improvement reveal the need for proper policy responses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Foresight is essential for long-term planning and forward-looking decision-making in forestry, where planning horizons often span many decades. But generating foresight is challenging due to the increasing pace and complexity of change and growing uncertainty about the future. Most change that could affect or even disrupt forestry in the future originates outside of the field, such as social, technological, economic, and environmental changes. The Forest Futures Horizon Scanning project (Forest Horizons) aims to generate foresight by identifying early signals of change from outside forestry that professionals within the field may not be aware of or pay close attention to. This article draws on the database of signals of change uncovered in the Forest Horizons project and identifies fifteen key emerging changes that could help shape the long-term future of forestry. Study Implications: The long-term nature of forestry has compelled foresters to be forward-looking and plan many decades ahead. Horizon scanning is a tool that can enhance foresight in forestry by identifying emerging signals of change that could affect the field in the future. Fifteen wide-ranging early signals of change are highlighted in this article. Consideration of these emerging changes in long-term and strategic planning could help forestry decision makers prepare for change and avoid being blindsided. Horizon scanning is a useful approach to help generate essential foresight in an era of increasingly rapid, complex, and often surprising change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Educational system in Kenya has undergone significant transformation from the 8-4-4 system to Competency-Based Curriculum (CBC). This shift presents emerging issues that affect both learners and teachers, as well as the society at large. Through an analysis of current literature, this paper examines key issues such as teacher training, assessment methods, and societal expectations. The study findings revealed that there is a significant association at 5% significance level between the variables of emerging issues and transition by the teachers' respondents (χ2 = 157.072, df = 9, p = 0.00). One of the challenges is the cost of implementing the new curriculum, which requires a lot of money to purchase resources and hire new teachers. Another challenge is the inadequate professional preparation of Kenyan teachers, who are not yet familiar with the approaches of CBC. The transition period will enable the government to develop adequate infrastructure for the new system. By addressing these challenges proactively, Kenya can ensure that its education system remains relevant and responsive to future needs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Jurisprudence Faculty Journal / Magallaẗ Kulliyyaẗ Al-fiqh is the property of Republic of Iraq Ministry of Higher Education & Scientific Research (MOHESR) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Disability, stigma, and the pursuit of social justice are interrelated problems that have an impact on how people with disabilities live their lives. Disability is a condition that affects a person's capacity to do activities or tasks due to their physical, cognitive, or mental limitations. The individual with a disability is frequently the target of stigma, which is a negative social judgment or form of discrimination. The efforts made to guarantee that people with disability have the same rights and opportunities as people without disabilities are referred to as the pursuit of social justice. Barriers to social inclusion and equality for people with disability may be significantly exacerbated by the interaction between stigma and disability. Physical impediments such as inaccessible structures as well as psychological impediments such as prejudices against people with disabilities both exist. These obstacles often make it difficult for people with disability to participate fully in society. To achieve social justice for people with disabilities, advocacy and continued research must be made for the removal of these obstacles, as well as efforts to ensure inclusion and acceptance in all facets of society. This may entail initiatives to improve accessibility, fight prejudice, and stereotypes, and promote the needs and rights of people with disabilities. This conceptual article will analyze the importance of social justice for people with disabilities to build a more inclusive society in which everyone can participate fully and achieve success; it will conclude with recommended directions for future research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In late 2022, the Australia New Zealand Policing Advisory Agency National Institute of Forensic Science (ANZPAA NIFS) Document Specialist Advisory Group (DocSAG) began a capability mapping project with the broad aim to consider, in the Australian and New Zealand context, forensic document examination: where are we now, and where to from here? Our capability mapping project is based largely on the approach used for the 2022 Forensic Capability Mapping – Firearm Examination Project, led by ANZPAA NIFS. A survey was developed and disseminated to capture information addressing key topics: current and emerging risks, improvement areas, current and future capability, and business continuity. This paper outlines the project process and summarizes key findings of the first round of data collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Access to clean water remains a challenge in many parts of Africa. This is compounded by the increasing pollution levels with increasing population and industrialization. Activated carbon remains the most widely used adsorbent for the removal of chemical pollutants in both drinking water and wastewater treatment processes due to its unique chemical properties and a plethora of precursor materials for development. However, to date, no available literature has systematically summarized the advances in Africa on the adsorptive removal of contaminants using activated carbons and research issues such as data acquisition and presentation, analysis approaches, citations, inconsistencies and adsorption experimental setups remain largely undocumented. In this paper, adsorption studies from Africa focusing on activated carbons for the removal of various contaminants are reviewed, from 2007 to 2022. The study focused on a literature-based approach by searching key terms in selected databases. The adsorption data were mostly best described by the Langmuir and pseudo-second-order models for dyes, anions, metal ions pesticides, and pharmaceutical compounds. According to the pooled data, the highest adsorption capacity was 1552.5 mg g − 1 for PFOS adsorbed onto H3PO4-activated maize tassel-based carbon. The majority of the studies relied on linearized adsorption isotherm and kinetic models with coefficient of determination (R2) as the sole criterion for determining best-fitting models. Additionally, the majority of the studies are batch mode and laboratory-scale studies with no desorption and recyclability evaluations. Researchers should be careful to present accurate equations and units of parameters with proper citations. Pilot-scale and life cycle assessment (LCA) of the reported new materials represent an aspect largely unexplored. The fact that studies from most African countries, dating beyond 2007, could be obtained implies that activated carbons present an accessible and possibly sustainable technology for emerging economies.

This study compared closure rates (CR) and high-quality closure rates (HQCR) among persons with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD) between counselors with a master's degree in rehabilitation counseling (MRC) and those with a master's degree of related disciplines (RM). Survey data were collected from 152 counselors in four states, and their IDD clients from 2014 to 2017 were analyzed (n = 5,186). The rate differences were calculated based on multilevel logistic regression with counselors as the cluster level. The overall CR was slightly higher among counselors with MRC than those with RM (32.9% vs. 25.3%, p =.09) but significantly higher when limited to clients with less severe disabilities (35.1% in MRC vs. 25.0% in RM, p =.03). Furthermore, the differences were more pronounced in HQCR (23.5% in MRC vs. 18.2% in RM, p =.03 in all clients, and 30.7% in MRC vs. 22.5% in RM, p =.01 in clients with less severe disabilities). The difference in CR for full-time jobs (30+ hours/week) was also significant (22.0% in MRC vs. 16.0% in RM, p =.007). The counselors with MRC were more likely to be prepared for managing IDD clients than those with RM. The main advantages of MRC in knowledge domains included medical and psychological knowledge, career development and job placement, and disability management. Therefore, master-level education in rehabilitation counseling could provide more relevant training and yield better closure rates in IDD clients than other disciplines. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Identification of emerging issues has garnered growing interest as a way to establish proactive policy formulation. However, in fisheries research, analyzing such issues has largely depended on the literature or researchers’ judgment. We use keyword analysis, targeting news application programming interfaces (News APIs) (72,981 news sources and blogs), to investigate issues in the global seafood industry from January 2019 to March 2022. Among a variety of topics identified by year and country, in general, seafood market function, health, and tariffs were the main issues in 2019, while COVID-19-related issues were primarily mentioned between 2020 and 2021. After 2022, the role of the market regained attention, and various new issues rose to the surface. To identify emerging issues, we jointly employ dynamic time warping (DTW) and growth models, which derive several keywords, including coercion, cuisines, food safety, ketones, plastic ingestions, seafood alcohol, urbanization, wastewater treatment, and the World Trade Organization (WTO). High interest in food safety, environmental change, trade conflict, and seafood value improvement reveal the need for proper policy responses.

COVID-19 added a new dimension to the relationship between school professionals and students’ families: a virtual one. To explore this shift and the associated challenges, we performed a bibliometric analysis of research literature published on the topic to the end of 2021. Our guiding question was: what kind of themes are emerging in literature on the school-family relationship in association with COVID-19? Our search of Scopus, Web of Sciences and ERIC retrieved 286 articles. Using VOSviewer, we conducted a bibliometric analysis based on article keywords to map the field, producing a visual representation of networks of themes. Four clusters emerged: “educational players”, “distance learning”, “partnership” and “social context”. Unsurprisingly, the analysis suggests a shift in the roles of parents and teachers, with the digital sphere becoming central to their relationship. Beyond this, the crisis has cast light on both existing problems and the potential of a partnership based on a genuine sharing of responsibility.

As the world continues to battle the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, it is a stark reminder of the devastation biological threats can cause. In an unprecedented way the global community saw a massive surge in the demand for diagnostic capacities, which had a substantial impact on biosafety and biosecurity. Laboratories had to cope with a surge in laboratory testing capacity, while resources and training possibilities were limited. In addition, the pandemic highlighted the impact biological threats can have, thereby giving rise to new dialogue about biosecurity and new biological threats. This paper aims to highlight some of the most pressing issues regarding biosafety and biosecurity observed during the COVID-19 pandemic with special focus on low and lower middle-income countries. The authors provide lessons learned, tools and recommendations to improve future biosafety and biosecurity and increase preparedness for the next global health crisis.

Agricultural and food production systems are constantly evolving in response to societal and environmental factors. These sectors are also laden with occupational hazards, creating an opportunity for emerging and re-emerging issues such as emerging markets and changing worker demographics. The Upper Midwest is a region of intensive agricultural production, with many states leading the United States in livestock and crop production. As a National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health Center for Agricultural Safety and Health, the Upper Midwest Agricultural Safety and Health Center (UMASH) is tasked with protecting the health and safety of the region's agricultural workers. UMASH implements an Emerging Issues program to effectively respond to emerging and re-emerging issues impacting agricultural health and safety in the Upper Midwest. To direct such work, UMASH developed a novel Selection, Planning and Action Process Model. This model guides all stages of the UMASH Emerging Issues response and emphasizes the ongoing need for monitoring, evaluation, and feedback from agricultural communities. In conjunction with the UMASH Process Model, the International Association for Public Participation (IAP2) Spectrum of Public Participation frames the work of the Emerging Issues Program in meaningfully engaging the community of stakeholders across all stages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cannabis (Cannabis sativa, marijuana) is the largest cash crop in California. While it is difficult to characterize the size of the industry, the total production is estimated at 15 to 16 million pounds per year, with total revenues exceeding $10 billion per year. Despite the huge size and rapid growth of the industry, there has been little research on the health and safety of cannabis workers. The goal of this pilot study was to explore the feasibility of collecting cannabis worker health data with a self-administered survey and to analyze the first systematically collected data on occupational health symptoms among California cannabis cultivation workers. We performed a cross-sectional survey of demographic and job characteristics as well as eye, nasal, respiratory, and dermal symptoms among 29 workers at two cannabis farms in the Sacramento area, California. Most participants were men aged less than 30 years, with 48% of participants self-identifying as non-Hispanic white and 58% reporting at least some college education. The most frequently reported work-related symptom was nasal irritation, and 38% of the participants reported symptoms suggestive of asthma. The participants had a demographic makeup distinct from traditional California agricultural workers, and a very high prevalence of current use of cannabis (93%). The high proportion of respondents with symptoms suggestive of asthma raises concern; sensitization to the cannabis plant has been reported among cannabis workers and users and there are many well-documented agricultural exposures causing asthma and asthma-like syndrome. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Coronavirus pandemic situation is acknowledged as a terrifying situation to human beings and has generated a tremendous loss in many perspectives to human life worldwide. People get impacted by physical, psychosocial, economic, and environmental crises amidst any pandemic crisis. Objectives: The current study aimed to interpret and explore the perception of the impact of a pandemic crisis on mental health, emerging issues, and governance among the people of a developing country during the lockdown of Covid-19, the second wave. This study also assessed their knowledge to assess their level of mental preparedness during Covid-19. Methods and Materials: An online cross-sectional survey was performed among a sub-set of a developing country population using a modified pre-validated structured tool. The sample size was 124. Responses were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics of Chi-square and regression analysis. Results: About 55.47% (71) had adequate knowledge. The mean knowledge score was 6.04, with a Standard Deviation (SD) of 2.16, indicating a low knowledge level. There was a higher significant association between demographics and mental health in terms of variables of psychosocial domains (p<0.05). Also, a negative association was found between their knowledge and their profession (p<0.05). Conclusion: Partial lockdown at the time of the study due to Covid-19 has led the majority of the people to undergo mental stress disregarded to their age, education, or their boundness to the healthcare profession. The healthcare system needs to emphasize enhancing appropriate knowledge to adopt preventive measures and efficient protocols, including vaccination. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The increasing complexity and uncertainty of the future may stimulate demand for more monitoring emerging issues. Futurists have long advocated for monitoring the future on an ongoing basis or for tracking the findings of project work in practice. However, clients have historically been reluctant to invest time and money in monitoring, and little practical guidance is available on how to set up a monitoring. This article describes a pilot monitoring capability that is simple and practical to implement. It was developed as a "plug-in" to supplement an ongoing horizon scanning system. The monitoring system tracks the movement of emerging issues that were identified by horizon scanning. It provides a means to keep policy-makers informed about the progress of emerging issues and provides advance warning to develop an appropriate strategic response. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite the efforts of the federal Government of Nigeria at establishing equal educational opportunities for all children of school age and to gradually eliminate illiteracy and ignorance in the Nigerian society through the introduction of the Universal Basic Education (UBE) programme, the successful implementation of the programme has been a serious challenge. This paper therefore, examined the emerging issues in the achievement of the objectives of the UBE programme in Nigeria. The paper discusses the meaning of Basic Education and the mandates of UBE as provided for in the UBE Act of 2004 in Nigeria. The paper further identified and discussed the contemporary issues in the attainment of the objectives of the programme, which include: funding, teacher quality and quantity, gap between policy formulation and implementation, non-implementation of sanctions on erring parents, politics of enrolment figure and unreliable data and inadequate quality assurance measures. The paper among others recommends that there should be adequate provision of funds for the programme, re-organisation of the system of teacher preparation for the UBE schools, provision of the appropriate sanctions to the erring parents as provided for in the UBE Act and the creation of child-friendly learning environment.

This study investigates the technological trends used in the classes of post graduate students of Education Faculty, UiTM. It also explores the perceptions of the students on impacts and emerging issues of technology on their classroom learning. The study has employed a quantitative research design and has used a questionnaire as a research method to collect data. The data was collected from a sample of 30 post graduate students of Education Faculty, University Teknology Mara (UiTM). The findings show that social media, gamification, blended learning, E-books, remote learning and self-directed professional development are the technological trends used in post graduate classes of Education faculty, UiTM. The findings also indicate that technology has positively influenced the classroom learning of these students. Lastly, the results show that technology is not perceived as an emerging issue that would interfere or hinder the students learning in the classroom. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyses four specific technological innovations - artificial meat, blockchain, drones for delivery, and off-grid electricity - by looking at them as weak signals and emerging issues with potentially positive and negative impacts on the environment. They are arising at a remarkably fast pace and this work examines the patterns of their emergence. The main purpose of this paper is to challenge the dominant view on their probable future and stimulate policymakers to consider their alternatives, and ultimately increase policymaking resilience. The analysis is based on a systematic review of available academic and non-academic literature, with the aim of synthesising obtainable knowledge on each of the considered technologies and enabling a broad understanding of potential threats and opportunities related thereto. Reduction of the total greenhouse gas emissions, improvements in energy efficiency, decreased pressure on limited natural resources, and increased protection of ecosystems are the main areas to which the selected technologies could make an important contribution. Yet, the complexity and the wide array of risks associated with their diffusion challenge the conventional view that technological innovations are the panacea for global environmental problems. We argued instead that potential risks and threats related to their dissemination must be addressed through adequate policies, adopted in a timely manner, and founded upon extensive research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fog computing paradigm is emerging after a decade's dominance of cloud‐based system design and architecture. Now, instead of centralising the computation and coordination to remote services, these are deployed and distributed to all over physical surroundings and network nodes, including cloud services, smart gateways, and network edge devices. At the moment, the majority of the Internet of things (IoT) systems and software has built on top of open Web‐based technologies. The authors assume that with the ever‐growing number and heterogeneity of connected devices, it becomes ever‐more crucial to have open standards that support interoperability and enable interactions. They review the current technological space for architecting Web technology‐based IoT software in the coming era of fog computing. They focus on fundamental research challenges and discuss the emerging issues. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article puts the transnational crime of human trafficking in the context of Sub-Saharan Africa and its quickly growing youth bulge. Through Causal Layered Analysis of various alternative future scenarios as well as the identification of the core narrative surrounding the international discourse, it illustrates more deeply the forces that underlie trafficking and what change is possible. With the provision of a reconstructed narrative that avoids the current blind spots, this research points out the need for a new leadership paradigm that allows for a more holistic and future-oriented inquiry about socio-economic and political change and what it entails for human trafficking. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Managers and policy makers are continually working toward a desired future within a context of rapid and turbulent change. To be effective in this context, they must look ahead to anticipate emerging trends, issues, opportunities, and threats. Horizon scanning is a foresight method that can help managers and policy makers develop and maintain a broad and externally focused forward view to anticipate and align decisions with both emerging (near-term) and long-term futures. This article reports on the design and early stage development and implementation of a horizon scanning system established for the U.S. Forest Service (USFS), Strategic Foresight Group, and developed cooperatively with the University of Houston Foresight Program. The goal of the project is to develop an ongoing horizon scanning system as an input to developing environmental foresight: insight into future environmental challenges and opportunities, and the ability to apply that insight to prepare for a sustainable future. In addition, the horizon scanning system is supported by volunteers from within the Forest Service. By including participants from throughout the Forest Service, the project seeks to foster a culture of foresight within the organization, and eventually to develop a more forward looking organizational structure for the USFS and other natural resource management agencies. Lessons learned from the experience to date are shared as well as future challenges for keeping the horizon scanning system in good working order--current, relevant, and consistent. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Molitor Model of Change was developed over a period of forty years by American futurist, Graham T. T. Molitor (1934–2017). It encompassed his lifelong work to reveal how public policy issues emerge, how they are advanced and how they are resolved. This article offers a 2009 summary of his model that was fully presented in his 2003 book, The Power to Change the World. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Text mining and analytics may offer possibilities to assess scientists' professional writing and identify patterns of co-occurrence between words and phrases associated with different environmental challenges and their potential solutions. This approach has the potential to help to track emerging issues, semi-automate horizon scanning processes, and identify how different institutions or policy instruments are associated with different types of ocean and coastal sustainability challenges. Here I examine ecologically-oriented ocean and coastal science journal article abstracts published between 2006 and 2015. Informed by the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) framework, I constructed a dictionary containing phrases associated with 40 ocean challenges and 15 solution-oriented instrument or investments. From 50,817 potentially relevant abstracts, different patterns of co-occurring text associated with challenges and potential solutions were discernable. Topics receiving significantly increased attention in the literature in 2014–15 relative to the 2006–13 period included: marine plastics and debris; environmental conservation; social impacts; ocean acidification; general terrestrial influences; co-management strategies; ocean warming; licensing and access rights; oil spills; and economic impacts. Articles relating to global environmental change were consistently among the most cited; marine plastics and ecosystem trophic structure were also focal topics among the highly cited articles. This exploratory research suggests that scientists' written outputs provide fertile ground for identifying and tracking important and emerging ocean sustainability issues and their possible solutions, as well as the organizations and scientists who work on them.

For the past three years, while teaching an Introduction to Global Futures Studies course at the Hankuk University of Foreign Studies (Seoul, Korea), the “Innovations/Issues Change Tracking and Forecasting Term Project” has been an essential component of the course. This group project (5-7 in a group) includes individual reports and presentations divided into three sections: (1) past changes, (2) present changes, and (3) forecasts of three to five scenarios. Progressive stages of the project are based on research assignments, which are foresight exercises that build upon each other: (1) online environmental scanning—where students scan online for STEEP (Social–Technological–Economical-Environmental–Political) innovations and issues to consider for the project; (2) change tracking of the selected innovation/issue—where changes are tracked from origin to present within a 5-25 year time range; (3) present time change tracking—where students research and analyze recent impacts and changes to the chosen innovation/issue; (4) in-class timeline construction—where all results are fused into one timeline; and (5) in-class futures wheel scenario constructions. Based on the results, 3-5 scenarios are constructed (from a future time frame of either 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25 years), and should include: (1) a baseline scenario—a trend-based continuation of past changes (from STEEP categories); (2) an alternative futures scenario—based on weak signals within present changes; and (3) a “wild card” scenario—a speculative attempt to foresee the unforeseeable. This article will report on the stages of development, student experiences, and results of the term project. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

As the world continues to battle the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, it is a stark reminder of the devastation biological threats can cause. In an unprecedented way the global community saw a massive surge in the demand for diagnostic capacities, which had a substantial impact on biosafety and biosecurity. Laboratories had to cope with a surge in laboratory testing capacity, while resources and training possibilities were limited. In addition, the pandemic highlighted the impact biological threats can have, thereby giving rise to new dialogue about biosecurity and new biological threats. This paper aims to highlight some of the most pressing issues regarding biosafety and biosecurity observed during the COVID-19 pandemic with special focus on low and lower middle-income countries. The authors provide lessons learned, tools and recommendations to improve future biosafety and biosecurity and increase preparedness for the next global health crisis., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Rutjes, Vennis, Wagner, Maisaia and Peintner.)

This article reviews the development of sport policy in Hong Kong. The focus is on the sport development in Hong Kong after it returned to China’s sovereignty in 1997, including its largely independent international status as a legitimate non-sovereignty sporting participant which combines both the legacy of British colonisation and increasing interaction with Mainland China. In this article, Hong Kong’s, to some extent, unique political system in particular its relationship with Mainland China underthe Basic Law, government involvement in sport and its sports organisational structure and funding are introduced. In addition, its policy priorities and the balance between elite sport, the hosting of sporting events and mass sport, elite sport achievements and emerging issues, most notably civil society’s ‘division’, regarding the relationship with Mainland China and the function of sport in Hong Kong’s identity shaping, social integration and its relationship with Beijing are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]