Dr. Raphaël Kies, Xavier Bettel and Prof. Dr. Christine Schiltz sign the cooperation agreement between the University of Luxembourg and the government at the state ministry on 17 March. Photo: ME

Dr. Raphaël Kies, Xavier Bettel and Prof. Dr. Christine Schiltz sign the cooperation agreement between the University of Luxembourg and the government at the state ministry on 17 March.  Photo: ME

A research programme run by the Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences will ensure the integrity of the work of the citizens’ consultation council on climate change.

Prime minister Xavier Bettel on Thursday signed an agreement with the University of Luxembourg on cooperation within the framework of the “Klima-Biergerrot” citizen consultation project on climate.

The project announced by Bettel in his state of the nation address last October, began its work at the end of January. It was established to answer a specific question, namely whether Luxembourg has the desire and ability to go further in the fight against climate change, and if so what measures should be applied to achieve that goal.

The new convention sees the government pledge to support the University’s research programme on participatory democracy, which aims, among other things, to explore new modes of governance involving citizens more directly.

The programme is being run by the Faculty of Humanities, Education and Social Sciences. Research scientist Dr. Raphaël Kies and Prof. Dr. Christine Schiltz, head of the Cognitive Science and Assessment (COSA) institute and of the Cognitive Neuroscience (CNS) research group  were on hand to represent the faculty at the signing.