The BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Awards in Economics, Finance and Management has gone in this eighteenth edition to Charles F. Manski for his pioneering contributions to the measurement of uncertainty in economic research and its application to public policy analysis. The professor at Northwestern University (Chicago, United States) is described by the committee as a “foundational figure” in the development of modern methods that have transformed how economists infer conclusions from data, report degrees of uncertainty in their models, and evaluate public policies in the face of incomplete evidence.

A European consortium, led by the Institute of New Imaging Technologies (INIT) at the Universitat Jaume I in Castelló and comprising the University of Limassol (Cyprus), Save the Children Finland, All Digital (Belgium) and 8d-Games (the Netherlands), aims to promote the protection and exercise of children’s rights in online gaming environments by creating participatory mechanisms that foster digital literacy, strengthen mental wellbeing and embed practices grounded in children’s fundamental rights.

“The main purpose of FAIR GAME”, explains the research team, which met for two days at the public university in Castelló, “is to make children’s rights visible, actionable and enforceable in one of the least regulated digital environments”, because its goal “is not only to mitigate risk, but to reorient the way the gaming ecosystem defines safety and responsibility”. For this reason, they add, it “seeks to bring about cultural and structural change in order to influence gaming platform policies and standards”.

The SpongeBoost project supports policy-making, restoration and land-use planning by promoting cost-effective, nature-based solutions that strengthen water retention in landscapes and align with the EU Climate Adaptation goals. With the establishment of the “SpongeBooster of the year” award, SpongeBoost recognises outstanding initiatives that actively restore and support sponge landscapes and inspire others through implementation, communication, environmental education and cooperation.

Concordia researchers show blaming beaver dams for flooding in Quebec’s Charlevoix region (2005, 2011) is unfounded. Advanced modelling found failed dams had minimal impact on flood levels. Fast runoff and log jams from intense rainfall were more likely causes, and beaver structures support river health rather than worsen flooding.

Global efforts to combat climate change in the last two decades have contributed to considerably cutting carbon emissions, according to a new study on climate policies conducted primarily by scientists from Germany and the United Kingdom, among them experts from Heidelberg University. It shows that states with larger and stricter policy portfolios are cutting their emissions most effectively.