Professor Pintér receives a Balaton Group Endeavor Program grant for comparative research on urban NBS in China and Europe
On April 4, 2024 the Project Committee of The Balaton Group announced its decision to support a joint proposal by Prof. Pintér and Prof. Linjun Xie at the University of Notthingham - Ningbo to the Balaton Group Endeavour Program, designed to support ground-breaking collaborative research of members.
The project will focus on knowledge co-creation to promote transformative urban governance via studying non-state led nature-based solutions related to food security. Grassroots-led NBS initiatives will be identified and studied in selected locations in Europe (Hungary and Sweden) and China, providing the basis for comparative analysis focused on various aspects of governance, practices, embedding, and opportunities for mainstreaming.
The project details the earlier Naturvation project both Prof. Pinter and Prof Xie worked on, and complements, among others, research on NBS at the landscape level in the ongoing Naturescapes Horizon-2020 project.
According to Professor Pintér „the project will help understand the conditions that help or hinder the establishment and maintenance of NBS and its potential contribution to food system resilience”. By looking at cases across the Eurasian context, it will allow comparative analysis and cross-cultural dialogue, and the identification of robust strategies.
Officially named the International Network of Resource Information Centers, the Balaton Group is an international network of researchers and practitioners in fields related to systems and sustainability. It is governed by a steering group drawn from its active membership.
The group’s annual meeting, at Lake Balaton in Hungary, has welcomed more than 400 participants from 40 countries since 1982.