There is an urgent need for better understanding of human-environment interactions in order to improve forecasts of change and impacts, as well as appropriate responses. It is important to delve into root causes and drivers of choices that lead to unsustainable outcomes and maladaptive practices, and to deepen understanding about the limits, barriers and opportunities to transitioning towards global sustainability in the face of change, turbulence and surprise. This means embracing a truly transdisciplinary approach connecting skills from all branches of science with arts and technology.
Our work focuses broadly on five interconnected thematic areas:
- Climate Change and Sustainability
- Risk Reduction in Vulnerable Communities
- Food Security and System Resilience
- Planetary Health and Migration
- Health and Inequality
More than ever, natural sciences are needed to provide ecological system understanding, and social sciences and humanities are needed to provide social system knowledge. Together these points of reference inform societal choices and practices in the face of global change and uncertainty. However, perhaps of even greater importance is the design and implementation of ’socio-ecological’ and ‘socio-technological’ thinking and actions that recognise the interfaces between global systems and all who live there are part of coupled systems that need to be understood and managed in a holistic and integrated manner.