This editorial by ISC CEO Salvatore Aricò was originally published in Mediaplanet’s Climate Action Report and featured in the printed edition of the New Scientist.
Climate change, biodiversity loss and growing inequality are intertwined issues that demand a bolder, mission-driven approach. To tackle these issues effectively, we must shift to a model of ‘big science’ that mobilises international cooperation, aligns around shared goals and prioritizes impactful, actionable research.
The UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) set out an ambitious vision for global progress, yet the world lags on nearly every front. Traditional scientific approaches, though valuable, remain fragmented and siloed, failing to address complex, interconnected challenges. What we need is a paradigm shift: science driven by a mission approach that matches the global, intertwined, multifaceted nature of the crises we face.
Examples like CERN and the Square Kilometre Array Observatory (SKAO) have demonstrated how science can achieve breakthroughs through collaboration, substantial investment and a shared vision.
Recognising the need to transform how we conduct and share science for sustainability, the International Science Council (ISC) has proposed a bold new roadmap at the 2023 High-Level Political Forum (HLPF), ‘Flipping the Science Model: A Roadmap to Science Missions for Sustainability.’ It calls for a transformative shift toward well-funded, strategically aligned scientific missions that unite scientists, policy experts and communities.
The transition to ‘big science’ requires several critical shifts:
The ISC’s Science Missions for Sustainability initiative embodies these principles by launching collaborative pilot projects to test, and this is mission-driven. These pilots represent a new approach to science, with success measured by contributions to global resilience and sustainability. The ISC’s science missions are committed to purposeful action for a sustainable, equitable future — at a time when the stakes are higher than ever.
Picture by Maarten Deckers on Unsplash
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