Speaking to the assembled membership of ICSU, Prof. Kleiner took as the theme of his talk the urgent need for trans- and interdisciplinary research to meet the many challenges of global environmental change.
He announced the financial sponsorship of an international workshop on ‘Integrated Global Change Research: co-designing knowledge across scientific fields, national borders and user groups’, to be organized in Berlin in early 2012 by the German National Committee on Global Change Research, together with ICSU, the International Social Science Council (ISSC) and the Earth System Science Partnership (ESSP).
Furthermore, he pledged DFG support for three annual ‘DFG-ICSU-ISSC Young Scientist International Networking Conferences on Integrated Science’, each of which would – over a period of one week – enable young researchers to meet leading scientists in the field of global sustainability research. Kleiner noted: “If a sufficient number of scientists can exchange ideas and think about what needs to be changed in the science system, such networking events may well help to add momentum towards more sustainable development in the future.”