specht talk anaee conference march 2016

SynthesisCentresandthenewsocietalchallenges–bo5lenecks

andlessonstobelearnt

AlisonSpecht,FRB-CESABandtheInternationalSynthesis

Consortium

Convergingtrends

Convergingtrends

Wearedrowningininformationwhilestarvingforwisdom.—EdwardO.Wilson(1998)Consilience:TheUnityofKnowledge

Complexproblems

PerfavourProf.JanetDavies,QUTDaviesetal.(2015)SciTotEnv.534:85-96

Eyes (cataracts, etc.)

Skin damage/cancer

Land cover (forest, etc)

Changes in ecology/numbers of host species, vectors (mosquitoes, etc.)

Infectious disease risks

Food yields: nutrition and health

Human predation

Stratospheric ozone depletion

Poverty, crowding, hygiene; physical hazards; infectious disease risks

Avian ‘flu, Nipah virus, BSE, etc.

Land use: soils

Water supply •  glaciers •  river flows •  chemistry

Immune suppression

Immune function: susceptibility

Food production: systems/methods

Oceans: • Algal blooms

Climate change

Impacts on Marine food web

Urbanisation: popn size/density, consumerism, energy use, etc.

Impacts on urban coastal populations, esp.

e.g. pollination

Biodiversity changes, & ecosystem disruption

•  Warming •  Acidity (CO2)

Direct impacts

Thermal stress: death, disease events, trauma Storms, cyclones, floods, fires Sea-level rise: physical hazards, food, displacement

Eyes (cataracts, etc.)

Skin damage/cancer

Land cover (forest, etc)

Changes in ecology/numbers of host species, vectors (mosquitoes, etc.)

Infectious disease risks

Food yields: nutrition and health

Human predation

Stratospheric ozone depletion

Poverty, crowding, hygiene; physical hazards; infectious disease risks

Avian ‘flu, Nipah virus, BSE, etc.

Land use: soils

Water supply •  glaciers •  river flows •  chemistry

Immune suppression

Immune function: susceptibility

Food production: systems/methods

Oceans: • Algal blooms

Climate change

Impacts on Marine food web

Urbanisation: popn size/density, consumerism, energy use, etc.

Impacts on urban coastal populations, esp.

e.g. pollination

Biodiversity changes, & ecosystem disruption

•  Warming •  Acidity (CO2)

Direct impacts

Thermal stress: death, disease events, trauma Storms, cyclones, floods, fires Sea-level rise: physical hazards, food, displacement

Itisnolongersupportabletoworkindisciplinaryisola5on(fromMcMichael,2014)

ThistalkThenewchallenges

Bo5leneckstoeffec>veness

Solu5ons

Lessonstobelearnt

BoEleneckstoeffec5veness

Abilitytomanagedata

Collabora5on

Tradi5on


Abilitytomanagedata

Collabora5on

Tradi5on

challenges


Abilitytomanagedata

Collabora5on

Tradi5on

challenges

somecollaborate,mostdon’t…



Solu>ons

Lessonstobelearnt

Synthesiscentres

By supporting groups of people to utilise existing data in a collaborative, supported, environment

Synthesiscentres

By supporting groups of people to utilise existing data in a collaborative, supported, environment

synthesis centres catalyze the collision of disciplines and ideas to promote convergence

Thedataworkflow

Othersareadvoca5ngwhatwearedoing…

(fromSutherland&Burgman2015,Nature)

h5p://synthesis-consor>um.org



Solu5ons

Lessonstobelearnt

LessonslearntSynthesiscentresareveryeffec5vebuttheirinterven5onishardtoprove

Datarepositoriesneedasynthesiscentre

Withoutsynthesiscentresmostlong-taildatawillbelost:withsynthesiscentressomecanbesaved

LessonslearntSynthesiscentresareveryeffec5vebuttheirinterven5onishardtoprove

Datarepositoriesneedasynthesiscentre

Withoutsynthesiscentresmostlong-taildatawillbelost:withsynthesiscentressomecanbesaved

Thefocusandcollabora5onacrossdisciplinaryspacetoanswertoday’schallengesdoesnothappenautoma5cally.

Wearedrowningininformationwhilestarvingforwisdom.Theworldhenceforthwillberunbysynthesizers,peopleabletoputtogethertherightinformationattherighttime,thinkcriticallyaboutit,andmakeimportantchoiceswisely.—EdwardO.Wilson(1998)Consilience:TheUnityofKnowledge

Wearedrowningininformationwhilestarvingforwisdom.Theworldhenceforthwillberunbysynthesizers,peopleabletoputtogethertherightinformationattherighttime,thinkcriticallyaboutit,andmakeimportantchoiceswisely.—EdwardO.Wilson(1998)Consilience:TheUnityofKnowledge

thankyou

specht talk anaee conference march 2016

Environment