Grand Challenges in Global Sustainability Research (Pre-publication Version) now available!

The pre-publication version of the Grand Challenges in Global Sustainability Research document is now available for download here.

Open Forum on Institutional Support for the Grand Challenges

The registration deadline for the Open Forum has been extended to 10 June, 2010.

*For those who are not able to travel to Paris for the Open Forum but still would like to provide their comments, we have created a page where you can share your perspectives and thoughts. Please note that, as the Open Forum will explore the question of how we can best organize global research efforts in order to address critical sustainability challenges confronting humanity, please keep your comments somewhat relevant to this topic.

On 22 June, 2010, the International Council for Science (ICSU), in cooperation with the International Social Science Council (ISSC), will host in Paris an Open Forum to explore institutional frameworks that could effectively and successfully support the research and delivery of the Grand Challenges in global sustainability research. This Open Forum is intended to provide a platform to facilitate exchange of information and perspectives. The themes to be discussed at this event will include:

• Grand Challenges in global sustainability research
• Possible institutional frameworks to support the Grand Challenges research
• Funding perspectives
• Policy relevance/communication
• Regional perspectives

All information on the Open Forum, including the logistics, can be found at the Open Forum page on this website.

We cordially invite all stakeholders and interested parties to attend and contribute their insights. Please register early, so that we can confirm your registration. Only those who have received confirmation of their registration and bring photo ID (e.g., passport) will be allowed to enter UNESCO, where the event is being held.

When registering, please indicate if you would like to give an oral presentation and/or poster or just attend as a regular participant (see below for more information). The deadline for registration is 10 June, 2010; Please find here the tentative agenda.  This will be finalised to take account of the expressed interests of those attending the meeting to ensure that all views can be heard and discussed.

Following the Open Forum, there will be a meeting between the co-sponsors of the four major global environmental change programmes (IOC, ISSC, IUBS, SCOPE, UNESCO, UNU, WMO), the four global environmental change programmes (DIVERSITAS, IGBP, IHDP, WCRP), ESSP, UNEP and funding bodies. This meeting on 23-24 June meeting will be an invite-only event. However, the discussions from the Open Forum, as well as the results of the web consultations, will be fed directly into this meeting.

This is an important milestone in the effort to improve the ways in which global sustainability research is organized and conducted. It is important that all those who have a stake in this endeavor are able to have their voices heard. The Open Forum is designed for precisely this purpose, but is not the only or the last opportunity to provide input. We are very much aware that not everyone is able to travel to Paris for this occasion. But ICSU, in cooperation with the ISSC, will continue to work hard and utilize a variety of tools, including online consultation, to listen to the views of all stakeholders throughout the process.

.

We would like to thank everyone who provided their views on the Challenges in Global Sustainability Research

The consultation on Grand Challenges in Sustainability Research, which was open from 21 December 2009 to 21 February 2010, is now closed. Thank you for your reflections on the proposed Grand Challenges in Global Sustainability Research: A Systems Approach to Research Priorities for the Decade and on what international research coordination is needed to get the job done. Please check back here for more information on sequent steps, including the Open Forum in Paris on 22 June.

Grand Challenges in Sustainability Research is a global initiative centred on five grand challenges that must be addressed over the next decade if society is to manage the global environmental change that is now underway and cope with the change that we cannot manage. This initiative is a result of the first step of the visioning process, which began with an online consultation that yielded more than 300 research priorities and contributions from more than 1000 people from 85 countries.

About the Visioning Process

Earth system visioning is a three-step process spearheaded by ICSU in cooperation with the International Social Science Council (ISSC). The first step involved an online consultation (July/August 2009) that asked: What is the most important research question in Earth system research that needs answering in the next decade? Why? The proposed research questions posted online formed the background for a workshop held in September involving senior researchers, early-career scientists, science-policy experts and funders. The workshop resulted in the draft document ‘Grand Challenges in Global Sustainability: A Systems Approach to Research Priorities for the Decade’ that is going out to the global community through an online consultation (in the form of a survey). The goal is to produce a widely shared vision of the scientific priorities for global sustainability research in the coming decade. The second step in the visioning process will begin on 22 June 2010, with an Open Forum in Paris to discuss the institutional structures that will facilitate a new strategy on sustainability research.

• Draft document ‘Grand Challenges in Global Sustainability Research: A Systems Approach to Research Priorities for the Decade’ (PDF)
• Read about the Visioning Process
• Email us at visioning@icsu.org for general feedback on this process
• Go to the ICSU website
• Read the Science Editorial
• Read the ICSU Press Release on the Visioning Process

.

.