Sustainability, Interdisciplinarity and the Policy-environment Nexus

The biodiversity and climate crises are complex, interconnected and accelerating problems and present policy challenges that require sustainability solutions spanning the natural, social and behavioural sciences. As a result of this complexity in the policy-environment nexus such solutions will require a degree of innovation that is unprecedented alongside a new generation trained in transdisciplinary thinking. Environmental policy that will be long lasting and sustainable also requires deep forms of systemic engagement between civil society and science, if responsible solutions and better decisions are to emerge. To illustrate these ideas the lecture will draw upon examples of policy dilemmas and challenges from energy, climate change, industrial decarbonisation, and agriculture.

Professor Nick Pidgeon is a social scientist who holds a Chair in environmental psychology at Cardiff University. Before that he was a Profressor (1999-2006) at the UEA School of Environmental Sciences. He works across the disciplines on issues of risk perception, human behaviours, and public engagement for sustainability policy-making. Awarded an MBE in 2014 for his work on climate change and energy security awareness he became a Fellow of the British Academy in 2023.

Professor Andy Jordan will chair the event.

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