Medical outliers – a ‘wicked’ problem

Dual-Use Research as a Wicked Problem

The challenge of dual-use research in the life sciences emerged vividly in 2011 as scientists and policy-makers debated what to do about article manuscripts that described how to modify the H5N1 avian influenza virus so that it could spread between mammals (1, 2). Since H5N1 emerged in Southeast Asia in 2003, it has sickened 667 people and caused 393 human deaths, as well as the deaths of milli...

The wicked problem of socially responsible innovation.

O ne of the goals of our article on the DNA of Socially Responsible Innovation (SRI) was to start a discussion on how to implement SRI in research and development (R&D). We are therefore grateful for the contribution by Dove and Özdemir; we feel that exactly such dialogue is necessary to advance innovation to the next level. We acknowledge that the “ecosystem” of science, technology and society...

Appreciating the Wicked Problem: A Systems Approach to Sustainable Cities

Abstract Sustainable city place-making is a complex process and can deliver systemic unintended or undesirable development paths such as poverty, health inequality, or environmental degradation over generations. The application of socio-technical and socio-ecological systems thinking is applied to this critical challenge of how to create sustainable cities. Creating sustainable cities demands a...

Taming a Wicked Problem: Resolving Controversies in Biodiversity Offsetting

The rising popularity of biodiversity offsetting as a tool for balancing biodiversity losses from development with equivalent gains elsewhere has sparked debate on many fronts. The fundamental questions are the following: Is offsetting good, bad, or at least better than the status quo for biodiversity conservation outcomes, and what do we need to know to decide? We present a concise synthesis o...

Antimicrobial resistance: a ‘wicked problem’ affecting today’s society