#6: Dr Josh Tewksbury on Science in Service to Society

Dr Josh Tewksbury is Director of the Future Earth Global Hub in Colorado and editor of Future Earth’s in-house magazine, Anthropocene (which is a great read by the way). An ecologist, evolutionary biologist and conservation biologist by training, Josh has over 20 years of active research on the impacts of climate on animals and plants but has found his way to a leading role in steering Future Earth as a global organisation focused on research, innovation and collaboration in order to transform the world towards sustainability.

I spoke to Josh online from his office in Colorado. We spoke about the need for science to become more trans-disciplinary and the peverse disincentives that hold it back, about the need for scientists to join bigger tables alongside other stakeholders, about the importance of ‘public scientists’ leading public debate on science and the contemporary need for an ‘army of Galileos’ rooted in their own contexts, about the need for scientists as servants rather than heroes, and about his preference for being part of driving systems transformation over personal legacy.

Find out more about Josh at http://www.futureearth.org/josh-tewksbury

Tony Cooke

Tony Cooke is an internationally-recognised sustainability leader with over 25 years spent at the nexus of sustainability, innovation and entrepreneurship, developing and executing strategies for business, governments and not-for-profit organisations across a wide variety of sectors. He now manages a portfolio of interests including; senior corporate counsel, executive coaching, non-executive roles and thought leadership through a combination of research, writing and podcasting. Visit my personal blog at http://tonycooke.wordpress.com

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