A Northeastern public policy expert contributed to a report that calls for the United Nations to adopt a new approach to science — emphasizing a mission-driven and policy-oriented approach to be practiced at a network of global hubs.
“It’s science that is mission-driven, based on a problem rather than necessarily a research question, and that encompasses problems of global significance that touch on a number of different societies, issues and disciplines,” Maria Ivanova, director of the School of Public Policy and Urban Affairs at Northeastern and an adviser to the report, says.
“Flipping the Science Model: a Roadmap to Science Missions for Sustainability,” warns that prevailing science design, funding and practice fail to address complex global issues at the speed and scale required. It advocates for establishing a “mission science” network of regional sustainability hubs around the world and for funding it at $1 billion per year.
