23 - Koopmans Lecture - 28 November 2008

John Beddington

Science and Innovation in the 21st Century

Listen [MP3 44:43] Slides [PDF]

Lecture Summary

By showing the complex relationships between food, energy, water, and climate change, Professor Beddington argues that the greatest challenge for science in the 21st century is the need to move away from the current silo mentality to a holistic, joined up, multidisciplinary, integrated approach to science and innovation.

Predicting a world in 2030 that demands 50% more food, 30% more water, and 50% more energy, Professor Beddington poses some of the key questions facing mankind in the 21st century:

• Can 9 billion people be fed equitably, healthily, and sustainably?
• Can we cope with the future demands on water?
• Can we provide enough energy to supply the growing population coming out of poverty?
• Can we do this whilst mitigating and adapting to climate change?

Science can help to provide answers to these questions. For example, research can show how to increase and diversify energy supply, or how modern biotechnology can help grow more food with less water and energy. However, the interwoven nature of these challenges requires science to analyze the issues holistically and not individually.

Speaker Biography

Professor John Beddington was appointed UK Government Chief Scientific Adviser (GCSA) on 1 January 2008. His main research interests are the application of biological and economic analysis to problems of Natural Resource Management, including, inter alia, fisheries, pest control, wildlife management, and the control of disease.

He started his academic career at the University of York, spent three years on secondment from York as a Senior Fellow with the International Institute of Environment and Development, and has been at Imperial College since 1984: he was promoted to Reader in 1987 and was Professor of Applied Population Biology until his appointment as GCSA.

John Beddington has been Adviser to a number of British Government departments, including the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (on Antarctic and South Atlantic matters), the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (where he chaired the Science Advisory Council), the Department for International Development, the Ministry of Defence, and the Cabinet Office. He was for six years a member of the Natural Environment Research Council.

Professor Beddington has acted as a Senior Adviser to several national and international bodies, including the Australian, New Zealand, and U.S. Governments, the European Commission, and the United Nations Environment Programme and Food and Agriculture Organization.

In June 1997 he was awarded the Heidelberg Award for Environmental Excellence and in 2001 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society. In 2003 he was awarded the Companion of the Order of St. Michael and St. George by the Queen for services to fisheries science and management.

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Last updated: 24 Feb 2011