Overcoming the challenges facing society to provide sustainable energy sources, clean tap water, and affordable healthcare worldwide, requires efficient use of global resources. Scientists have a responsibility to use research funding wisely and to contribute innovative solutions to society’s problems.
In their Editorial for Angewandte Chemie, Povl Krogsgaard-Larsen, Danish University of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peter Thostrup, and Flemming Besenbacher, both University of Aarhus, Denmark, describe the need for scientists to adopt a mindset that fosters such scientific social responsibility. They argue that the common differentiation between basic and strategic research is an artificial one perpetuated by policymakers, and that it often leads to funding waste. The challenges facing today’s society require breakthrough technologies, which can only be developed by broad exploratory research conducted by interdisciplinary collaborations.
- Scientific Social Responsibility: A Call to Arms
P. Krogsgaard-Larsen, P. Thostrup, F. Besenbacher,
Angew. Chem. Int. Ed. 2011.
DOI: 10.1002/anie.201105641
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