Birger Lindberg Møller
Why should partners from SCIENCE join our network?
Today’s challenges can no longer be solved by one discipline only. Neither can they be fully understood with mono-disciplinary eyes. Our solutions will always be a reflection of how deeply we understand our own discipline and its limitations.
One such challenge is to bring sustainability and social integration to the drug discovery process, production and use.What I find exiting about this network is, that, perhaps for the first time, we have the opportunity to develop an integrated view of how cross-disciplinary scientific exploration can be combined with the much needed green transition in the realm of plant-based drugs. This means, e.g., considering the rights of the people or area where the plants originate.
The sustainability of interdisciplinarity
In my own experience, e.g., in discovery of highly potent plant compounds in the Australian Eremophila plants, the consideration of indigenous rights and return of potential commercial profits is regretfully in its infancy globally. We need this kind of ethical and moral sustainability in the world today – with natural scientists working alongside social scientists, legal and financial scholars to find the best way.
Interdisciplinarity is indeed not trivial and takes effort. But the rewards are many and inspirational. As scientists we are trained to investigate our area through ‘the eyes’ of our own field. Interdisciplinary train our minds for collaboration.
If you are interested in any of the dots connecting plants and medicinal compounds to sustainability, no matter your field, you are an important voice in our collective understanding. I encourage you to join our network.
MY OWN RESEARCH INTERESTS INCLUDE THE BELOW TOPICS RELEVANT FOR THE NETWORK:
- Solar-driven production of tomorrows plant-based medicine
- Elucidation of high-complexity plant compounds
- Biological production of plant high-value compounds
- Access and benefit sharing with indigenous communities