Developing leaders to tackle wicked problems at the nexus of food, energy, and water systems

Abstract

The multiscale, complex challenges at the nexus of food, energy, and water systems (FEWS) demand approaches to graduate education beyond traditional disciplinary training. Here, we present a vision for training FEWS leaders developed by faculty and students from interdisciplinary graduate training programs focused on the FEWS nexus. We discuss the imperative to create interdisciplinary, next-generation FEWS leaders and the core skills and proficiencies such leaders need: employ systems thinking, thrive in interdisciplinary teams, communicate effectively, and engage diverse stakeholders and communities. These skills will prepare students to connect science to innovative, actionable solutions and to successfully lead across a variety of careers. Graduate training that integrates these approaches must, on the one hand, overcome structural, cultural, and financial barriers in higher education, but on the other hand, will help develop a community of practice capable of developing sustainable solutions for the FEWS nexus and other vexing environmental challenges.

Visual Literacy Intervention for Improving Undergraduate Student Critical Thinking of Global Sustainability Issues

“…Global sustainability issues, including those at the nexus of food, water and energy concerns [1,2], capture attention and provide relevance in such a way that enhances learners' motivations to learn [3,4]. A desired outcome of higher education is for students to develop the multidimensional and multifaceted human capability of critical thinking [5,6].…”

Training wicked scientists for a world of wicked problems

“…Although much has been written about the challenges of wicked problems (DeFries and Nagendra, 2017) and the need to address them (Brown et al, 2010;Wade et al, 2020), this has not yet prompted the development of programs that train graduate students to tackle grand challenges in transdisciplinary research teams (National Research Council, 2014). For this reason, we see the development of training programs in wicked science as being long overdue.…”

The Implications of Global Change for the Co‐Evolution of Argentina's Integrated Energy‐Water‐Land Systems

“…Modular planning also exists because interdisciplinary knowledge and tools have historically been underdeveloped (Wade et al, 2020). As a result, most experts have sector-specific training that gives them an appreciation for sectoral complexities but may cause an over-reliance on familiar tools or problem formulations favoring their expertise (Kaplan 1964;.…”

“…This approach has naturally resulted from the modular structure of governmental and other decision‐making institutions (Leck et al., 2015; Opejin et al., 2020; White et al., 2017), which are organized as such to promote efficiency, specialization, and clarity of objectives. Modular planning also exists because interdisciplinary knowledge and tools have historically been underdeveloped (Wade et al., 2020). As a result, most experts have sector‐specific training that gives them an appreciation for sectoral complexities but may cause an over‐reliance on familiar tools or problem formulations favoring their expertize (Kaplan, 1964; Wild, Birnbaum, et al., 2021).…”