Traditional science is conducted in disciplines, and as knowledge production has grown, so has the number of disciplines. The shortcomings of this approach have been increasingly recognised in the context of global environmental change, and have led to the development of new types of scientific endeavour. Many such initiatives are based on potentially integrative concepts such as the anthroposphere , and the term Earth System Science has become institutionalised. Stepping outside the boundaries of traditional scientific disciplines is never easy. Many claim that social sciences have not been equal partners in formulating the questions of global change research.
Different perspectives determine what questions are asked.
During the workshop various ongoing efforts to integrate social and natural sciences within the same research frame were presented. New integrated projects are also starting to form on themes such as food systems, the carbon cycle, and water. The experiences gained from these projects provide important examples of how integrated research can ask new questions. However, although LUCC has been successful at integrating several disciplines, integration across different scales and the need to include both physical and social dimensions in the same models, remain significant conceptual challenges. Always frame the key science questions in such a way that they cannot be answered without contributions from all partners.