Planetary Health Proposal Development Meeting
The Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies (NTS Centre) in the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) hosted a proposal development meeting on planetary health on the 13th February at Orchard Hotel in Singapore. This meeting brought together the principal investigator and co-investigators of the SSHR seed grant on planetary health to share perspectives from their respective disciplines and further develop the proposal, along with other potential partners, including Prof Tan Sri Dr Jemilah Mahmood, Executive Director and Professor, Sunway Centre for Planetary Health, Sunway University, Malaysia.
Prof Mely Caballero-Anthony, Head of Centre for Non-Traditional Security Studies, RSIS delivered the welcome remarks. She highlighted the particular relevance of the planetary health concept in the face of the unprecedented degradation of our natural systems and the emergence of the triple planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution. Prof Jemilah then began the opening panel with a discussion on the need to pay attention to the declining state of planet earth in order to advance humanity’s wellbeing.
The second panel on ‘International Research Collaboration’ was moderated by Dr Alistair. D.B. Cook. Prof Jemilah introduced the Sunway Centre for Planetary Health, and expanded upon its priorities, collaborations, and research work, in addition to exploring potential inter-linkages with the planetary health proposal. In the afternoon, Dr Zhu Qifei (Nanyang Business School) led the discussion on the development of a scorecard to assess the impact of individual companies on planetary health and Associate Prof Md Saidul Islam (College of Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences) led the discussion on the status of planetary health and the disproportionate socio-economic impacts on poorer communities. Participants then reflected on the research framework and discussed potential new ways to enhance research collaboration.
