OWC - Introduction

The concept of ‘one-world’ chemistry (OWC) has been developed by a group of scientists associated with IOCD. OWC promotes an integrated systems approach to meet global challenges. It offers an answer to the questions:

• What would the chemical sciences look like if they gave priority to the fact that human and animal health and the biological and physical environments of the planet are all intimately connected?
• How will the chemical sciences realise their potential of playing a key role in achieving sustainable development?

Here we explore the concept of OWC and its implications for how the chemical sciences need to be re-imagined, taught and practiced.

You can:

• access the article by IOCD scientists Stephen Matlin, Goverdhan Mehta, Henning Hopf and Alain Krief, ‘One-world’ chemistry and systems-thinking, published by Nature Chemistry in May 2016 - click here.

and learn about:

• sustainable development – click here
• the need for a unified approach – click here
• the need to adopt and apply systems thinking – click here
• the importance of developing cross-disciplinary approaches – click here
• OWC – an ethical science for the benefit of society – click here

OWC considers that the chemical sciences are centrally positioned to take an integrated view of the relationships between human and animal health and the biological and physical environments – and that the chemical sciences must now act differently to realise the potential created by this central positioning.