date: Mon, 10 Nov 2008 19:39:41 -0000 from: "Lenton Timothy Prof \(ENV\)" subject: [Env.faculty] Leverhulme 'Tipping Points' call to: Dear fellow ENV faculty, The Leverhulme Trust have issued an invitation to apply for a research programme grant (£0.5-1.75M) on the topic of 'tipping points' which they interpret broadly (key text is reproduced below). http://www.leverhulme.ac.uk/grants_awards/grants/research_programmes/ I would like UEA to put something in, perhaps along the lines of 'Encouraging tipping points in human systems to avoid tipping points in the Earth system' and this email is to see if anyone else in ENV wants to join in? Others in UEA are keen to apply and Susan Malone in RBS (susan.malone@uea.ac.uk) has offered to help in trying to get together a meeting of interested parties. If you would like to be involved please join the 'doodle' poll for a meeting date: http://www.doodle.com/qumipn4ht76yk578 Or let me know your interest/suggestions (but please do not reply to the env.faculty list). Thanks, Tim ~~~ 1. Tipping Points As with the term paradigm shift , the concept of tipping point has entered popular debate to the point where its precision has been lost. If rigorously applied, however, its value remains significant. Research is required therefore to restore its value either by exploration of compelling examples or by analysis of its logical basis. In the social, economic, cultural or physical realms, what are the factors that independently or jointly spur certain beliefs, ideas, actions or outcomes to be suddenly adopted or intensified? If taken up by large groups of a population, these can generate large, unforeseen, mass movements. If acting on a physical system, they can induce rapid and irreversible change. What then are the critical factors that determine the natural history (birth, spread, duration, decay) of such phenomena? Understanding can come from highlighting and characterising historical examples and their modern parallels, including the influence and impact of the different communication channels. Models from biology may be reflected or testable in observed human behaviour. Similarly, for the physical world, the dynamics of change and the consequence for change of contributing factors can be systematically examined. The objective is to explore through research the tipping point concept, to test its validity in different situations and in this way to contribute towards a general model of understanding. _______________________________________________ Env.faculty mailing list Env.faculty@uea.ac.uk http://www.uea.ac.uk/mailman21/listinfo/env.faculty