Arnab Bhattacharya is an Indian physicist and science communicator. He is a research professor at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, where he works in semiconductor optoelectronics. Since 2021, he has also served as director of the Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education. Bhattacharya is an avid proponent of public engagement and science education. Since 2009, he has led and curated Chai and Why, a widely attended science café in Mumbai. In 2017, the Indian National Science Academy honored him with the Indira Gandhi Prize for the Popularization of Science, one of India’s most prestigious science awards, for his contributions to public science communication. In this wide-ranging and insightful InterDialogue, we explore interconnected questions surrounding science communication, education, and outreach in both Indian and global contexts. We also discuss Bhattacharya’s projects during the COVID-19 pandemic, when he helped create low-cost methods for decontaminating N95 masks for reuse by frontline responders. In addition, we talk about his research on nanomaterials and India’s potential for developing domestic industries centered on advanced technologies such as semiconductors, solar energy, and nuclear power. Beyond his scientific research and outreach work, we also touch on the importance of maintaining work-life balance, as well as Bhattacharya’s passion for Indian classical music, nature, and cooking. Timestamps 1:02 – Bhattacharya’s introduction to science and science communication 10:59 – Interventions in science communication in India 16:16 – Hands-on alternatives to theoretical learning 21:34 – Bhattacharya’s involvement in pandemic response in India 27:36 – Public health communication during the pandemic 33:09 – Problems facing public health and science communication in India 41:01 – Bhattacharya’s directorship of the Homi Bhabha Center for Science Education 45:04 – Impact of AI on science education in India 50:43 – Bhattacharya’s research on lighting technology 55:54 – India’s potential for a domestic semiconductor industry 1:00:57 –...

Marta González is a Venezuelan-American physicist and complexity scientist whose research explores the dynamics of human mobility, urban systems, and sustainability through the lens of statistical physics and network science. She is a professor of civil and environmental engineering and city and regional planning at the University of California, Berkeley, where she also serves as associate director of the Transportation Sustainability Research Center. González is internationally recognized for pioneering the use of large-scale mobility data to better understand cities and inform public policy. In this wide-ranging InterDialogue, González reflects on her journey from physics into complexity science and urban research, explaining how statistical physics provides powerful tools for understanding human mobility and the collective dynamics of cities. We discuss the emergence of urban science as an interdisciplinary field, the opportunities and limitations of mobile phone and mobility datasets, and how these data can improve transportation planning, climate adaptation, and the design of more resilient and sustainable cities. González also explores the challenges of translating scientific research into public policy, including questions of data access, privacy, and collaboration between researchers, governments, and industry. We further examine the future of urban mobility, autonomous vehicles, and clean energy, as well as the importance of international collaboration and expanding scientific capacity across the Global South. Finally, she reflects on the broader promise of complexity science for addressing some of the most pressing social and environmental challenges facing rapidly urbanizing societies. Timestamps 0:00 – Introduction and Marta González’s path into complexity science 5:01 – From statistical physics to human mobility research 10:18 – Mobile phone data and the emergence of urban science 15:42 – Sustainable cities, climate adaptation, and resilience 20:24 – Privacy, data access, and international collaboration 25:42 – Using complexity science to inform urban policy 29:32 – Measuring the impact of remote work...

Ciro Cattuto is an Italian physicist and complexity scientist whose work explores the intricate relationships between human behavior and digital technologies. Since 2008, he has served as Scientific Director of the ISI Foundation, based in Turin, Italy. He is also the founder and principal investigator of the Sociopatterns Collaboration. Throughout his career, Cattuto has held a range of influential research, fellowship, advisory, and board positions in Italy, the United States, and Japan. In this thought-provoking InterDialogue, we trace Cattuto’s intellectual journey from theoretical solid-state physics into complex systems science, a multicultural path that unfolded across three continents. We also discuss his contributions to data science and complex network research, including his work on some of the first digital social networks. We then examine what it means to conduct interdisciplinary research and how such collaborations can be cultivated more effectively. Cattuto also draws on his experience at the intersection of complex networks and epidemiology as a case of interdisciplinary bridge-building in practice. We further discuss the research priorities and guiding principles of the ISI Foundation, especially in relation to its current focus on computational social science and opportunities for policy impact. Finally, we reflect on both the promise and the profound challenges associated with the growing integration of artificial intelligence into scientific research and society more broadly. Timestamps 1:41 – Cattuto’s background and trajectory in complex systems science 9:19 – ISI as a hub of European complex systems science 11:46 – Interdisciplinary collaborations at ISI 14:38 – Interdisciplinarity and institutional funding frameworks 16:52 – Interdisciplinarity across generational, disciplinary, and national boundaries 19:36 – Computational social science and other interdisciplinary research areas at ISI 24:06 – Translating research into policy and governance 25:26 – Social science contributions to AI and computational research 27:36 – Studying complex systems using AI 29:59 – Challenges...

Omar Prias is an electrical engineer, professor at the National University of Colombia, and former president of the Colombian Energy and Gas Regulatory Commission (CREG). He has decades of experience in the energy sector working at the intersection between the academy, planning, and politics. This InterDialogue addresses the importance of decentralized energy technologies for sustainable development, the role of intercultural dialogue, national and global energy transition, and the possibilities of introducing advanced nuclear technologies, both new and projected, in non-nuclear countries such as Colombia. We begin by talking about the fundamental role of energy in all sectors of society. Timestamps 00:00 – Introduction 1:50 – Prias’s Background in Energy 7:57 – Industry and Energy Systems in Colombia 15:13 – Historical Development of the Energy Sector in Colombia; Energy and Conflict 22:06 – Geopolitics of Colombian Energy 26:32 – Hydroelectric Power in Colombia 44:40 – Intercultural Considerations and Energy Communities 53:15 – Intercultural Dialogue and Decision-Making 1:03:43 – Energy Transition in Colombia 1:13:41 – Nuclear Energy in Colombia 1:20:11 – Opening Spaces for Adopting New Technologies

In the context of risk management and in the face of environmental and economic challenges such as climate change, coastal erosion, water insecurity, and the accelerated loss of biodiversity, among others, the concept of Nature-based Solutions (NbS) has emerged. Over the past decade, this appealing concept has been consolidated as an integrative approach that seeks to address socio-environmental challenges through the sustainable management of socio-ecological systems.  The United Nations Environment Assembly defines NbS as “actions that protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems to effectively and adaptively address societal challenges, simultaneously providing benefits for human well-being and biodiversity.” In this way, NbS represents a paradigm shift from traditional solutions based exclusively on grey infrastructure, which are now insufficient in facing many large and complex contemporary challenges. The relevance of NbS resides in their capacity to generate multiple, synergistic benefits through ecosystem services and the strengthening of socio-ecological resilience. This approach recognizes the interdependence of nature and culture, and much of its success depends on how communities perceive and acknowledge the multiple benefits socio-ecological systems provide for human well-being. Therefore, NbS must emphasize the need for participatory, equitable, and inclusive processes to ensure their legitimacy and long-term sustainability. NbS encompass actions for the protection, restoration, and sustainable management of ecosystems. Although they offer multifunctional and cost-effective benefits, their implementation faces diverse challenges. Several international frameworks acknowledge NbS as priority strategies to confront climate change and biodiversity loss, promoting guidelines for their adoption at different scales. Among these frameworks are the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (1992), the Convention on Biological Diversity (1992), the Sendai Framework (2015–30), and the Paris Agreement (2015). However, it is not enough to only secure financing or display technical feasibility. It is also necessary to establish a coherent legal framework, generate open and...

Earth Observation technologies are becoming increasingly valuable for understanding our changing world. They are also critical for formulating policies to protect ecosystems and support local communities. The availability of imagery taken from satellites, airplanes, and drones offers opportunities to detect deforestation, glacier melting, crop productivity, hurricane alerts, ocean temperatures, and much more. These applications have become wide-spread and are commonly featured in the news and on social media; an informed public can now be acutely aware of the significant effects that humans have on the landscape. However, other processes of land use change are too complex to be detected and understood solely from space. For example, detecting rich minerals, tracking illicit land activities (e.g., coca farming), and monitoring water salinity. For these and other complex land changes, the imagery itself might not be enough to understand the processes shaping these changes in the landscape. New ways of addressing these are needed. About 26 years ago, Jacqueline Geoghegan and her co authors wrote a chapter in the book People and Pixels: Linking Remote Sensing and Social Science, titled “Socializing the Pixel and Pixelizing the Social in Land-Use and Land-Cover Change.” This chapter was a pioneering step forward in extracting more information from images and linking them with the social processes behind them. It helped me during my PhD studies and subsequent research to develop a strategy for connecting quantitative data from pixels with social mechanisms that impact land change. But how do these two approaches work together? The full Interdialogue with Paulo Murillo. The role of classification in traditional land use science relies on how effectively we can classify elements on the land surface. Classification is the most relevant task in remote sensing. We want to classify or differentiate between forests and agricultural fields or among diverse types of crops using...