title: Introduction-Grand Challenges and small steps.
abstract: This collection addresses two different audiences: 1) historians and philosophers of the life sciences reflecting on collaborations across disciplines, especially as regards defining and addressing Grand Challenges; 2) researchers and other stakeholders involved in cross-disciplinary collaborations aimed at tackling Grand Challenges in the life and medical sciences. The essays collected here offer ideas and resources both for the study and for the practice of goal-driven cross-disciplinary research in the life and medical sciences. We organise this introduction in three sections. The first section provides some background and context. The second motivates our take on this topic and then outlines the central ideas of each paper. The third section highlights the specificity and significance of this approach by considering: a) how this collection departs from existing literature on inter- and trans-disciplinarity, b) what is characteristic about this approach, and c) what role this suggests for the history and philosophy of the life sciences in addressing Grand Challenges.
authors.affiliation: Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, NTNU Dragvoll, 7491 Trondheim, Norway. Electronic address: giovanni.de.grandis@ntnu.no.
authors.forename: Giovanni
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: De Grandis
authors.affiliation: Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Department of Philosophy and Religious Studies, NTNU Dragvoll, 7491 Trondheim, Norway. Electronic address: sophia.efstathiou@ntnu.no.
authors.forename: Sophia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Efstathiou
mesh_terms: D001690:Biological Science Disciplines; D033183:Interdisciplinary Communication
keywords: Constructive modesty; Grand Challenges; Interdisciplinary integration; Philosophy of science in practice; Transdisciplinarity; Translational research