Environmental issues encompass huge problems that require 'interdisciplinary' (ID) science and management, yet approaches to ID work are few and there are many barriers (e.g. institutional structures) to progress.

With much discussion about the need for ID thinking to improve understanding and management of the global environment, the aim of the 6th ICEF, held in July 2011, was to comprehensively debate what is involved in this and explore what it might entail in future.

Addressing ID people and those with some experience in ID, the aims of the 6th ICEF were to:

• Build on key subject reviews published in the journal Environmental Conservation
• Involve formal oral and poster presentations and workshops
• Provide opportunities for environmental management professionals to grasp the latest developments.

Approximately 100 invited experts delivered papers and formed the core group of discussants in the workshops addressing each of the 20 subjects.

A broad exchange of knowledge and advancement of the scientific underpinnings of ID research and policy were the major conference goals. Specific objectives included exploration of different views of ID thinking, examination of selected case studies in scientific research and environmental management to identify obstacles and solutions and rationales for them, and help project these forward into future environmental science and planning.

Specific outcomes were the pre-meeting peer-reviewed papers (published in Environmental Conservation), a book to be published after the meeting, networking of key workers in the field from around the world and increased understanding of what ID approaches exist and how they may be applied to science and management in different settings in the future.

Contact the Editor:

Professor N V C Polunin

School of Marine Science & Technology

Ridley Building, University of Newcastle

Newcastle upon Tyne, NE1 7RU

UK

Tel: +44 (0) 191 222 6675

Fax: +44 (0) 191 222 7891

Email: Prof. N V C Polunin