Collaboration between science, medicine, policymakers, and societies is essential for tackling major health emergencies and pandemics, highlights Brigitte Autran of Sorbonne Université and President of the French Committee for Monitoring and Anticipating Health Risks (COVARS).

Capacity, access, data quality, and ethical issues must be addressed for global adoption of genomic surveillance, highlight Dr Stephen A Morse of IHRC Inc, USA, and Dr Segaran P Pillai of the United States Department of Health and Human Services.

Frederico Guanais at the Health Division of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) explains why we need to leverage synergies across policy domains to promote both environmental sustainability and public health.

Giriraj Amarnath from the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), Sri Lanka, discusses policy considerations for secure, equitable digital Twin Earths that proactively build resilience to extreme weather events.

International climate change and human rights lawyer, Tessa Khan, and policy advisor, Brook Dambacher, are calling for a rapid and just transition away from oil, gas and coal.

Peggy Rodgers Kalas, environmental lawyer and ocean policy advisor, discusses the recently finalized High Seas Treaty to protect marine life in international waters – and what is required to implement it.

Aleksandra Posarac, former World Bank economist, discusses the slow adoption of the WHO concept of 'human functioning' into medical care and how this could be overcome through its inclusion into disability assessment.  

Prof Rees Kassen, evolutionary biologist at the University of Ottawa and working at the interface between science, society, and policy, considers how evolutionary medicine can overcome a conservative research ecosystem – and so enter into standard healthcare practices and policy development. 

Prof Julian Kinderlerer of the University of Cape Town explores ethical and legal issues around the use of brain organoids that may develop cognitive properties, such as human dignity and rights of both donors and organoids.