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Grand Challenges

Harnessing the power of UC Davis to tackle the world’s wicked problems

About

Addressing our planet’s most complex issues requires new perspectives and visionary action. Grand Challenges goes beyond team science to holistically tackle wicked problems from every angle. We draw upon UC Davis’s enduring strengths, capacity for innovation and culture of collaboration — bringing together world-class researchers from all areas of study to address the Earth’s most daunting challenges.

Built from a foundation of grassroots work and prioritized by leaders across UC Davis, Grand Challenges cultivates and champions work to understand and positively impact the devastating effects of these challenges. The work done by our campus community will serve as a model for the global community and enable our world to move forward with equity and resilience.

Challenges

Climate Crisis

Emerging Health Threat

Re-Imagining the Land Grant University

Sustainable Food Systems

As additional challenges are considered for future launch, nominations and suggestions are welcome. As you think about your ideas, please keep the following criteria in mind.

Criteria for Challenge selection:

Must focus on a challenge that the campus community would recognize as a wicked problem
Capitalizes on innate strengths of our campus, UCD expertise and helps move the needle toward better solutions
Includes opportunities for transdisciplinary collaborations: Grand Challenges require inclusivity. All schools and colleges may have a role.

Some of the challenges currently under consideration are:

Broken Food Systems
Brain Health/Healthy Aging
Wellness
Sustainable Living in Extreme Environments

We continue to hear from our campus community to identify pressing challenge areas. If you believe there is a challenge area that meets the above criteria, we would like to hear from you! Also, if you have feedback or want to get involved in the Grand Challenges mission, please email us at grandchallenges@ucdavis.edu.

Solutions

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News

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CEPI teams with UC Davis to identify viruses most likely to emerge

November 19, 2022/in News/by Adam Jensen

CEPI, the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, and University of California, Davis have announced a new partnership agreement to advance and expand the application of “SpillOver,” a viral ranking app that directly compares the risks posed by hundreds of animal and human viruses. The database ranks hundreds of virus, host, and environmental risk factors to […]

Searching for the Next Deadly Virus, Before it Ignites Another Pandemic

November 4, 2022/in News/by Adam Jensen

Amazing work by the UC Davis One Health Institute to detect new viruses in global hotspots was recently featured on the CBS television news magazine 60 Minutes. Christine Kreuder Johnson, Co-Champion of the Grand Challenges Emerging Health Threats focus area, was among those interviewed about this critical effort. Click here to read more about Epi-Intelligence […]

Grand Challenges Champions: Collaboration Key to Solving Daunting Issues

October 6, 2022/in News/by Adam Jensen

A passion for connecting people and tackling the world’s wicked problems unites the UC Davis Grand Challenges Champions. Beth Rose Middleton Manning, Isabel Montañez, Christine Kreuder Johnson, and Justin Siegel spoke about their roles as challenge champions during a UC Davis Plugged In virtual event Sept. 28. Champions are people who have partnered with Grand […]

Get Involved

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