Research frontiers in the twenty-first century

Toby Seddon

Chapter 26 in Research Handbook on Drugs and Society, 2026, pp 331-338 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: What are the big questions for the twenty-first century? Where will the transformative breakthroughs in knowledge happen? This chapter explores four potential research frontiers. First is radically extending work that travels across conventional disciplinary boundaries, not only across the social sciences but also connecting with the natural sciences. Second is the deployment of decolonial approaches that move beyond Western-centric thinking and ways of knowing. The chapter argues that this will provide us with far wider, richer and more insightful understandings of drugs and society. Third is connecting the drug field with environmental politics, that is, thinking about drugs in ways that recognise that we now live in the Anthropocene epoch. Fourth is exploring the implications of artificial intelligence as a technology that looks set to transform human societies more broadly. What might this mean for drugs? The chapter ends with the claim that the Handbook provides a useful guidebook for this future journey of exploration.

Keywords: Research agenda; Interdisciplinarity; Decolonising; Anthropocene; Climate crisis; Artificial intelligence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2026
ISBN: 9781802209136
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