The focus on knowledge tends to underestimate the social dimensions of the decision making process and conceptualises them as being separate from the production of ‘objective’ knowledge. Because—as social science research has shown—knowledge is inseparable from values, power and vested interests, they can only be dealt with together.

This Working Paper utilises Grint’s 2008 model of critical, tame and wicked problems to differentiate between the needs and uses for command, management and leadership approaches to the exercise of authority in working with them. The paper suggests that the increasing complexity of the problems leaders in all sectors of society are facing, together with...

The recent election in Australia demonstrated, yet again, the urgent need for research and debate to inform, inspire and challenge public policy. Improving our understanding of the great problems facing society is an ongoing imperative for academics.

Helen Hughes and Mark Hughes are to be commended for their latest foray into the vexing and difficult arena of Indigenous education in Australia. Any work that shines a spotlight on the appalling state of education outcomes for Indigenous Australians is to be welcomed.

The Transdisciplinary Research and Design Symposium aimed to take stock of the state of transdisciplinary practice across the various domains in which it appears most advanced, seeking to distil lessons and a working set of practice principles. The symposium ran for a day and a half. It involved a series of provocations and the active...