Conclusions on social scientific perspectives on health and environment

We look back at the contributions to this volume by focusing on the problemframing and problem-solving perspectives. A main critique of most contributors on the current state of the art of environment and health science is that important elements are not taken into account, thus resulting in a limited view on environment and health issues. First, we focus on how contributors want to broaden and deepen the health and environment science by taking into account complementary aspects of the complexity of environment and health issues. In achieving the objective of enriching the view on environment and health through this complementary social scientific lens, several obstacles are noticed. These obstacles arise from theoretical and social interpretations of the concepts of health and environment as well as from socio-political and economic aspects. From a problem-solving point of view, we highlight how contributors seek to overcome these obstacles and to what extent theoretical insights can be applied in practice. Finally, we reflect on the role of social science in relation to health and environment from the point of view of the contributors to this volume and discuss future research perspectives.