Despite the increased attention, which has been given to the issue of involving knowledge and experts from the social sciences and humanities (SSH) into the products and works of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES), little is known on what the expectations towards the involvement of SSH in IPBES actually are. The aim of this paper is to close this gap by identifying the range of possible SSH contributions to IPBES that are expected in the literature, and discuss the inherent challenges of and concrete ways to realize these contributions in the particular institutional setting of IPBES. We address these two points by: , assessing the literature dealing with IPBES and building a typology describing the main ways in which contributions from SSH to IPBES have been conceived between 2006 and 2017. We discuss these expected contributions in light of broader debates on the role of SSH in nature conservation and analyse some of the blind spots and selectivities in the perception of how SSH could substantially contribute to the works of IPBES. Then, , by looking at one particular example, economics and its use in the first thematic assessment on pollinators, pollination and food production, we will concretely illustrate how works in a given discipline could contribute in many different and unprecedented ways to the works of IPBES and help identify paths for enhancing the conservation of biodiversity. , we propose a range of practical recommendations as to how to increase the contribution of SSH in the works of IPBES.

More than 30 years after the first discovery of the deadly HIV virus, and in the wake of increased knowledge of transmission, treatment and behavioral intervention development, parents are still faced with the difficult task of whether, when and how to inform their child about her or his HIV status. Except for some general ethical considerations, there are no national or international guidelines available for handling HIV status disclosure to a child by parents and health professionals. Most studies on disclosure address the problem of stigma and the barriers to disclosure of HIV-positive status by adults to their sexual partners, caretakers, families and communities, but very few studies focus on disclosure to HIV-positive children. The majority of the studies that address disclosure to children limit themselves to stipulating reasons for barriers to such disclosure instead of the skills and knowledge necessary for effective disclosure to a child. Increasing availability of therapy for HIV across the world presses the issue of disclosure to the child. Even so, disclosure for children who are HIV-positive due to vertical transmission continues to be very difficult. There is a lack of interventions that consider guidelines for healthcare professionals, parents or persons involved with taking care of HIV-positive children. These interventions should be designed in an understanding manner towards the culture where they might be implemented and be as appropriate in the view of integrating different family structures and the child's development.

Food systems affect and are affected by the interrelated crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, resource depletion and health, amongst others. Transforming to sustainable approaches is vital, yet entangled with uncertainties, complexity and a great value diversion with stakeholders. Deliberative processes such as citizen assemblies offer a valuable contribution to such a transformation, since the crises and their responses affect everyday life, and therefore inviting individual and collective action. Still, who is included and whose knowledge counts affects outcomes. Theoretically anchored in concepts of environmental justice, our study analyses three nation-wide citizens' assemblies on climate change and food systems from Western Europe. It assesses (a) how citizens' assemblies can incorporate a broad set of viewpoints and design more substantive political answers to current crises, and (b) whether citizens' assemblies include environmental justice aspects to facilitate social change. The paper argues that systematic and methodologically reflected inclusion of various positionalities can inspire decision-making processes in that they incorporate procedural, recognition, and distributional justice to address problems of climate change or modern food systems. It concludes with offering further approaches to include more than scientific knowledge in deliberative processes for a just transformation towards sustainability.