The health and well-being of humans, animals and plants, and a stable climate, are major concerns of our time. The functioning of all ecosystems on Earth depends critically on finely balanced interactions among microorganisms thriving in interconnected habitats like soil, water, and the human body. The balance of these microbiomes is constantly challenged by environmental and anthropogenic disturbances, leading to ecosystem degradation, severe crop losses, or disease. Current therapeutics often target symptoms rather than root causes, using disruptive agents like non-specific antibiotics that can worsen conditions. Although these issues are of utmost societal importance, there is a critical gap in our knowledge of the molecular factors that control microbiome dynamics.

A functioning society requires not only rules, procedures and institutions, but also shared ideas, narratives and images. The social practices of sharing these ideas, narratives and images constitute what we call ‘social imagining’. It involves the creation of communally distributed, intersubjectively recognised imaginaries that provide orientation and stability in everyday life.