Two major challenges facing human civilization today are the maintenance and enhancement of curative and preventative treatments for infectious disease and cancer, and adequate provision of safe and nutritious food. A rising global population, increasing urbanization, and climate change challenge the sustainability of both endeavors. However, on top of that, the evolution of resistance and tolerance increasingly threaten the control pathogens and pests: where we thought we were close to the eradication of all infectious diseases “60 years ago, drug- resistant pathogens are one of the key public health challenges today. Drug resistance is an evolutionary problem at the heart. We aim to identify common ecological and evolutionary principles that underpin the selection and spread of drug resistance. These principles will be considered with a view to the design and testing of resistance management principles with broad application in agricultural and healthcare settings.