Systems Thinking in Practice news

Professor Andy Lane retires from The Open University at the end of February 2022 after nearly 40 years of service.

Professor Ray Ison will present the last in our series of webinar events celebrating 50 years of systems thinking teaching at OU, scheduled for 7^th December at 12 noon (UK time).  This final event will be presented as the 4^th John Beishon Memorial Lecture. John Beishon (1930-2001) was the first Professor of Systems at the Open University.  Ray’s talk is entitled In search of ‘Aha moments’ Fifty years of systemic co-designing for transformative learning with STiP. 

Julian Corner will present a webinar on Systems thinking and social justice   scheduled for 9^th November at 12 noon (UK time).  Julian looks at applying STiP to repurpose his own organisation and how best to build STiP in pursuit of social justice. Julian’s talk will be introduced by Professor Ray ison with support from Barbara Schmidt-Abbey from the Applied Systems Thinking in Practice (ASTiP) group at the OU.

Gene Bellinger will present a webinar on Systems thinking: trial and learning  scheduled for 12th October at 12 noon (UK time).  Gene’s talk will be introduced by Dr Rupesh Shah from the Applied Systems Thinking in Practice (ASTiP) group at the OU.

Please register through the Eventbrite link.

Tyson Yunkaporta is an Australian Indigenous thinker, author of Sand Talk and founder of the Indigenous Knowledge Systems Lab. His work involves applying an Indigenous complexity lens to the hidden and not-so-hidden drivers of global systemic crises and seeking regenerative solutions.

Dr Sharon Pollard - Executive Director of the Association for Water and Rural Development (AWARD) based in South Africa -  will present a webinar for our fourth event scheduled for 27th July at 12 noon (UK time).  Sharon’s talk will be on Systemic praxis for water governance: Unnecessary divergence or essential framing?  Sharon will be introduced by Professor Ray Ison from the Applied Systems Thinking in Practice (ASTiP) group at the OU. 

Professor Mike Jackson from Hull will present a webinar for our third event scheduled for 22^nd June at 12 noon (UK time).  Mike’s talk will be on Critical Systems Thinking and Practice: What has been done and what needs doing.  Mike will be introduced by Dr Magnus Ramage from the Applied Systems Thinking in Practice (ASTiP) group at the OU.

We welcome Dr Glenda Eoyang from Minnesota - Founding Director of the Human Systems Dynamics Institute -  at this second event to deliver a presentation on “Scale-free dissemination: local behaviours to systemic results". 

2021 is the jubilee year of Systems Thinking in Practice (STiP) at The Open University (OU).

We welcome Dr Andrew Mitchell from De Montfort University at this premier event to deliver a presentation on “Second-order perspectives on learning and practice under complex conditions”. 

In the wake of the pandemic, confronted by human-induced climate change and exposure to wide-ranging vulnerabilities within our societies, many commentators call for investment in thinking and acting differently, particularly with Systems Thinking in Practice, or STiP.

The Open University (OU, based in the UK) is well-placed to respond to this imperative of our times because it has been one of the significant investors in STiP education over the last 50 years.