SCiO UK Virtual Open Meeting – Monday 19 May, 18:30–21:00 (GMT+1)
Join us online for an evening of applied systems thinking, open to all and free to attend.
This session features two talks from experienced practitioners exploring how systems thinking shapes real-world organisational design and operations:
➡️ Steve Hales – Viable Service Management: Operations
A practical look at how organisations interface with users through different types of ‘repair’ (cybernetic) loops – from IT services and the NHS to car servicing. Steve explores how users are drawn into organisational processes and what that means for managing operational viability.
➡️ Tim Manning – Practical Application of Systems Thinking to Enterprise Design
Drawing on nearly 30 years of practice, Tim explores how systems thinking underpins effective enterprise design. He’ll share lessons from business architecture and Target Operating Model design – and how we can apply systems thinking more rigorously to build organisations fit for the future.
📅 Date: Monday, 19 May 2025
🕡 Time: 18:30–21:00 (UK time, GMT+1)
🔗 Register here: https://lnkd.in/g2xR_VtY
Hosted by SCiO – the professional body for systems practitioners.
Dulmini Perera, Jon Goodbun, Simon SADLER, ben sweeting, Leonie Link, Stefanie Huthöfer, Paola Ferrari, Florian Tudzierez. “Steps Around a Theory of Action: Notes on Seven Bateson conferences,” March 2025, Bauhaus University Weimar, https://lnkd.in/eve6TXR2
Gregory Bateson Cosmos contains a bonus link to Gregory Bateson’s “living systems test”shared online for the first time. See link: https://lnkd.in/eD3Hp7dE
Includes short texts on 1. The Dialectics of Liberation Congress: London 1967 2. Wenner-Gren Conference on the Effects of Conscious Purpose on Human Adaptation: Burg Wartenstein 1968 3. Wenner-Gren Conference on the Moral and Aesthetic Structure of Human Adaptation: Burg Wartenstein 1969 4. Conference on Human Distress and Rapid Social Change: Princeton 1969 5. Wenner-Gren Conference on Reconstructing the Ecology of a Great City: New York 1970 6. After Robert Moses, What? An Exploration of New Ways of Governing Cities and Institutions: Tarrytown Conference Center 1974 7. Lindisfarne Summer Conference on Conscious Evolution and the Evolution of Consciousness: Southampton, New York 1975
Many thanks to everyone who supported our project, the funding bodies DFG and AHRC and The Bateson Idea Group for allowing us to share Bateson’s living systems test in digital form.
“It is precisely by falling off the bike many times that you eventually learn what the balance feels like. The skater pushing both right and left eventually goes where he or she wants to go. People who have never allowed themselves to fall are actually off balance, while not realizing it at all. That is why they are so hard to live with. Please think about that for a while.” (Rohr, Richard, Falling Upward p.28)
‘Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns of change rather than static “snapshots.” ’
The Development and Initial Validation of the Paradigm of Systems Thinking Jason M. Randle, Mirella L. Stroink First published: 25 March 2018 https://doi.org/10.1002/sres.2508Citations: 32 Read the full text PDFTOOLS SHARE Abstract ‘Systems thinking is a discipline for seeing wholes. It is a framework for seeing interrelationships rather than things, for seeing patterns of change rather than static “snapshots.” ’
Creator of the Age of Transformation, a newsletter offering systems-thinking for the global phase-shift. Director, Unitas Futures Lab. Founder, System Shift Lab.
Superabundance is within reach. But ironically, the precondition to getting it is by giving it up. It sounds paradoxical, but this is actually the key to the next great leap in human evolution. I set this out with a rigorous scientific framework in my new paper on the Planetary Phase Shift.
20 Dec 2024 11 min read
Superabundance is Coming – but Only if Humanity Commits to Protecting the Planet Superabundance is within reach. But ironically, the precondition to getting it is by giving it up. It sounds paradoxical, but this is actually the key to the next great leap in human evolution. I set this out with a rigorous scientific framework in my new paper on the Planetary Phase Shift. 20 DEC 2024 11 MIN READ
Steering towards Agency and Resilience in the Age of Alien Intelligence and Instability.
Manchester Business School, Manchester, UK July 3rd – 5th 2025
Humans at risk? Steering towards Agency and Resilience in the Age of Alien Intelligence and Instability. Manchester Business School, Manchester, UK July 3rd – 5th 2025
If you are interested to learn more about Systems thinking I have co-written a book for the curious. It’s an informal book with great pictures that takes you on a walk around Zurich with me and John as we discuss some core principles of Systems Thinking. I tell real stories of examples and John gives the academic background to the points. Our hope is it will introduce a whole new audience to a powerful way of thinking.
https://lnkd.in/eGJquN9S
Here is the free full book as a PDF if you prefer electronic versions.
Carola, Michael and Matvei will look at management cybernetics as a general framework to successfully implement lean management in several industries (construction, mechanical engineering & healthcare). Numerous lean transformation projects fail or do not achieve the desired performance and/or viability that is necessary for a sustainable implementation of lean management. However, there are some factors that support the successful implementation of lean management in day-to-day business. In the opinion of the authors, these include management cybernetics and, in particular, Stafford Beer’s viable system model (VSM) as a structuring element. The paper was published in our journal and the link is below: https://doi.org/10.58695/ec.12
[Honestly, I can’t think of anyone else who has such a well-developed, complexity-aware, thoroughly researched and detailed analysis and prescription for a large and important part of the US (and by implication world) system. If you know of any, let me know!]
Monday Feb 24, 2025
In this episode of the Strong Towns Podcast, Chuck explores the flawed nature of North America’s current “housing bargain,” where most neighborhoods are allowed to stay exactly the same as long as some neighborhoods — usually those that are poorer and have less political clout — are forced to radically change. He proposes a new way forward that respects cities as living and evolving systems.
America Needs a New Housing Bargain. Here’s Why. Monday Feb 24, 2025
Timothy F.H. Allen, president of International Society for the Systems Sciences 2008-2009, passed away peacefully in his home, surrounded by his family, on May 1, 2025.
With his work on ecosystem ecology, I learned more about living systems than anyone else in the systems community. After his retirement, he was proud of putting together a reader, so that other could continue to learn.
Curtin, Charles G., and Timothy F. H. Allen, eds. 2018. Complex Ecology: Foundational Perspectives on Dynamic Approaches to Ecology and Conservation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. https://lnkd.in/gxj8NKDt .
More details on news forwarded by Tom Brandner is reposted at https://lnkd.in/gN7Csbv2
Calling everyone in Ireland with a stake in ensuring a Green Just Transition that leaves no one behind. Due to some last minute cancellations, we have a few spots available on this valuable engaged workshop on 8 May in Dublin and encourage your participation!
What will a Just Transition look like? How will we know when we get there?
SCiO Ireland and Eurofound, the EU Agency for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions, are hosting a workshop on 8 May 2025 on the critical challenge of the Green Just Transition – specifically the complex dilemma facing policymakers who must address climate change while ensuring: Fairness for vulnerable populations Equitable economic opportunities Sustainable development that leaves no one behind We believe that effective evaluation approaches are crucial to designing and executing a truly Just Transition. We are therefore developing An Irish Case Study with European relevance. The central question our project explores is: “If evaluators take the idea that no one should be left behind seriously, what would a just transition look like?” This experiential process workshop forms a key part of a wider project. We will engage in a hands-on interactive process of inquiry to access collective group wisdom to access fresh insights for policymakers in Ireland and across the EU. The methodology draws on systems thinking and Social Presencing Theatre, a methodology developed at MIT for embodied learning. This workshop will provide learning and insights that will feed into a paper to document the process and outcomes of this workshop: the abstract has been accepted for a Special Edition of the European journal “Evaluation”. Workshop Information
When: 8 May 2025 10.30am – 4pm Where: in the offices of Eurofound: Eurofound, Wyattville Road, Loughlinstown, Co. Dublin, D18 KP65, Ireland (Eurofound’s Conference Centre, downstairs, Meeting room CC2) How to get there: Map and transport information | European Foundation for the Improvement of Living and Working Conditions Format: Interactive systemic co-inquiry process Participants: 20-30 representatives from government, local authorities, employer organizations, trade unions, civil society, and subject matter experts Outcome: Insights that will directly inform our journal paper and provide valuable perspectives for evaluators, researchers, policymakers, and communities grappling with the challenges of the Green Just Transition. Participants in the process will gain insights from interaction with other perspectives and stakeholders. To register email: joanodonnell@systemspractice.org
[If, like me, you react with some distaste to the inherent concept in the title – well at least it say ‘brain’ not ‘mind’ – and in the podcast’s name – bear with… this is actually a very neat intro to Information Theory]
Published Apr 28, 2025, 3:01 PM
Description
We’re welcoming back Christopher Lynn, Assistant Professor of Physics at Yale University, to chat about how the brain works.
In this episode, Christopher discusses how statistical mechanics and information theory can help us gain a deeper understanding of brain function and consciousness.
Systems Community of Inquiry 
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