(…with) Christine Blackmore

Ray Ison

Rupesh Shah

Elaine Wedlock

Date: 6TH April 2017

The role of systems thinking in the practice of

implementing sustainable development goals

Martin ReynoldsSenior Lecturer and Qualifications Co-DirectorApplied Systems Thinking in Practice (ASTiP) GroupThe Open University, UK

Plenary Presentation

WORLD SYMPOSIUM ON SUSTAINABILITY SCIENCE AND RESEARCH IMPLEMENTING THE 2030 UNITED NATIONS AGENDA

FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT

Manchester, United Kingdom, 5th-7th April 2017

“…[H]umanity remains on largely unsustainable development trajectories. Partly, this is due to the

failure of sustainability science to engage with the root causes of unsustainability […] We propose a

research agenda inspired by systems thinking that focuses on transformational ‘sustainability

interventions’” (Abson et al., 2017 p. 30).

A couple of influences…

• Learning cannot be designed…Learning happens, design or no design. And yet there are few more urgent tasks

than to design social infrastructures that foster learning. (Wenger, 1998 p225)

• I do not think it too much to hope that an understanding of systemic relations may bring us a better understanding of

our limitations and even our possibilities. (Vickers 1978, p.81)

Transforming to

sustainability through

cultivating capabilities

in systems thinking in

the practice of SDG

implementation

HopefulnessSustainability in turbulence?: Nexus Network Annual Conference

London 16th March

(Nexus between food – energy – water)

(Turbulence – famines in north Africa, Brexit, USA administration, etc.)

Keynote speaker: Archim Steiner (Director Oxford Martin College)

Resilient features (antidote to despair)

• Paris 2015 Climate agreement: ratified to limit warming to well below 2

degrees Celsius; alternative energy sources

• SDGs shift from MDGs

• inclusive in design: multiple partners

• inclusive in application: (High, Medium and Low Income Countries

• Integral in application …eg. SDG 17

Conference break-out session -skills and capabilities for transformative

transdisciplinarity - and workshop (17th March) - Transforming

Innovation: addressing nexus challenges with radical change….

Social sciences…science and technology studies (STS) tradition: resonance with

systems thinking in practice

• Post-truth or post-trust

• Nexus of practices

• (re) framing policy

• Policy and politics

• Experimentation

• Use of ‘laboratories’

• Creative spaces

• Autonomy

• Alternative political narratives

• Inextricable pathways

• Mixed methods…social learning

• Harmonising vs integrating

• Systemic failures/ systems change…

Systems thinking (in practice) and sustainability?Action research undertaken by the Applied Systems Thinking in Practice Group at OU

Overview

1. Transdisciplinarity?: systems thinking and sustainability science

2. Systemic sensibilities (re. competences, and capabilities) and sustainability

3. Systems thinking competencies (re. transformation to sustainability)

4. Developing ‘systems thinking in practice’ (STiP) capabilities

5. Developing STiP capabilities for implementing SDGs

“Systems thinking is too elusive, abstract, vague”. “Language is obscure”. “How do you put

it in practice?”

Systems thinking in practice provides a way of rendering real-world complex issues of sustainability into

conceptual constructs or ‘systems.’ These can be used to understand relationships better, and to bring multiple

perspectives together to design systemic interventions that create sustainable development.

Transdisciplinarity and interdisciplinarity?

Andy Stirling (SPRU Sussex) … distinction between ‘policy’ and ‘politics’

Natural

sciences

Sustainability

science as

Interdisciplinary

science

Humanities

Systems thinking in practice (STiP) as interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary traditions

informing other disciplines and practices influencing policy on sustainability

Social

sciencesSystems

science

Complexity

science

Two cultures dilemma

(C. P. Snow)Policy making

(sustainability)

Systems thinking

approaches as an

Interdisciplinary

tradition

Societal

agencies and

individuals

Systems thinking approaches as

a Transdisciplinary tradition

“What is missing … are the contexts for a systemic sensibility to flourish, to be recovered and/or

fostered.

Investment in systems literacy [competency] and then systems thinking in practice capability is

missing in education as well as organizational life.

The shift from sensibility to capability is needed if purposeful action is to be pursued with some

prospect of altering the current and anticipated human condition, our co-evolutionary trajectory with

the biophysical world, with other species, and with each other.

Nurturing systemic sensibilities – getting the bigger picture; fostering joined up thinking

(adapted from) Ison, R. and

Shelley, M., (2016). Governing in

the Anthropocene: Contributions

from Systems Thinking in

Practice? Systems Research and

Behavioral Science, 33(5),

pp.589-594.

This is the challenge of ‘Governing the

Anthropocene’ which, as a profoundly

existential crisis, is also the greatest

challenge for systems thinking in

practice…” (ibid p.589)

e.g.SDG 17 – “an integrated, holistic,

multistakeholder approach”

Teaching systems thinking competencies –postgraduate qualifications in STiP at the OU

Three core competencies in STiP

1. Understanding inter-relationships

2. Engaging with multiple perspectives

3. Reflecting on boundaries

OU STiP heuristic………………………..

Three key features of STiP core modules at Open University

• Epistemic understanding: disciplines as systems of interest

• Active pedagogy: practice systems thinking at workplace

• Design praxis : develop action plans as systems of interest

These attributes aim to complement rather than replace existing skill-sets amongst professionals from different sectors working in the field of sustainable development.

Three significant challenges in Higher Education that hinder systems thinking for sustainability

• entrenchment of existing disciplinary boundaries

• pedagogic traditions that fail to engage learners’ existing work experiences

• institutional assessment strategies based on summative as against more formative or developmental evaluation

From ‘competencies’ to ‘capabilities’ 2-year eSTEeM action research inquiry: OU Centre for STEM Pedagogy

Mind the Gap: exploring post-study experiences of STiP alumni at the workplace*

*Reynolds et al., (2016). Enhancing Systems Thinking in Practice at the Workplace: eSTEeM final report. The Open Universiity, UK

Some core capability challenges

1. ‘Traps’ …“Mind-forged manicles I hear” (Blake, 1794). Thinking about systems’ vs ‘systems thinking’

2. ‘Silent practice’ customising practices in working with colleagues ‘under the radar’

3. ‘Experimentation’ enabling safe-fail spaces as against prevailing fail-safe spaces

Coaching systems thinking in practice capabilitiesTwo emergent action research activities

Developing effective SDG implementing ‘partnerships’

Reynolds et al., (2017). The Role of systems thinking in the practice of implementing SDGs. WSSSR

Three capability challenges for supporting SDG implementation

1. Praxis support: translating systemic (holistic) awareness into good systematic (pluralistic) practice

2. Acknowledging (or not discounting) existing practices to build trust in cultivating harmonious adaptive practices amongst SDG partners – including planners, funders, decision makers, business, NGOs,

3. Working creatively with existing agendas, goals, targets fixed by prevailing institutions (norms andrules)

Two action research co-inquiry endeavours

1. Developing a STiP competency framework for better external recognition and legitimacy of skills needed for integrated/ harmonious SDG implementation (eSTEeM phase 2 inquiry)

2. Developing a ‘learning laboratory’ specific for supporting practitioners involved with implementation of SDGs. Research work with UNDP…

Learning laboratoriesSupporting capabilities for SDG implementation

• OU tradition: Third Mission (teaching + research +) work of The Open University as HE provider… ‘outreach’/ social and community development

• ASTiP tradition: academics working with practitioners in supporting health care, environmental management, local communities, indigenous community groups etc. in co-inquiry endeavours

• ASTiP ‘Learning labs’ provide interactive space, support (tools, methods, concepts, experiences), and facilitation in (re) framing public policy issues and devising action strategies for research, education, and decision making.

OU resources: Open Media Unit

1. FutureLearn MOOCs (massive open online courses): platforms for social learning (OU-lead consortium)

2. OpenLearn Create (Works) platform for designing interactive learning

UNDP and OU partnership

1. Meeting the challenge of SDG 17

2. Drawing on experience of systems thinking in practice and development policy and practice (DPP) practitioners

UNDP – OU MOOC-Plus initiative

Two components

1. MOOC - core: 4 week course (12 hours total) based on core principles of STiP competences

2. MOOC – wrap around: series of additional bespoke (closed) learning spaces enabling specific engagement amongst stakeholders

Learning laboratories with UNDP supportSystems thinking laboratory for SDG implementationTwo components

MOOC –Plus.

1. MOOC - core: 4 week course (12 hours total) based on core principles of STiP competences

2. MOOC – wrap around: series of additional bespoke (closed) learning spaces enabling specific engagement amongst stakeholders

Martin Reynolds, PhD

Senior Lecturer and Qualifications Co-Director

Systems Thinking in Practice

School of Engineering and Innovation

Applied Systems Thinking in Practice Group

The Open University

• There is no quick-fix to the challenge of integrating SDGs – the particular concern of SDG 17.

• Acknowledging the need for developing ‘an integrated, holistic, multi-stakeholder’ approach is an expression of systemic sensibility; an appreciation that implementing any one of the SDGs will have effects on other SDGs.

• Is it enough for higher education institutions to help develop systems thinking in practice (STiP) skills and competencies?

• Introducing and cultivating STiP competencies in (i) understanding inter-relationships, (ii) engaging with multiple perspectives, and (iii) reflecting on boundary judgements, are not in themselves guarantors for enabling capability.

• Transdisciplinarity requires more effective innovative spaces for praxis

Certificate, Diploma or Masters

in Systems Thinking in Practice

(for open resources on systems thinking in practice see)

Applied Systems Thinking in Practice (ASTiP) GroupSchool of Engineering and Innovation, The Open University