Project: International visiting professor of Systems Thinking for Sustainability
This project features a two-year position as visiting professor of systems thinking for sustainability. It aims at having an effect on environmental and social issues that matter for people’s lives.
Illustration: The process of marginalization illustrated by primary and secondary boundaries giving raise to peaks of ethics and hence expression in rituals which lead to conflict between ethics, values and boundaries.
Project information
Project manager
Anita Mirijamdotter
Other project members
Gerald Midgley, Arianit Kurti and Sadaf Salavati, Linnaeus University
Participating organizations
Linnaeus University; University of Hull, UK
Financier
The Knowledge Foundation (KK-stiftelsen)
Timetable
1 Sept 2020–31 Aug 2022
Subject
Informatics (Department of Informatics, Faculty of Technology)
More about the project
Systems thinking is a powerful approach that enables us to see, understand and navigate complexity, including challenges and opportunities in the socio-political and natural ecosystems that decisions makers are confronted with, and in which our businesses and organisations operate. The approach has a long history, starting in the 1950s.
The growth in the number of publications using this keyword has been exponential since the late 1980s. The UN, WHO and OECD have all recently backed systems thinking, and there are now more calls in the UK for research proposals asking for a systems approach than one research group can possibly handle. Also, "systems thinking practitioner" has recently been recognised by the UK government as a profession, which means that apprenticeships can be funded through the UK national taxation system.
Therefore, this project is an opportunity to promote systems thinking in relation to addressing the global goals and develop this expertise further in Sweden, at Linnaeus University. Professor Gerald Midgley has extensive experience in working internationally in academia and in a variety of projects that involve business and organizations.
The activities in this project focuses mainly on research related to systems thinking for sustainability. The professor position of systems thinking for sustainability aims to have an effect on environmental and social issues that matter for people’s lives. The project includes seminars, lectures and interaction which raise awareness of sustainability issues, in relation to research topics, and discussions on how these issues can be dealt with. Additional activities in the project focus on future exchanges between our universities, i.e., University of Hull in the UK and Linnaeus University.
The project is part of the research in the Linnaeus University Systems Community (LNU-STC).