CGIAR tries FSR revamp

Part of the Global Effort to Tackle Poverty, Hunger and Environmental Degradation - the CGIAR

From March 3 to 6, the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture (IITA) in Ibadan, Nigeria, hosted the global systems research and development community at the International Conference on Integrated SystemsResearch for Sustainable Intensification in Smallholder Agriculture. Social and agricultural scientists participating in the conference stressed the importance of agricultural research to be done with a holistic systems perspective, and for better links between research on improvements in specific commodities and natural resources management.

One of the keynote's was  Dr. Bernard Hubert, President, Agropolis International, "Systems Thinking toward Institutional Innovation and Change" which was based on our joint work together over many years.

I only hope the CGIAR goes down a different pathway to that pursued the last time they engaged with FSR (farming systems research).

 

John Hewson - an Australian champion

Those who know anything about Australia will despair at the current government's climate change and post-carbon society policies - in fact it has none of the latter as argued forcefully today by Ian Dunlop.

I am immensely impressed with the leadership that John Hewson continues to provide in this space both nationally and globally - especially w.r.t to carbon divestment.  Those organisations joining this global movement are to be commended as they embody what is both systemically desirable and morally responsible.  The following letter from John via GetUp summarises the arguments:

Dear Ray

Yesterday, there was some deeply disappointing news concerning our fight for a strong renewable energy powered future.

The renewable energy industry -- brow beaten after years of intense lobbying from the big 3 dirty power companies and a vicious offensive from the Coalition, struggling with significant job losses and decline in investment -- caved and reluctantly accepted a huge cut to the Renewable Energy Target (RET). They did this to save their industry, which is under attack. The outcome of this deal would be far from ideal, but our government wants a fate for the industry that is even worse. The death of the renewables industry, and the (short term) rise of the dirty 3: Origin, AGL and Energy Australia.

As a former leader of the Liberal Party I've seen first hand the undue influence big corporations can have over politicians and public policy. It's time to shift the balance away from the big energy companies and their dirty and expensive power habits to Australian consumers who want cheaper and cleaner power.

The dirty 3 companies are the main reason the Abbott Government is squibbing on its clear election promise to keep the RET at 41,000GWH. All three are complete hypocrites. They claim to support renewable energy while walking the corridors of power, lobbying to undermine it.

And, unlike renewable energy backed companies, they've been getting away with screwing households on their electricity bills by hitting customers with almost obscene profit margins as energy retailers too.

We don't need government legislation to break the strangle hold these big power companies have on our household energy, or our own clean energy futures. The dirty energy companies might want to protect their huge investments in coal, gas and coal seam gas, but we can -- right now -- stop them in their tracks.

How?

Join me in sending a powerful message to politicians and the dirty power companies that Australians want renewable energy and we're prepared to vote with our feet to get it. Switch your home or business power, it takes less than 5 minutes and you'll be joining the greenest power company in Australia: click here to switch now

It's the one thing they will not be counting on, and right now it's the very best thing that you can do if you support renewable energy, our clean energy future and the job creation and investment it brings.

Yesterday's outcome is indisputably bad for all of us; for future investment in large scale renewable energy projects and job creation, for our clean energy future and for our power prices.

How did we even get to the point where even the industry that fought so hard for the RET is now accepting a drastically watered down stake in their own future success? You can point the finger squarely at the influence big companies like AGL, Energy Australia and Origin have on public policy, companies with a vested interest in bolstering the status quo of fossil fuel dominance and who have ensured the Coalition break their pre-election promise not to cut the Renewable Energy Target. ^[1]

These companies only really care about one thing - and that's their profits. So let's hit them where it hurts and switch to a company that supports clean energy and is backed by 100 percent renewable power.

Will you join me and thousands of GetUp members switching their energy supplier, and showing your support for clean energy? Click here: it takes just five minutes online to switch off the dirty 3 energy companies.

Sincerely,
John Hewson AM.

PS Want to know more about the campaign or about Powershop? click here to find out more.

[1] "Tony Abbott launching a full frontal attack on the Renewable Energy Industry", Guardian Australia, February 6th 2014

Water issues everywhere

From the good - the Stockholm Water Prize - where the judges say: 

"Today's water problems cannot be solved by science or technology alone. They are human problems of governance, policy, leadership, and social resilience. "Rajendra Singh's life work has been in building social capacity to solve local water problems through participatory action, empowerment of women, linking indigenous know-how with modern scientific and technical approaches and upending traditional patterns of development and resource use."

This award is heartening for those of us who have worked in this field for many years.

To the momentously challenging - where California Governor Brown orders California's first mandatory water restrictions: 'It's a different world'.

In California the profound systemic consequences of human induced climate change are becoming more obvious by the day - with growing evidence of how traditional livelihoods will be threatened.

Concern about DEFRA's policy effectiveness

A recent posting highlights concerns about the effectiveness of DEFRA, a small ministry by UK standards, in effecting policy internally as well as externally, especially in Europe.

"MPs are concerned that the hollowing out of Defra has left the core Department less effective in persuading decision-makers in other government departments and Brussels to follow its agenda. Firm Ministerial leadership and sufficient in-house expertise is needed at the heart of Defra to ensure it can deliver its priorities effectively."

Some new publications

The following papers have recently appeared or been accepted for publication.

Armitage, D., de Loë, R., Edwards, T., Gerlak, A., Hall, R., Huitema, D., Ison, R., Livingstone, D., MacDonald, G., Mirumachi, N., Morris, M., Plummer, R.,  B. Wolfe (2015) Science-policy processes fortransboundary water governance Ambio (in press).

ABSTRACT: In this policy perspective, we outline several conditions to support effective science-policy interaction, with a particular emphasis on improving water governance in transboundary basins. Key conditions include (1) recognizing that science is a crucial but bounded input into water resource decision-making processes; (2) establishing conditions for collaboration and shared commitment among actors; (3) understanding that social or group-learning processes linked to science-policy interaction are enhanced through greater collaboration; (4) accepting that the collaborative production of knowledge about hydrological issues and associated socioeconomic change and institutional responses is essential to build legitimate decision-making processes; and (5) engaging boundary organizations and informal networks of scientists, policy makers, and civil society. We elaborate on these conditions with a diverse set of international examples drawn from a synthesis of our collective experiences in assessing the opportunities and constraints (including the role of power relations) related to governance for water in transboundary settings. 

Wallis, P., Iaquinto, B., Ison, R.L., Wrigley, R. (2014) Governing irrigation renewal in rural Australia, International Journal of Water Governance 4, 19-36.  

See: http://www.internationalwatergovernance.com/contents-ijwg-04-2014/190-doi-10756414-ijwg41.html  

Ison, R.L., Allan, C., Collins, K.B. (2015) Reframing water governance praxis: does reflection on metaphors have a role? Environment & Planning C: Government and Policy (in press)

See: http://www.envplan.com/contents.cgi?journal=C&volume=forthcoming  

Ison, R.L., Collins, K.B.,  Wallis, P. (2014) Institutionalising social learning: Towards systemic and adaptive governance, Environmental Science and Policy DOI: 10.1016/j.envsci.2014.11.002 

See: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1462901114002093 

ABSTRACT This paper critically examines how public policy makers limit policy and other institutional design choices by a failure to appreciate (i) how situations may be characterised or framed; (ii) how practices that generate neologisms (invented terms or concepts) or reify (make into a thing) abstract concepts can displace understandings, and (iii) the epistemological bases of governance mechanism choices. An inquiry into the coining of the neologisms ‘wicked’ and ‘tame’ problems is reported and the implications for research and policy practice explored. As practices, neologising, reifying, categorising and typologising have unintended consequences – they remove us from the primary experiences and underlying emotions that provided the motivation for formulating these concepts in the first place. The failure to institutionalise the understandings and experiences that sit behind the invention of the terms ‘wicked’ and ‘tame’ problems (or similar framing choices such as ‘problematique’, ‘messes’, ‘lowland real-life swamps’, ‘resource dilemmas’ or ‘complex adaptive systems’) present systemic constraints to institutionalising social learning as an alternative yet complementary governance mechanism within an overall systemic and adaptive governance framework. Ultimately situations usefully framed as ‘wicked’,’ such as water managing and climate change are problems of relationship – of human beings with the biosphere. Re-framings, such as institutions as social technologies and other research and praxis traditions concerned with the breakdown of relationships may offer ways forward in the purposeful designing and crafting of more effective institutions.

Resurgence in Systems-related events

Courtesy of Systems Thinking World:

If you have an event you think should be listed here let me know at systemswiki@gmail.com.

And yes, these evens are all listed in the new Systems Thinking World Resources.
* Climate Leader Systems Thinking Training, Online, http://bit.ly/stw-213
* Strategic Thinking & Leanding, Free Online, Apr 4, http://bit.ly/stw-234
* SCiO Open Event & AGM, Manchester, Apr 20, http://goo.gl/xE9UjQ
* Assoc for Strategic Planning (ASP) Conf, Washington DC, May 6-8, http://bit.ly/stw-228
* DynamiQueST, Worcester, MA, May 29, http://clexchange.org/
* ISIS Summit, Vienna, Jun 3-7, http://bit.ly/stw-210
* Socio-Techical Perspectives in IS Workshop, Stockholm, Jun 9, http://bit.ly/stw-214
* In2:InThinking Network 2015Forum, Los Angeles, CA, June 10-14, http://bit.ly/stw-230
* SCiO Open Event w/ Barry Oshry, London, Jun 15, http://goo.gl/3Cea7J
* Research Committe on Sociocybernetics, Zargoza, Spain, Jun 29, http://bit.ly/stw-227
* SDS Conference, Reinventing Life on a Shrinking Earth, Boston, Jul 19-23, http://bit.ly/stw-187
* ISSS Conference, Governing the Anthropocene, Berlin, Aug 2-7, http://bit.ly/stw-186
* Relating Systems Thinking & Design, Alberta, CA, Sep 1-3, http://bit.ly/stw-235
* Conference on Complex Systems, Tempe, AZ, Sep 28 - Oct 2, http://www.ccs2015.org/
* Systems Thinking in Action Conference, Washington DC, Oct 20-25, http://bit.ly/stw-211

There is also a Master Class in Change for Sustainability May 6-8 in Stockhom - see  http://sustainabilitytransformation.com/mcmay2015/

The ASC will have a one day event embedded in the ISSS conference on Wednesday 5th August, Berlin.

Announcement - PhD Course Systems Thinking and Practice in PhD Research:

 Announcement - PhD Course

Systems Thinking and Practice in PhD Research:

Cybersystemic Possibilities for Governing the Anthropocene

30 July – 7 August 2015, Germany

Comprising

• Two days of participation in a Systemic Inquiry in Hannover (Herrenhausen) on “Governing the Anthropocene: Cybersystemic Possibilities?
• Two days of dedicated ‘workshops’ introducing different systems approaches, methods and research traditions at Humboldt University in Berlin
• Five days of participation in the 2015 ISSS Conference in Berlin, including a group generated presentation on the final day
• 5 ECTS - points

Objectives

Working strategically to negotiate boundaries for research in a meaningful way in the areas of contemporary concern e.g. sustainability; development; health; farming, food, rural areas and environment/biodiversity, to name but a few, requires particular skills and abilities: It is necessary to be able to make relevant connections and to contextualize research activities without becoming overwhelmed by potential complexity and uncertainty. The context of the increasingly multifaceted complexity of issues of sustainability and climate change in relation to most contemporary issues is particularly challenging for PhD research. It is a context that is however a core part of the ISSS community’s experience. The purpose of this course is to help you, the PhD student, develop your skills in contextualizing your research, to make connections among issues using systems, cybernetic and complexity thinking and to so improve your ability to work both strategically and purposefully. The course is also designed to help you build on what other researchers have done.

Through joining this course you can expect to:

• gain an overview of the intellectual traditions of Cyber-systemic Thinking Approaches,
• make links to the history of ISSS and other organized bodies concerned with cybersystemic research and scholarship,
• strengthen your research through developing understanding of cybersystemic theories and methodologies
• have an opportunity to reflect on strengths and weaknesses of different systems approaches and methodologies in relation to your own PhD research
• get added value from your participation in the Herrenhausen Systemic Inquiry and the Berlin ISSS Conference by also becoming part of a parallel critical learning systems community that has a PhD research focus
• critically review potential contributions of your research to help meet global challenges
• develop appreciation of multiple perspectives on contemporary issues
• work across multiple disciplines, build networks and establish new relationships supportive of your research and scholarship

Process

The course will be held in connection to the 2015 ISSS Conference in Berlin and the Herrenhausen ”Governing the Anthropocene” systemic inquiry (sponsored by the Volkswagen (VW) Foundation at the Herrenhausen Palace in Hannover – see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herrenhausen ) and draw on the gathering of specialists and researchers within this field. The design draws on tried and tested ways of experiential learning and the expertise of academics who have been designing learning experiences for mature age learners for many years. The course will be grounded in a project of your own choice, preferably based on your PhD work. In your time in the program, if accepted, you will participate in an inquiry with three main parts - before, during and after the conference. It will also involve some preparation and submission of a final reflection.

1. Before the course, you will be asked to complete an assignment in which you describe and reflect on either (i) your understanding and use of systems/cybernetic theories in your project; or (ii) the rationale you have followed, or would follow, in making a choice to include, or not, systems/cybernetic theories in your PhD research; this will require an on-line submission prior to your arrival.

2. The course will start with participation in a purposefully designed ‘systemic inquiry’ exploring the question: Governing the Anthropocene: cybersystemic possibilities” taking place on 30 - 31 July at Herrenhausen Hannover hosted by the VW Foundation. You will be engaged in active table-based inquiry with 150 invited participants keynote presenters and panels who will provide ‘evidence’ for your inquiry. As part of your participation you will be expected to help with report preparation from your inquiry group.

3. The second part of the course is a weekend workshop held on the campus of Humboldt University Berlin followed by the ISSS conference held at the Scandic Hotel, Berlin. This phase will start by exploring your own research context and needs and beginning a process of self-designing a ‘critical learning system’. You will be supported in the process by facilitators and other specialists who will provide inputs and resources and prepare you for the final phase of the course including mentorship that helps you plan your attendance at the most relevant sessions for you at the ISSS conference. It will also provide an opportunity for joint reflection and feedback as the conference progresses. The endpoint of this phase will be a presentation developed by the whole PhD group for the ISSS conference attendees during the final session.

4. After the conference (afternoon of 7 August), you and the other students will gather for half a day to recapitulate and work in groups, and complete the assignment that has been agreed, on possible improvements of your own PhD study design, or future research trajectory, linking it to cybersystemic thinking and practice. 

 Background and resources

This PhD course will benefit strongly from the fact that many outstanding researchers within the systems, cybernetics and complexity science approaches will be gathered at the ISSS Conference. Contributions specifically to this course will come from experienced researchers who have been a part of the ISSS and related community for many years. They will include lectures and/or workshops that

• introduce systems and cybernetic (hence cybersystemic) theories;
• consider different cybersystemic approaches and methodologies suitable for researching issues of contemporary concern grounded in the participant’s own research interests:
• bridge the different cybersystemic approaches – soft, hard, critical, viable, first-order, second-order etc.
• explore how to deal with handling of complexity and the role that modeling can play
• critically review focuses on action, learning and reflexivity
• explicate social learning and learning systems approaches
• explore the relationship between cybersystemic approaches and transdisciplinary research

THINK PROCESS: apply and submit verification to Humboldt; WAIT for confirmation, then REGISTER for ISSS STUDENT registration as per diagram below.

Key literature

Blackmore, Chris (Ed.) (2010) Social Learning Systems and Communities of Practice. Springer: London. For online extracts see: http://www.springer.com/computer/information+systems+and+applications/book/978-1-84996-132-5

Ison, Ray (2010) Systems Practice: How to Act in a Climate-Change World. Springer: London. For online extracts see: http://www.springer.com/computer/information+systems+and+applications/book/978-1-84996-124-0

Ramage, Manus and Shipp, Karen (2009) Systems Thinkers. Springer: London.
For online extracts see:
http://www.springer.com/life+sciences/behavioural/book/978-1-84882-524-6

Reynolds, Martin and Holwell, Sue. Systems Approaches to Managing Change. Springer: London. For online extracts see: http://www.springer.com/computer/information+systems+and+applications/book/978-1-84882-808-7

 Course Assessment

To obtain the course certificate you will be required to:

• complete the assignments as outlined above
• participate in the lectures and group discussion.
• participate in one of the relevant working groups of the ISSS conference .
• after the conference, discuss improvements to your own PhD study, or future research trajectory design linking it to cybersystemic thinking and practice.

 Nomination process

Nominations are open to any current PhD students studying anywhere in the world. A maximum of 30 places exists. When nominating students must:

·         provide details of their current PhD enrolment

·         explain in no more than a paragraph why they would benefit from the course

·         affirm that they have the financial resources to participate and have, or can obtain a relevant visa

Once acceptance has been notified by Humboldt, then students must register using the student registration box on the ISSS conference website to complete the process of acceptance on this programme.

Nominees will be advised by the end of April 2015.

Please be assured that acceptance onto the programme will allow registration until May 15 at the stated early registration rate on the conference website – see https://www.regonline.com/Register/Checkin.aspx?EventID=1659296 .

Fees

The only direct fee is the student registration fee for the ISSS conference (EUR 375 before April 30 and EUR 450 after). For those accepted all expenses at Herrenhausen (Hannover), including European travel, will be paid by the organisers. All other travel, accommodation and living expenses will be the responsibility of the student.

Application for the Course

Wiebke Hampel WINS Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin Phone: +49-(0)30-2093-46382 Email : w.hampel@staff.hu-berlin.de

Course Team

Coordinators

Dr. Thomas Aenis, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany

Prof. Dr. Nadarajah Sriskandarajah, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences, Sweden

Prof. Dr. Dr. h.c. Konrad Hagedorn, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Germany 

Guest lecturers

Prof. Dr. Ray Ison, The Open University Applied Systems Thinking in Practice Group, UK and Monash University, Australia (current President of the International Society for Systems Sciences)

Dr Chris Blackmore, The Open University Applied Systems Thinking in Practice Group, UK.