Action Research

The focus of the AR SIG at ISSS is on the application of action research approaches to Systems Sciences where Action Research is defined as “a participatory, democratic process concerned with developing practical knowing in the pursuit of worthwhile human purposes, grounded in a participatory worldview which we believe is emerging at this historical moment. It seeks to bring together action and reflection, theory and practice, in participation with others, in the pursuit of practical solutions of pressing concern to people and more generally the flourishing of individual persons and their communities”. (Reason and Bradbury 2008, p. 4).

Curating Emergence for Thrivability

By focusing on the dynamics of emergence at the interface of human, technological and ecological systems, the CET SIG explores conditions that enable the emergence of self-directed sustainable networks of socio-technical systems. What are the conditions that give rise to such systems of systems, and what are the requisit systemic leverage points and systemic nurturance spaces that allow them to blossom into thriving communities of impact? By considering issues of connective and collective intelligence and applying insights from the nascent field of collaborology, the CET SIG seeks to identify and nurture patterns of thrivability and to design the socio-technical platforms needed to support them.  Download the full CET Description (additional document to main)

Designing Systems Education

The vision of the Special Integration Group for Systems Education vision is to create mechanisms and opportunities to take systems theories, concepts and tools that are created by research experts out of the academic circles and make it available to EVERYONE in society, regardless of background or area of interest, into practice where it can make a difference to the lives of people and contribute to sustaining a thrive-able planet.

Environmental Studies (ENVS) Program

One of the primary focal points of research coming from ENVS is in bringing together social system and natural system scientists to solve contemporary environmental problems. The ISSS cordially invites you to submit papers that respond generally to the overall theme of the conference (Realizing Sustainable Futures in Socio-Ecological Systems: unity in diversity – humanity in technology) and to any of the exploratory ideas of this 60th ISSS Conference and Annual Meeting and 1st Policy.

Ethics and Systems

Ethics is similar to a two faced Janus; one face looks backwards and adjudicates our completed actions, utterances and thoughts and the other face predicts what we will do in the future. The face that looks towards the past is embedded in “history” a cultural or personal narrative. The face that is predictive in nature looks to what can be imagined. Both environments are contextual, the past a retrospective narrative, the future an imagined narrative. This SIG studies the ways that Systems Thinking informs Ethics, the ways that Ethics effects Systems Design and Intervention and the ways that Ethics can guide the Systems Practitioner.

Hierarchy Theory

Hierarchy Theory views systems as a set of ordered levels with a governing-governed relationship between the levels wherein the hierarchical levels are the sub-units of the whole system of interest. Further, the levels within the hierarchy are defined by the scale of observation chosen by the researcher (observer) and exploring this process of choice of scale is also of interest within the SIG.

Human Systems Inquiry

Systems thinking can be quite clean and predictive...until you include those messy elements we call...humans. This SIG is dedicated to analysis and synthesis of systems that take the human factor into perspective, including our unique motivations, secret agendas, relationships and opinions. We're interested in your papers and presentations that help provide understanding of or at least exposure to the complexity of humans in corporations, family units, nonprofits, government agencies and social structures.

Information Systems Design and Information Technology

Information systems have reduced human boundaries and perceptions by effective utilization of information. These systems are growing exponentially and their complexity, size and scale are increasing at an unprecedented rate. While many problems with regard to synthesizing, implementing and deploying these systems have been solved, there are still systemic and technical problems that needs to be addressed. The focus of this SIG is to understand the systemic foundations of information systems and address the technology, design and engineering issues arising in these systems.

ISSS RoundTable

Everyone is invited to the ISSS RoundTable. This year, we meet morning and evening and hear from both the US and India participants. Join us every day, or whenever you like. We spend 5 minutes listening to short readings and a participant-suggested topic. We then spend 50 minutes on individual reflections or learning reports, time distributed equally among all present (e.g. 25 people = about 2 minutes each). Our experience is “Just as we break the sound barrier when we travel faster than the speed of sound, we break the communication barrier when we hear 30 viewpoints in 60 minutes.”

Living Systems Analysis

The principle purpose of the living systems (LSA) group is to investigate all things that live from the very small, such as cell, to and including societies to discover universal phenomena applicable to living things and to develop a living science equivalent to “hard sciences” like physics and chemistry.

Organisational Transformation and Social Change

Systemic Change Is the challenge of the 21st century. What are however the successful practices facilitating systemic change in social systems, organisations and societies? The OTSC SIG is dedicated to explore the conditions of the possibilities for effective and sustainable change.

Research Towards General Systems Theories

General Theories Systems Theories (GSTs) are needed to unify the systems sciences under common frameworks of description, analysis and explanation, and open up new routes to systems-scientific innovation. Current GSTs are still nascent theories, and this SIG provides a venue for developing and discussing ideas, strategies, frameworks, opportunities and challenges relevant to research towards developing and applying GSTs.

Science, Spirituality and Systems Science

'Science' and 'Spirituality' are considered to be two opposing paradigms that cannot be resolved. Yet what exactly do these paradigms mean and what do they mean for you? Papers are requested that explore the relationship between science, systems science and spirituality, to inspire debate and discussion around the relationship between Science, Spirituality and Systems Science.

Service Systems Science

Services industries have become significant over the last few decades and are the largest sector of worldwide economy. With this economic dominance of services, products have become commodities and are unable to serve as differentiators. As a result, many product firms, that are mature, are looking at services in anticipation of growth in their respective businesses. Services being an intangible entity, it is difficult to control them as much as products. The focus of this Exploratory Group is to understand the systemic foundations of services and service systems and address the science, technology, design and engineering issues arising in them.

Socio-Ecological Systems

This SIG Socio-Ecological Systems intends to help advance a sound epistemology and methodology for socio-ecological systems design in conjunction with socio-technological systems design. At the interface of science – humanities – engineering/design we investigate the interdependencies of natural – social – technological systems to develop appropriate design competencies for future oriented life concepts and thrivable ecologies, a flourishing planet, meaningful technologies, and futurable humanity. Realizing Sustainable Futures, Unity in Diversity and Humanity in Technology, demand from us to find the ways and means to deal with the actual complex challenges we have co-created as human societies. Biologists, economists, engineers, architects, designers and philosophers are invited to start their conversation and collaboration.

Student

Students from approximately high school to post-doctoral age are cordially invited to join the fifth meeting of the Student SIG. We hope that you will consider contributing a paper and/or poster for presentation in our group discussions. However, simply participating in the group’s generative and creative dialogue is also appreciated and welcomed. The goals of the Student SIG include: to foster interest and excitement for the systems sciences among students; share and articulate ideas from many different disciplines; and to synthesize a collected “student” view of the Society’s past, present, and future.

Systemic Approaches to Conflict and Crises

Resilience and appropriate interventions to crises is a growing global need and a social responsibility regarding the seemingly growing number of disasters endangering a growing number of people and even our civilization. Lacking resilience in a crisis, without proper management, results in a disaster. Preparedness for crises must systemically consider all potential enforcing and diminishing factors. Actual interventions must perform under uncertainty, stress and time limits. Disasters are one-of-a-kind, but still we must look for similarities and powerful abstraction from the individual cases to allow scientific analysis and improved mitigation, aiming at an interdisciplinary ‘Strategic Crisis Science’.

Systems Applications in Business and Industry (SABI)

Integrated Business Excellence opens a new frontier beyond the success story of Total Quality Management, Lean, Six Sigma, Agile Project Management and others. The focus of the SABI SIG is on the systemic integrations of successful business practice in the 21st century and the age of digital transformation. This exploratory group aims to highlight the approaches and criticalities through which a systemic framework may assume a key role to reshape the foundations of the XXI century business science and practice towards a more sustainable and just economy.

Systems Philosophy

Systems Philosophy is the philosophical component of Systemology, the transdisciplinary field concerned with the scientific study of all kinds of systems. The central focus of Systems Philosophy is the search for a scientific worldview that could guide analysis and action in a complex systemic world, such we can attain the systemic values of justice, freedom, social welfare and environmental stewardship. This SIG provides a venue for developing and discussing ideas, strategies, frameworks, opportunities and challenges relevant to developing and applying effective systems philosophies.