A lesson in Systems Thinking

The CONVERGE team is sitting at a large table in an old farmhouse in Skanor, southern Sweden. Peals of laughter fill the air aswell as serious challenges, the atmosphere is one of fun, learning and respect. We are face-to-face for the second time following the official start of the project this September to learn together about Systems thinking including how we can use causal loop diagrams to further our work.

With a keen eye on project sustainability, the location for the workshop, a large farmhouse owned by the University of Malmo, has the team kipping together in bunk rooms, cooking together and pooling our resources. This it turns out is far more fun, great for team building and far more efficient (from an ecological footprint perspective) then descending on a swanky hotel in Lund.

Hosted by a grinning Prof. Harald Sverdrup of the University of Lund, the 1.5 day session started by developing a common understanding of Sytems Thinking and its application in research for the team, following which we formed small groups and had a go at drawing some causal loop diagrams of our very own.

It was alot of fun (isn't learning always?) however this was a serious workshop for the team as developping a shared language around systems thinking, that cross-cuts our disciplines & cultural backgrounds is considered vital to the team for an effective collaboration.

The workshop will continue for the next couple of days, developping the project implementation plan, and working on interdisciplinary protocals aswell as putting together a framework for gathering case-studies. We are busy bees in the CONVERGE team!