Thursday, April 22nd from 13:00—14:00 (GMT+2)
This webinar will take place online.
Register in advance: https://maties.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oUK3VAuATtqODzYvZ1-CFw
Join us for a Webinar in our CST series of Webinars
Recognising Complexity: Practical implications for sustainability research and practice
Acknowledging the complex and adaptive nature of living systems, sustainability research calls for a more integrated approach for studying and engaging with the intertwined nature of human–environment relations. Complex adaptive systems thinking provides a way of bridging the study of social and biophysical sciences to understand the features of these phenomena, the interlinked patterns that emerge and the novelty that is created as a result.
In this talk we will share some principles for recognising the features of complex systems and discuss how these principles can assist us in engaging with sustainability challenges in practical ways.
Discussants: Rika Preiser (CST)
This webinar will take place online.
Register in advance for this webinar:
https://maties.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_oUK3VAuATtqODzYvZ1-CFw
Dr Rika Preiser is a Senior Researcher at the CST, Stellenbosch University. Her research explores the philosophical and conceptual development of the features and dynamics that characterise complex adaptive systems and how complexity thinking can inform novel ways of inquiry in participatory and qualitative research methods. Her research draws on more than 10 years of applying complexity concepts to various fields of study. Her contribution lies in translating what the concepts mean or imply in various disciplines and domains of application. Studying and understanding the multi-scale, interconnected and continuously evolving complex systems that characterise contemporary societies—such as the economy, food supply, cities, the power grid, technological innovation, to name a few—demands in-depth understanding of the mechanisms and processes of how change and transformation occur and can be navigated within these systems.
More recently her research is focussed on understanding the interconnected nature of social-ecological systems and the challenges they pose for creating more sustainable futures at the science-society interface. She is co-editor of the new Handbook: A Guide to Navigating Methods for Studying Social-Ecological Systems (Routledge 2021). This volume represents the first serious effort to introduce complexity-based research methods for studying social-ecological systems.