The UNESCO Chair in Complex Systems and Transformative African Futures has been awarded to two Stellenbosch University (SU) researchers, Associate Professor Rika Preiser and Tanja Hichert, who are based at the Centre for Sustainability Transitions (CST).
The Chair, awarded for a four-year period (March 2022 to 2026), forms part of the global UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme. This programme involves a network of over 850 institutions in 117 countries, and promotes international inter-university cooperation and networking to enhance institutional capacities through knowledge-sharing and collaborative work.
The UNESCO Chair in Complex Systems and Transformative African Futures will draw on the expertise of the two co-chairholders to integrate in-depth knowledge of complex systems, combined with the conceptual and practical applications of futures studies. Preiser specialises in theories of complex systems, while Hichert, who is a research fellow at CTS, specialises in the practice of futures studies and foresight.
The Chair will develop capacities for studying and exploring the nature of complex interdependent social-ecological systems, how change comes about in such systems, and how to create the conditions for ecologically sustainable and socially just futures.
“As part of UNESCO’s Global Futures Literacy Network, the chair will develop and apply the theories and practices of ‘using-the-future’ by conducting research and facilitating multi-stakeholder engagements that address the urgent need to develop more inclusive, critical, and participatory processes for convening and training students, researchers, and decision-makers of looking to, thinking, and caring about the future,” explained Hichert.
Preiser added that the Chair will develop a regional hub where African experts can engage and share insights on how to better respond to the global sustainability challenges that we face in the world today.
“If we are trying to create lasting and more just processes of change, we need to understand how the world actually works.
“Our scientific models and philosophy of complex systems can help us to envision new ways of thinking and bringing about change that recognise the systemic nature of reality and how we are situated in the world,” said Preiser.
“Inter-disciplinary engagements in the processes of ‘using-the-future’ exceed the goal of just understanding how to prepare for potential crises or planning how to overcome grand challenges. It requires capabilities that allow us to move beyond a dependency on the illusion of certainty and the fragilities this creates,” she added.
A unique characteristic of this Chair is that it promotes a transdisciplinary approach by integrating theory and practice by means of appointing co-chairs; one specialised in theories of complex systems, the other in practice of futures and foresight.
More about the co-chairholders:
Rika Preiser completed her PhD in Philosophy by exploring how the conceptual development of complexity and a deeper understanding of the features and dynamics of complex adaptive systems can inform a more integrated way of thinking for understanding what it means to be human in a complex world. Together with Profs Paul Cilliers and Jannie Hofmeyr, she was a founding member of the Centre for Complex Systems at SU in 2009. This Centre merged with several other research hubs to form the CST, where she is permanently employed.
Tanja Hichert, who is a CST fellow, is an academically qualified, highly experienced, futures and foresight practitioner specialising in scenario planning, horizon scanning, strategic foresight, risk management, and facilitating strategic conversations that provide clarity and direction for organisations and institutions faced with complexity and uncertainty. She has maintained a link with academic futures studies throughout her career and, together with CST colleagues, has led the development of innovative new methodology to generate visions of transformative futures by means of participative scenario planning. She has been part of the evolving Futures Literacy and Anticipation community for more than a decade and has a passion for expanding and building the practical application of future studies on the African continent.