WICI

Graduate Student Complexity Seminar & Social

Brenda Panasiak — Mon, 13 May 2019 17:17:22 +0000

Graduate Student Complexity Seminar & Social Brenda Panasiak Mon, 05/13/2019 - 13:17

New this term, University of ��ݮ��Ƶ graduate students will discuss their complex systems work during a monthly seminar. Join us for a 20 minute talk, followed by a 20-minute discussion and feedback opportunity. Afterwards, everyone who is able is welcome to meet at the Graduate House for food and socializing from 6 p.m. onward.

This month, Jude H. Kurniawan talks about 'Visualizing different perspectives of energy scenarios' on Thursday, May 16 from 4:30-5:30 in EV3 3401. We hope to see you there!

Visualizing different perspectives of energy scenarios

Jude H. Kurniawan (presenter) and Vanessa J. Schweizer

Studies of energy futures could provide roadmaps toward low-carbon energy transitions. However, many organizations conduct energy futures studies independently producing numerous energy scenarios that project vastly different futures. Stories produced by these scenarios might be very different and it will be challenging to know which scenarios we should base our decisions upon. Here we apply network analysis to visualize different perspectives of four Canadian energy futures reports. This provides an approach to ‘harmonize’ their stories. Network analysis can visualize the structures of these studies and what portion of a multi-study network each study occupies. We found studies to vary in scope, which may motivate their key findings (focussing either on the economy or the environment). Further, we subjected the full network to community detection to reveal groups of drivers that might be significant for Canadian low-carbon energy transitions. Our findings show that some drivers that are important at the global level are less significant for Canada. Some energy sub-sectors (such as transport and freight) are especially important for Canada.

Synergies: A Cross-Disciplinary Colloquium on Design

Brenda Panasiak — Wed, 06 Nov 2019 18:17:42 +0000

Synergies: A Cross-Disciplinary Colloquium on Design Brenda Panasiak Wed, 11/06/2019 - 13:17

The *new* UWSA branch of the ��ݮ��Ƶ Institute for Complexity and Innovation (WICI Design) hosted an event on Thursday, November 21st called SYNERGIES: A Cross-disciplinary Colloquium on Design.

This was a great opportunity for students to both to gain exposure for their research, but also to receive valuable feedback and engage in stimulating discussions with ��ݮ��Ƶ students and faculty, in the context of design. The event was first and foremost a networking/learning opportunity.

Event details - Colloquium and Networking Mixer

The colloquium consisted of three panel discussions, each including a faculty moderator. Discussions were followed by a catered networking mixer in the loft, with work from student presenters displayed throughout the space.

The event addressed multidisciplinary topics such as process (craft and automation), system re-design (sustainable urban development — sociopolitical, biophysical, economic), land-use (housing crisis, homelessness, public and private policy), and humanizing design (at all scales). All scales and natures of design were considered, and not only confined to that of architecture/buildings. The group values learning from other disciplines and potential for cross-fertilization of methodologies.

View the full event report here.

WICI Visioning Session

Brenda Panasiak — Tue, 15 Oct 2019 17:44:52 +0000

WICI Visioning Session Brenda Panasiak Tue, 10/15/2019 - 13:44

��ݮ��Ƶ Institute for Complexity and Innovation - Fall 2019 Visioning Session

Tuesday December 3, 2019

10:30 a.m. to 12 noon

EV3 4327

What does WICI mean for you? What would you like it to be in future? We need your input!

Please complete our ten year renewal survey prior to attending this session.

Open Format Conversations on Complex Systems hosted by Bill Sutherland

Brenda Panasiak — Tue, 27 Aug 2019 16:24:30 +0000

Open Format Conversations on Complex Systems hosted by Bill Sutherland Brenda Panasiak Tue, 08/27/2019 - 12:24

Bring your thoughts, and join our complexity discussion!

Through models of mentorship and facilitation we are looking to continue our emergent conversation(s) utilizing the framework of systems and complexity thinking, as we work to create a common language and shared experience of community - the purpose of which is the very process itself.

Every other Monday from 1:30-3 p.m.

~~Monday September 23rd~~

~~Monday October 7th~~

~~Monday October 21st~~

~~Monday November 4th~~

Next Date: Monday November 18th (DC 1302)

Dr. William Sutherland is the innovator of the Complexity Medicine Concept and the Founder and Director of the Institute for Complexity & Connection Medicine. He is an Adjunct Assistant Clinical Professor at McMaster University and an External Research Affiliate at WICI. Dr. Sutherland’s clinical practice includes diverse clinical settings (psychotherapy, functional medicine and emergency department care), in each of which he works to embody and impart the feeling central to a practice of Complexity Medicine.

Open Conversations on Complexity with Bill Sutherland

Brenda Panasiak — Thu, 08 Aug 2019 13:58:53 +0000

Open Conversations on Complexity with Bill Sutherland Brenda Panasiak Thu, 08/08/2019 - 09:58

Bring your lunch and your thoughts, and join our complexity discussion!

Through models of mentorship and faciliation we are looking to continue our emergent conversation(s) utilizing the framework of systems and complexity thinking, as we work to create a commond language and shared experience of community - the purpose of which is the very process itself.

Every other Monday in DC 1302 from 12-1:30 p.m.

Monday September 23rd

Monday October 7th

Monday October 21st

Monday November 4th

Monday November 18th

Graduate Student Complexity Seminar & Social

Brenda Panasiak — Tue, 28 May 2019 04:25:57 +0000

Graduate Student Complexity Seminar & Social Brenda Panasiak Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:25

This month, Perin Ruttonsha will discuss 'Balancing Planetary, Socio-Ecological Systems Complexities: A (Re)generative Framework for Transition' on Thursday, July 18th from 4:30 - 5:30 in STC 1019. We hope to see you there!

Balancing Planetary, Socio-Ecological Systems Complexities: A (Re)generative Framework for Transition

Transition along sustainability and resilience pathways is a problem of nearly everything.In this way, the issues are slippery, diffuse, indistinct, unbounded. As we confront the urgent imperative to converge on and implement solutions for the most pressing global challenges, in the immediate term, there is also reason to diverge into a more expansive conception of the problem domain, which could break through conventional categories of analyses and action. This research develops a knowledge integration system intended to enable comprehensive, multi-modal, multi-level, systematic, phased, and networked approaches to problem solving for transition, amidst complexity. Through this, the work seeks to crystallize a nascent trajectory of discourse, which is developing as a macro-view intellectual project, operating with broad geographical (planetary boundaries, planetary health), deep temporal (big history), and extensive political (ecological economics, global governance, sustainable development) lenses; increasingly aiming to foster responsible, resilient, reciprocal relations among people and environments; meanwhile, acknowledging the global systems vulnerabilities that raise risks of cross-scale, cascading collapse. To follow, the research discusses linked sets of complex adaptive systems dynamics that remain seminal to transition challenges, such as the continual appearance of hybrid and novel systems conditions; the general intensification, over time, of the overall embodied footprint of human populations; as well as, the inevitability of super-exponential socioeconomic growth. This work extrapolates a framework for (re)generative research and innovation, by which we could analyse, adapt to, and evolve along with systems ranges, while also cultivating balance across the interconnected, socio-ecological, planetary web.

In the second part of this seminar, a team of WICI graduate students will report on the outcomes from (The) State(s) of Complexity interactive workshop, held recently at the Canadian Society for Ecological Economics (CANSEE) 12th Biennial Conference. In this conference workshop, the team (Perin Ruttonsha, Kirsten Wright, Truzaar Dordi, Jude Kurniawan, Katharine Zywert, Jonathan Hui) explored opportunities to tackle critical global challenges through the application of “big picture” complexity science, and will continue to facilitate this conversation, here, as it applies to your own research.

Conversations on Complex Systems with Dr. Bill Sutherland

Brenda Panasiak — Tue, 28 May 2019 04:19:00 +0000

Conversations on Complex Systems with Dr. Bill Sutherland Brenda Panasiak Tue, 05/28/2019 - 00:19

Complex Systems students, staff, faculty and friends are invited to this open-format seminar with Dr. Bill Sutherland. Bring your lunch and your ideas, and see where the conversations take you.

STC 1019 from 3-4:30

"Common ground, public space, a commonwealth: The Agora of ancient times – A gathering and holding for diversity of disagreement, dilemma, dialogue, discussion, dramaturgy, and dialectics.

No credit will be given (and none taken). No marks; no citations; no diploma, degree, or decree – instead we will look inward towards our intrinsic validators of insight, introspection, and inspiration as an embodied compass to direct us on a journey of shared discovery.

Through models of mentorship and facilitation we are looking to launch a longitudinal and emergent conversation over time utilizing the framework of systems and complexity thinking as we work to create a common language and shared experience of community; the purpose of which is the very process itself.

Intrigued? Then show up simply, without purpose or promise, but with a rim full to the brim with curiosity and intrigue. Nothing more is asked, although certainly there is much more to be given!"

Conversations on Complex Systems with Dr. Bill Sutherland

Brenda Panasiak — Tue, 14 May 2019 17:03:48 +0000

Conversations on Complex Systems with Dr. Bill Sutherland Brenda Panasiak Tue, 05/14/2019 - 13:03

Complex Systems students, staff, faculty and friends are invited to this open-format seminar with Dr. Bill Sutherland. Bring your lunch and your ideas, and see where the conversations take you.

Monday June 3 & Monday, July 8

STC 1019 from 12-1:30

"Common ground, public space, a commonwealth: The Agora of ancient times – A gathering and holding for diversity of disagreement, dilemma, dialogue, discussion, dramaturgy, and dialectics.

Intrigued? Then show up simply, without purpose or promise, but with a rim full to the brim with curiosity and intrigue. Nothing more is asked, although certainly there is much more to be given!"

WICI Talk: Dr. Noelle Eckley Selin : Systems Approaches to Sustainability: Climate, Air Pollution, and Toxic Substances

Noelle Valeriote-Hakim — Fri, 07 Dec 2018 18:39:24 +0000

WICI Talk: Dr. Noelle Eckley Selin : Systems Approaches to Sustainability: Climate, Air Pollution, and Toxic Substances Noelle Valerio… Fri, 12/07/2018 - 13:39

Managing air pollution, toxic substances, and climate change is a complex, linked sustainability challenge. To better inform efforts to address these issues, we need to understand how policies to address emissions translate into societal benefits. In this talk, Dr. Selin will present work from her research group, using a systems approach to better understand air pollutants such as particulate matter, ozone, and mercury. Examples include assessing the air pollution and related health impacts of proposed regulations to address climate change in the U.S. and China, and quantifying the domestic and international benefits of mercury reduction policies in China, India, and the U.S. She also will summarize recent work examining how society’s interactions with mercury as a resource and a pollutant over time can help illuminate interactions of human, technological, and environmental systems of relevance to sustainability. Effectively informing decision-making also requires interactions with decision-makers: Dr. Selin describes ways in which we have incorporated public and policy engagement in our work, and examine how research on air pollution, toxic substances, and climate has influenced policy.

Noelle Eckley Selin is an Associate Professor in the Institute for Data, Systems and Society and the Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. She is also the Director of MIT's Technology and Policy Program. Her research uses atmospheric chemistry modeling to inform decision-making on air pollution, climate change and hazardous substances such as mercury and persistent organic pollutants (POPs). She received her PhD from Harvard University in Earth and Planetary Sciences as part of the Atmospheric Chemistry Modeling Group. Her M.A. (Earth and Planetary Sciences) and B.A. (Environmental Science and Public Policy) are also from Harvard University. Before joining the MIT faculty, she was a research scientist with the MIT Joint Program on the Science and Policy of Global Change. She has published 70+ articles in the peer-reviewed literature, addressing atmospheric chemistry, air pollution, and interactions between science and policy in international environmental negotiations. Her articles were selected as the best environmental policy papers in 2015 and 2016 by the journal Environmental Science & Technology. She is the recipient of a U.S. National Science Foundation CAREER award (2011), a Leopold Leadership fellow (2013-2014), Kavli fellow (2015), a member of the Global Young Academy (2014-2018), an American Association for the Advancement of Science Leshner Leadership Institute Fellow (2016-2017), and a Hans Fischer Senior Fellow at the Technical University of Munich Institute for Advanced Study (2018-2021).

Watch the video of this presentation.