Systems Thinking: How to address highly complex problems

Anyone who’s tried to unravel and address problems in the agri-food system will know how complex it is: Agri-food researchers, stakeholders and professionals working towards net zero also have to account for other economic, health, social and environmental issues, which are often multiple, interlinked and overlapping.
If this sounds familiar, so will the below characteristics of highly complex problems (sometimes called ‘wicked problems’ by policy makers):
· Interlinked issues, where trying to address one in isolation worsens the others.
· Multiple perspectives and conflict on which issues matter most, and therefore what action should be taken.
· Power relations making change difficult, and
· Pervasive uncertainty
While traditional scientific, policy and management approaches can make useful contributions, we need something in addition if we want to address more of the complexity and conflict associated with these kinds of complex problems. Systems thinking can help.
In this talk, Prof Gerald Midgley will introduce a framework of systems thinking skills, plus a variety of systems ideas and methods, that can help people put these skills into practice. He will illustrate the use of the methods with examples from food system, natural resource management, social policy and community development projects undertaken over the last thirty years in the UK, New Zealand and Nigeria. Some of these projects involved working with agri-food companies and their stakeholders, while others focused on intransigent social issues. Through these examples, Gerald will show how we can begin to get a better handle on highly complex problems.
About Gerald:
Prof Gerald Midgley is a foremost authority on the theory and practice of systems thinking and systemic leadership, and has been researching it for 40 years. His work is transdisciplinary and he has worked across public health, health and social service design, natural resource management, community development, public sector management and technology foresight. He is currently researching how to integrate neuroscience and cognitive psychology into systemic leadership and systems thinking, to address some of the most challenging local-to-global issues of our time. He is an emeritus professor at the University of Hull, and a visiting professor at the Birmingham Leadership Institute at the University of Birmingham.
To download Gerald's presentation slides, go here www.agrifood4netzero.net/uplo.... These should obviously be credited appropriately to him if used in any way.
About the webinar series:
The webinar is chaired by Jez Fredenburgh, Knowledge Exchange Fellow for the AFN Network+, and agri-food journalist. Jez is based at the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research at the University of East Anglia.
This webinar is part of a series run by AFN Network+ which explores net zero in the UK agri-food system with leading movers and shakers. Expect deep and varied insight from across the sector, including farmers, scientists, policy analysts, community leaders, retailers, politicians, businesses and health professionals.
The series is put together by Jez and Prof Neil Ward, also based at the University of East Anglia, and a co-lead of AFN Network+.
Watch past webinars here - / @afn-network-plus
Follow AFN Network+ on Twitter/X x.com/AFNnetwork and LinkedIn / agrifood4netzero
Join our growing network of 1,600+ people across UK agri-food working on food system transformation, from academics to farmers, food companies, NGOs, policy makers and citizens www.agrifood4netzero.net/join
The AFN Network+ is funded by UKRI www.ukri.org/