Developing Systems Thinking Skills for Interdisciplinary Sustainability Research

Researchers on sustainability recognise that despite much progress, many of the world’s most vexing grand challenges defy simplistic reductionist analysis, and which instead require alternative approaches towards sensemaking and understanding. Persistent and worsening socio-ecological issues such as climate change, corruption, loss of biodiversity, poverty, inequality and injustice all derive their connotation as wicked problems owing to their inherent complexity resulting from the relationships and interconnections between different factors, many of which typically reside at different levels of analysis. While broader frameworks such as the UN Sustainable Development Goals, the planetary boundaries and Doughnut Economics acknowledge their existence, developing lasting and effective responses and interventions to such challenges remains elusive.

Systems thinkers seek to understand the complexity and dynamics of whole systems, be they of economic, social and ecological nature, as well as, more importantly, the interconnections between them. Originating from scholarship on open systems in physics and biology, systems thinking has been adopted widely across all disciplines. It is variously described as a theory, a method, or a broader perspective that complements more traditional reductionist approaches studying the predictably causal relationships between clearly defined variables within specific functional or disciplinary silos. The purpose is to arrive at a comprehensive understanding of the dynamic trends and interconnections in an effort to develop ideas for intervention, systems change and impact.