Collection one: systems, complexity and social-ecological transformation

This course from Yale is the highest-rated ever on Coursera and there’s a reason why – it’s excellent. Professor Laurie Santos explains what is known about happiness and well-being from science, in easy-to-understand terms, providing examples and many short, practical exercises. Attention to well-being is a must for us all, but perhaps, most especially for changemakers, who often must deal with very difficult circumstances (free, with sign-up required).

This is an introductory course to complexity thinking from Toulouse Business School. It’s free as a self-directed course on the iVersity learning platform (requires sign-up).

This channel, with numerous playlists, is a rich source of learning – presented as mini-courses – on systems, complexity, systems innovation, and the role of the systems innovator.

This free, online course, with multiple professors and experts from the Stockholm Resilience Centre, discusses the basics of understanding systems, complexity, and resilience, drawing on examples from the international development sector.

This set of learning modules from the University of Waterloo also provides an entry-level overview of systems and complexity, but through the lens of social innovation, and focussing on the role of the social and systems innovator.

This course on thinking systemically is from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (Spanish, with subtitles in 39 languages). It begins with the history of systems thinking and then defines basic concepts in systems thinking, before getting into how systems work.

This online course with Professor Johan Rockström and other experts from the Stockholm Resilience Centre poses the question: How should we understand the planetary crisis we’ve imposed upon ourselves in the Anthropocene – and how should we then act? The course is a few years old, but the issues raised are just as relevant now, and indeed, have only intensified. It’s free, but runs only during designated periods, so check the course calendar.

This is a website created and maintained by the Santa Fe institute to provide learning on complexity. It carries many free resources (we suggest you browse by ‘category’ in order to easily find what will be most useful to you). This is for those who are interested in exploring a more hard science approach to systems and complexity.

Changemaking, whether you’re trying to transform systems or anything else, means working with a lot of stakeholders and partners. Since stakeholders don’t always agree, you need approaches that will help people to still be able to work together and build consensus. Appreciative inquiry is a very generative, useful approach, and the AI Commons is a great place to start learning what it's all about.

This website is a collection of resources for facilitating change processes. If you click on ‘LS Menu’, you’ll see the collection of resources on one page. Each is recommended for specific kinds of situations and has step-by-step instructions for facilitating them with groups.

This is described as a ‘resilience guide for navigating towards sustainable futures’. It takes the changemaker through five phases of transformational change, examining what is needed at each phase and why, and suggesting tools and processes for navigating them.

This is a course first taught at the University of Minnesota and now made freely available on YouTube. It’s an interesting take on how we got to where we are in the Anthropocene, and argues that in our lifeways and culture, we are energy blind – and that this will have to change if we’re to avoid disaster.

The Barefoot Guides have been relied upon by changemakers for decades – and they’re still very relevant resources. Most are available in Arabic, Kiswahili, Spanish, Bahasa, English, French, Chinese, Portuguese, and Vietnamese. They’re written in plain language and are designed for fieldworkers to take along with them.

This is a form of theatre by-the-people-for-the-people that has been used in social changemaking for decades. It’s a rich way to explore issues, surface diverse points of view, and brainstorm together about solutions. This website links to information to get you started and to hundreds of resources to help you use the approach.

This website is dedicated to using the three horizons tool for navigating systems transformations. It’s a resource bank for all things related to three horizons.

This online magazine is dedicated to exploring issues around the Anthropocene, including biodiversity, food and agriculture, health, green business, and much more.

This online magazine publishes research and analysis on resilience – specifically, resilience thinking for global development. A treasure trove of articles and talks.

Explore the website, courses, and resources. This organisation looks at exponential tech through a systemic lens, with the vision of ‘aligning technology with humanity’s best interests’. Big tech affects us all and has impacts in changemaking. Here, there many useful resources for exploring this issue.

This design consultancy investigates issues of systems and complexity in design, through a series of blogposts. Provocative and stimulating.

This organisation’s website has many resources for people working in the public sector who want to catalyse innovations – including case studies, tool kits, news about events, and much more.

Collective impact focusses on tackling complex problems by working together. The forum's site has approaches and tools to support such processes, as well as case studies, blog posts, and much more.

This website thinks about design from a systems perspective, with many useful insights and provocations.

This is a website and community of practice focussed on a complexity-friendly approach to public services. The resources include blogposts, podcasts, papers on theory, case studies, and methods and tools.