Si Bristol Hub Newsletter #9
Hello everyone, welcome to another Si Bristol hub newsletter! We have exciting news for you all.
P&A Session 25/09
Our last P&A session was great! We had the presence of Dr. Thomas O'Shea, Peter Thompson & Carl Quinn as well as Hannah Mahoney, James Snelgrove and Yasmin Medeiros. As we start to get more consistent with these meetings, we are starting to see the shape of this session emerging as we progress as a group and make sense of each interaction we have with this group. One of our realizations is: this is a space for updates, for sharing what has been happening with the group in the past month and how the projects and activities we are creating are taking shape. This is the space dedicated to the ones who will actively participate in the Bristol hub with proposing and coordinating new projects and ideas as well as supporting the already developed/stablished projects with feedback and new perspectives. Speaking of that, we have the following projects/acitivites under way:
Hannah Mahoney & Matthew's Project: Connecting Business and Community. Following initial discussions, Matt Mullen and Hannah Mahoney will be joining stakeholders for a development morning this Thursday focussed on our project hypothesis and outline. This product will allow us to engage a wider group of stakeholders and explore potential funding opportunities. If you or your organisation are interested in getting involved, do get in touch and keep an eye out for further information. Our meeting is hosted by St Monica's Trust at their Chocolate Quarter - an interesting site of innovation intentionally designed to shift the stigma associated with retirement communities and creating opportunity and connection to allow for better later life living.
Dr. Thomas O'Shea & Yasmin Medeiros 's Project: We are developing a series of webinars to engage the audience and equip them with the tools and language to capture systems in flux. This medium will be captured via specific contexts and examples, explored with an interdisciplinary toolkit that includes Computer models, Qualitative methods, and Quantitative Analysis. The aim of this project is to bring theoretical and practical examples of systems dynamics in a way that is accessible and elucidative to everyone who wishes to learn more about topics on Systems Change and innovation
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Carl Quinn's Project: Developing a Innovation Incubation space for the Hub, a place to unpack and explore systemic challenges in a supportive environment. A regular online meeting which is semi-structured, well coached, and well supported, enabling Hub members to explore and progress ideas for systems innovation projects across specific themes, including; environment, housing, health, and education.
You are more than welcome to let us know what you think about these projects in the comments below or by sending a message directly to the organizers
Governance Structure update:
This topic leads us to updates on the Structure of our hub. Now you can see how we are organizing ourselves and what are the avenues of activities we have going on.
1 - Si Hub Strategy: This session happens every week on Fridays and it is limited for the participation of the Core Team, namely @Hannah Mahoney, @James Snelgrove & @Yasmin Medeiros. During these sessions, we talk everything strategy: what happened during the week, what are the possible partnerships in our landscape, what do we need to invest on, what do we need to pay more attention to, sustainability of the hub... you name it! We talk about past, present and future of the hub and how can we be stewards of this space so beautiful opportunities can thrive.
2 - Si Hub Learning: These are open sessions we are starting from Oct 16th to talk about "Everything Systems Change & Innovation". Every 2 weeks on Wednesdays we will talk about one specific topic that is either picked by the core team or proposed by the community.
3 - Socials: No words needed for this one, right? These are the opportunities for great conversations, snacks & drinks and a fun time! We want to be consistent with organizing events where we can connect with each other, craft new possibilities for future projects and bring people together!
4 - Projects: This space is where we will pay attention to the development of the existing projects and give enough support for everyone involved.
5 - Sync Meeting: Latly, this is a very important meeting we have every 3 months with the Systems Innovation Core Team were we share the updates of our hub and we can be in touch with the updates from the global network. Like a good systems thinker, we should be aware of the local and granular features of the hub but also be in contact with the wider network in which we are very happy to be a part of.
Show & Tell:
And now, it is time to share with you a resource we have been reading/listening to/aware of that makes sense for the work we do in the hub. This time we would like to share with you the book " What is a Complex System?" by James Ladyman & Karoline Wiesner.
Summary of the Book: "What is a complex system? Although “complexity science” is used to understand phenomena as diverse as the behavior of honeybees, the economic markets, the human brain, and the climate, there is no agreement about its foundations. In this introduction for students, academics, and general readers, philosopher of science James Ladyman and physicist Karoline Wiesner develop an account of complexity that brings the different concepts and mathematical measures applied to complex systems into a single framework. They introduce the different features of complex systems, discuss different conceptions of complexity, and develop their own account. They explain why complexity science is so important in today’s world."