If you're a fish, what can you know about the water?

The authors of this paper have been engaged in Systems Thinking, Systems Practice and Systems Teaching for many years. In this paper they reflect on their experience of engaging systemically with their own organisation in order to bring about change. Re-structuring the Systems Department of the UK's Open University to create new sites for emergence of fresh ideas, interests and enthusiasms raised questions about meaning and purpose as well as theoretical questions about practice. The authors describe their own attempts to answer these questions and to manage their own evolving understandings and emotionings by reflecting on some critical incidents

The effect upon UK energy supply schedules of the use of combined heat and power with district heating

The widescale use of combined heat and power with district heating will have a significant effect upon the quantities of primary and secondary fuels used in the United Kingdom. A new methodology for investigating the complex technological interactions between supplies and demands for fuels is developed, and the effect of sample CHP/dh scenarios calculated. Particular attention is paid to electricity generation to determine the impact of CHP/dh upon the operation of the merit order

Learning participation as systems practice

We describe an evolving praxeology for Systems Practice for managing complexity built on 30 years of developing supported open learning opportunities in the area of Systems within the curriculum of The Open University (UK). We ground this description in two specific examples of how notions of participation are incorporated conceptually and practically into a learners programme of study by considering: (i) the postgraduate course 'Environmental Decision Making. A Systems Approach' (T860) and (ii) the undergraduate course 'Managing complexity. A systems approach' (T306)

Combined heat and power: a discussion of Energy Paper 20

This report has been written in direct response to the Department of Energy's report 'District heating combined with electricity generation in the United Kingdom' (Energy report no. 20). It seeks to extend the arguments presented in that report. Detailed comment on the methodology and results of the Department's study are confined to Appendix 3 of this report. For some time combined heat and power has been talking about in a very general way and discussion has frequently concluded that CHP is a "good idea needing further study". The report from the Department's working party is thus a very welcome attempt to place the CHP concept into a numerate context where the real questions to be resolved become clearly defined and where a policy framework begins to evolve

Metaphors for Reflecting on Research Practice: Researching with People

There are renewed demands for transparency and stakeholder participation in environmental planning and management. Research is a generic form of practice common to many professions. Appreciating the position of the researcher and reflecting on research practice can enhance its transparency. The case is presented for considering underlying metaphors as a way of making understandings explicit, transparent and structured, so as to enhance reflection on research practice. Metaphors can be explored, either individually or jointly, and learning opportunities can come from the exploration and awareness of alternative metaphors. Four metaphors have been chosen to reflect on research practice: research-as-action, research-as-narrative, research-as-facilitation and research-as-responsible. These metaphors define various roles relevant to researching with people and seem powerful ways of discussing what researching or planning with people might entail, and how to include the position of the researcher/planner in reflective practice. Whilst the primary concern is with research practice, the arguments might equally apply to other forms of practice such as planning, managing, advising or regulating.

Learning Participation as Systems Practice

Learning participation only makes sense if it is purposeful. From our perspective its primary purpose is to achieve more effective managing in situations of complexity and change. We describe our evolving understandings and practices (a praxeology) for Systems Practice for managing complexity, built on 30 years of developing supported open learning opportunities in the area of Systems within the curriculum of The Open University (UK). We ground this description in two specific examples of how notions of participation are incorporated conceptually and practically into a learner's programme of study by considering: i) the postgraduate course 'Environmental Decision Making. A Systems Approach' (T860) and ii) the undergraduate course 'Managing Complexity. A Systems Approach' (T306). From these courses, as well as a historical review of teaching practice, we identify nine pedagogic design features of our practice. Metaphorically all of the elements of our praxeology can be understood through the lens of the practitioner as chorographer (a systematic describer and analyst of regions) and choreographer (one versed in creating a dance of the emotions)