Systemic Design
The Professorship of Systemic Design investigates how design-oriented approaches and systems thinking can help address complex societal challenges. We develop and study knowledge, design principles and methods that enable professionals, organisations and networks to contribute to sustainable societal change. Our research looks not only at specific solutions, but also at how these solutions are developed, tested in practice and contribute to wider societal transitions.
The professorship is part of the Design Based Education & Innovation (DBEI) Research Group at NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences. This research group investigates how design-oriented approaches can be developed, applied and strengthened in education and professional practice. Within the group, the Professorship of Systemic Design focuses on applying these approaches to complex processes of societal and organisational change.
Why Systemic Design?
Challenges related to sustainability, energy, health, the living environment and regional development are becoming increasingly complex and interconnected. They cannot be addressed through a single technological innovation, organisation or policy measure. They require coordinated changes in technology, behaviour, collaboration, organisational structures and regulations.
Systemic Design combines design-oriented approaches with systems thinking. It helps us understand complex challenges from different perspectives, develop potential solutions and identify connections between different processes of change. The focus is not only on designing individual products, services or ways of working, but also on understanding how they function within organisations, networks and wider societal systems.
The professorship investigates how design interventions can contribute to change, how they can be tested and explored in practice, and what conditions are needed for their outcomes to have a broader impact. In this way, we develop knowledge that helps professionals and organisations contribute more effectively and purposefully to sustainable societal transitions.
Research Focus
The professorship focuses on three interconnected research areas, based on a multilevel design perspective.
1. Design Interventions and Design Methods
How can specific design interventions contribute to societal change? In this research area, we investigate which design principles, methods and interventions can help address complex societal challenges. These may include new products, services, work processes, forms of collaboration and organisational innovations.
We examine how different interventions can reinforce one another and how changes at different system levels are connected. This research builds on existing knowledge and approaches, including Multilevel Design, Circular Design and System Innovation Processes.
2. Living Labs and Other Experimental Environments
How can new solutions be developed, tested and improved in real-world settings? The professorship investigates how Living Labs and other experimental environments can contribute to societal transitions.
In these environments, researchers, professionals, businesses, public authorities and other stakeholders work together on real-world challenges. We examine which forms of collaboration, organisation and collective learning support effective experimentation. Particular attention is given to how local experiments can contribute to broader, lasting societal change.
3. Innovation Ecosystems and Networks
Societal change takes place within complex networks of businesses, public authorities, knowledge institutions, civil society organisations and citizens. Opportunities to develop and implement new solutions are shaped by factors such as collaboration, regulations, funding, infrastructure and established practices.
The professorship investigates how these innovation ecosystems function and which conditions enable or constrain societal innovation. A central question is how professionals and organisations can influence the systems in which they operate, and how design-oriented approaches can contribute to change within and across organisations and networks.
Knowledge network contact details
If you have any questions about the knowledge network or would like additional information, please contact professor Dr Peter Joore, 06-81505915 or [email protected]
Contact
NHL Stenden University of Applied Sciences
Design Based Education & Innovation (DBEI) Research Group
PO Box 1298
Rengerslaan 8-10
8900 CG Leeuwarden
Professor: Dr. Peter Joore
E: [email protected]
T: 06 815 059 15
