An institute of applied complexity advancing knowledge and practice.
We help people and organisations to:
explore complexity insights
join free public talks
take courses on complexity practices
discover new books
work with our design studio
Mission
Building new capacities to think, design and act in complex systems
We bring together natural and social science, philosophy, creative practice, design and lived experience. The understanding organisations and societies need does not live inside a single field. It emerges when different perspectives meet.
Our work reconnects knowledge that is often kept apart. Through our work with organisations and public learning, we build the capacities complex challenges demand: seeing beyond a single perspective, recognising where change is possible, acting with greater intelligence, creativity and humility in the systems shaping our world.
Library
Occasional updates with new lectures, essays, courses and insights on complexity. No noise.
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FAQs
Questions we get a lot
What's the difference between the Institute and the Studio?
The Institute is our public-facing work — research, courses, lectures, and the library. Everything here is open to individuals and organisations. The Studio is where we work directly with organisations on strategic design projects. Same ideas, different application.
Who is the Institute for?
Anyone working in complex environments: leaders, teams, service or product leads, strategists, policymakers, designers, founders and consultants. If you’ve ever felt that standard frameworks don’t quite fit your situation, this is for you.
Our work is grounded in research but translated into concepts and practices you can apply immediately, not credentials to hang on a wall.
What is a complex system?
Complex adaptive systems are made up of many interacting parts that influence one another and change over time. Ecosystems, economies, organisations, teams and societies all work this way.
Through these interactions, patterns begin to emerge that cannot be understood by looking at the parts alone. Feedback, relationships and adaptation shape how the system behaves, which is why change rarely unfolds in straight lines and outcomes are often difficult to predict.
What does "transdisciplinary" actually mean?
It means working across and beyond traditional disciplines to understand and address complex problem situations. Rather than staying within one field, transdisciplinary work integrates knowledge, methods and perspectives from multiple disciplines, along with practical and lived experience.
The aim is not just to combine disciplines, but to generate new ways of understanding and acting that would not emerge from any single field alone.
