Society Seminar Series

The Society Seminar Series consists of periodic online meetings on topics of interest to the systems thinking and System Dynamics communities. These virtual activities cover a wide range of topics that cross many domains, while bringing together academics, practitioners, and students together for learning and lively discussion. Our seminars aim to promote and improve skills to effectively apply systems thinking and dynamic computer simulation to private and public sector challenges.

All seminars and recordings are free for members. For some seminars, the general public is welcome to join for a nominal fee. Join now for free access.

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upcoming SEMINARS

PAST SEMINARS

MODELING COVID-19: A PANEL DISCUSSION

ONLINE, December 22nd, 11 am New York

Mohammad Jalali (Harvard University) moderates a panel discussion session with Q&As providing a big picture overview of Covid-19 modelling activities taking place in different modelling communities while exploring the question of what makes a Covid-19 model useful with panellists Jeroen Struben (emylon business school), Hazhir Rahmandad (MIT Sloan), Jack Homer (Homer Consulting), and Navid Ghaffarzadegan (Virginia Tech).

Jeroen Struben’s presentation slide Hazhir Rahmandad’s presentation slide

Jack Homer’s presentation slide Navid Ghaffarzadegan’s presentation slide

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MOVING THE SYSTEMS THINKING PLAYBOOK GAMES ONLINE

ONLINE, Thursday, November 12th, 11am New York, 4pm London, Friday, November 13th, 12am Beijing

by Linda Booth Sweeney

The author of The Systems Thinking Playbook and The Climate Change Playbook, Linda Booth Sweeney, shares how she has adapted their short gaming exercises that illustrate the subtleties of systems thinking to a new online world. Participants will also be asked to share their methods for bringing them online.

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FISH BANKS

Thursday, October 29th from 10am – 1pm EST

by Jason Jay, Senior Lecturer and Director of the Sustainability Initiative at the MIT Sloan School of Management

Join us online to experience this classic web-based simulation developed by Dennis Meadows. Participants in this participatory game will manage their own fishing companies as they compete with others to achieve a profitable venture. Together team players will strategize about buying and selling ships, where to fish, how best to manage fleets without depleting fish stocks all while in competition with neighboring teams.

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Managing tourism-driven growth and waste generation: the case of the Maldives

Wednesday, October 28th, 12pm

by Florian Kapmeier and Paolo Goncalves

Florian and Paulo analyze the tension that Small Island Developing States (SIDS) face between economic growth and environmental impact. Their case example is the beautiful, paradise-like Maldives, which seeks to double the existing hotel capacity within only 6 years. Florian and Paulo assess the tension between tourism-driven economic growth and environmental degradation from a limits-to-growth perspective. The model is calibrated to 38 years of data from the Maldives to estimate parameters and Monte-Carlo methods are used to assess the sensitivity of results to uncertainty. They contrast development paths for the next three decades under three sets of policies focusing on promoting growth, managing tourism demand–supply balance, and improving waste management. Findings are counterintuitive.

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TELLING STORIES TO SPARK CHANGE

Tuesday, August 25, 2020

by David Hutchens

The author of Tip of the Iceberg will share some key insights around organizational storytelling – content brought to the likes of Harvard Business Review, L’Oreal, Accenture, and Paypal.

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