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  • SystemsChange.now 2023

    Welcome to SystemsChange.now course in Aalto in spring 2023! 

    Climate change calls for urgent attention to the links between humans and our natural environment. Understanding these connections and their implications is crucial for responding to climate change as a global challenge. When we understand climate change as a systemic phenomenon, i.e. as the product of a certain system of connections between things, we unlock a powerful set of tools for making sense of it: systems thinking.

    This multidisciplinary course is organised fully online in collaboration with Tampere University, University of Helsinki and University of Turku.

    Online lectures: Every second Wednesday at 14:15–17:00 (first lecture 18.1.)
    Registration: 12.12.2022–9.1.2023 via Sisu
    Scope: 5 cr
    To whom: master and doctoral students from all study fields
    Course material:     SystemsChange.now book at Digicampus.fi
    Course study methods: lectures, group work, independent study

    The course is open for all students of Aalto (master and doctoral students)!

    Responsible teacher: PhD Sanna-Liisa Sihto-Nissilä (email: Sanna-Liisa.Sihto-Nissila@aalto.fi)
    Course is part of Climate University courses.

    The course consists of three main themes:

    Theme 1: “Introduction to Systems Thinking” looks at what systems are and different ways in which they can be described and modelled.

    Theme 2: “Earth Systems” delves into Earth System Science and the ways in which Climate Change is affecting the Earth seen as a system of interconnected spheres.

    Theme 3: “Human Systems” focuses on humans as agents of change in systems that link individuals and groups of people with the environments they inhabit and depend upon.

    Course learning objectives:

    • Understanding Earth and climate systems to tackle climate change and other sustainability challenges 
    • Understanding models to study and describe different systems
    • Apply systems and futures thinking in interdisciplinary collaboration
    • Understanding the terms and schematics of systemic change