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Mini Symposium 2026 04 29 Harry Anastasiou

Laouris — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 07:43:14 GMT

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	\| photo= ~~AndreasNicolaides~~.jpg		\| photo= Harry_Anastasiou.jpg
	\| name=[[Harry Anastasiou]]		\| name=[[Harry Anastasiou]]
	\| title=Reflections on Our Systemically Interconnected and Interdependent World		\| title=Reflections on Our Systemically Interconnected and Interdependent World
	\| date=Apr 8, 2026		\| date=Apr 29, 2026
	\| presentation=		\| presentation=
	\| link=https://vimeo.com/XXXXX}}		\| link=https://vimeo.com/XXXXX}}

File:Harry Anastasiou.jpg

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Mini Symposium 2026 04 29 Harry Anastasiou

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{{Mini Symposia
| photo= AndreasNicolaides.jpg
| name=[[Harry Anastasiou]]
| title=Reflections on Our Systemically Interconnected and Interdependent World
| date=Apr 8, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/XXXXX}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> Reflections on Our Systemically Interconnected and Interdependent World</span>

==Abstract==
The trajectory from modernity to postmodernity, spanning from the Industrial Revolution of the 19th century to the contemporary digital era, has been characterized by techno-scientific advances which structurally intertwined the local, the national, the international and the global into tightly interlinked socio-technical systems. These developments created powerful novel phenomena and historical dynamics that can no longer be contained or managed unilaterally by individuals, communities or nation-states. Across domains, the major structures and processes shaping our world increasingly disclose systemic interconnections, interdependencies, and feedback loops, where linear causality breaks down, effects fold back into causes, and space and time appear to implode. Developments in science, technology, industry, finance, energy, communications, politics, ideology, culture, and security unfold within complex, co-evolving global systems, producing patterns that are emergent, non-linear, and often unintended. At the same time, these expanding interconnectivities also collide with traditional nationalism and ethnocentrism precisely as nationalist paradigms reassert themselves at the forefront of history and geopolitics. This creates a growing mismatch between the scale at which problems emerge and the scale at which governance and decision-making remain organized. Within this globalizing techno-systemic landscape human beings find themselves in a precarious situation, as emerging concentrations of economic, technological, and informational power eclipse both citizen agency and the capacity of traditional institutions of democratic representation. This condition raises a set of pressing systemic questions: How can human agency be re-constituted at a scale commensurate with global interconnections and interdependencies? What does this imply for democratic governance, peace, and justice in complex societies? And how can the interdisciplinary tools of systems science—drawing on concepts such as emergence, feedback, adaptation, and participatory design, among others—be mobilized to render our complex and conflicted world more intelligible and to support strategic forms of collective action capable of reinforcing human agency?

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==Short Bio==
Harry Anastasiou is professor of International Peace and Conflict Studies and former Director of the Conflict Resolution Program at Portland State University, USA. He has taught, published and lectured widely on nationalism, ethnic conflict, tech-nationalism, multi-dimensional peacebuilding, and international peace and conflict issues. In his lectures and publications he has addressed the worldwide relapse of ethnocentric and bellicose nationalism and its effects on democracy, human rights, the rule of law and international relations, with particular attention on the implications for peace and security. Building on his experience as a peace and conflict studies scholar and practitioner, Anastasiou has served and contributed to numerous civil society organizations engaged in peacebuilding initiatives, facilitation and mediation. Professor Anastasiou has been an invited lecturer for the “Great Decisions” series of the World Affairs Council, as well as for The International Visitor Leadership Program of the U.S. Department of State, among others. He has also served as an invited consultant to the U.S. Department of State on issues pertinent to the Eastern Mediterranean.

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Harry Anastasiou]]
[[Category: Videos from Mini Symposia]]
[[Category: Mini Symposia]]

File:Barbara Widhalm Profile.jpg

Laouris — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 07:39:02 GMT

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Mini Symposium 2026 05 27 Barbara Widhalm,

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{{Mini Symposia
| photo= Barbara_Widhalm_Profile.jpg
| name=[[Barbara Widhalm]]
| title=The Art of Holding Space: Exploring the Co-Creative Potential of the In-Between
| date=May 27, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/XXXX}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> The Art of Holding Space: Exploring the Co-Creative Potential of the In-Between</span>

==Abstract==
Our relationship lives in the space between us. It doesn’t live in me or in you or even in the dialogue between the two of us. It lives in the space we live together and that space is sacred space.
—Martin Buber

More than ever, the world needs spaces where people cultivate trust to connect across differences, to listen for what’s at the “heart of the matter” in the group, and to attune to a mutual, caring field.

In this mini symposium, I will invite dialog on holding space in academic and non-academic settings. Together, we will consider:

· What does holding space mean in our communities of practice?
· How can holding space support bridge-building, self-organizing, and co-creative capacities?
· What’s your special sauce in holding space?

My interest in holding space is grounded in my transdisciplinary framework for designing collaborative learning experiences as living systems, as well as in my praxis of nurturing affective intelligence in groups.

The importance of tending to space has been theorized in the transformative learning and adult learning literature, in the healing and therapeutic arts, in ritual design, as well as in systemic group facilitation practices (such as approaches developed by the International Bateson Institute, Center for Systems Awareness, the Art of Hosting, and Universidade Biocêntrica).

In our discussion, I will introduce several space-holding qualities I have identified. I will then offer examples from my teaching practice, including a module in an asynchronous community college course, called the We-Ro’s Journey (elevating the hero’s journey to a collective We).

As part of our shared exploration, I will invite some co-creative experiential group processes, as well.

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==Short Bio==
Barbara Widhalm is an adult educator committed to teaching students with multiple barriers to learning and to facilitating cohort-based adult education graduate programs.

Located in the San Francisco Bay Area, she serves as faculty at Peralta Community College District in Oakland, CA (Humanities, Critical Thinking, Learning Resources) and at St. Mary’s College of California (Bachelors Completion Program in Leadership Studies, Master of Leadership Studies).

Her teaching philosophy blends transformative learning theory, ecological design, living systems awareness, and affective intelligence. Her research focuses on designing collaborative learning communities that foster collective wisdom in hybrid, face-to-face, and online formats. In her dissertation research, she developed a framework for designing learning experiences as self-organizing living systems, inspired by the principles of living systems as articulated by Fritjof Capra. Her Journal of Sustainability Education article “Educators as Architects of Living Systems” has been cited widely, including in the Encyclopedia of Sustainability in Higher Education.

Barbara current research interest focuses on the art of holding space and fostering affective intelligence in learning communities (see ISSS Proceedings 2025).

She holds a doctorate in Transformative Learning, a Masters in Community and Regional Planning and pursued undergraduate studies in languages, ecology, and environmental economics in Austria and Russia. Barbara has benefited from multiple systemic facilitation styles, including the practice of Freirean culture circles and the affective intelligence approach as articulated by the Universidade Biocêntrica in Fortaleza, Brazil.

Originally from Vienna, Austria, she also operates a small Austrian community bakery and enjoys hosting collaborative dialog cafés.

[[Category: Videos]]
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Mini Symposium 2026 Apr 8 Andreas Nicolaides

Laouris — Mon, 27 Apr 2026 07:35:41 GMT

Laouris moved page Mini Symposium 2026 Apr 8 Andreas Nicolaides to Mini Symposium 2026 04 08 Andreas Nicolaides Alphabetic ordering

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{{Mini Symposia
| photo= AndreasNicolaides.jpg
| name=[[Andreas Nicolaides]]
| title=Speciation through Genomic Reorganisation: The Phylogenetic Meta-Programme Hypothesis
| date=Apr 8, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/1181357175}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> Speciation through Genomic Reorganisation: The Phylogenetic Meta-Programme Hypothesis</span>

==Abstract==
Darwin’s On the Origin of Species left unresolved the problem named in its title: how new species arise. The Modern Synthesis, though uniting Mendelian genetics with natural selection, has produced no coherent theory of speciation. Instead, evolutionary biology has accumulated a patchwork of mechanisms, often treating anomalies—such as long periods of evolutionary stasis, apparently sudden transformations, reticulated phylogenies (branching complicated by cross-lineage gene flow), and recurrent hybridisation (interbreeding between distinct lineages)—as exceptions rather than signals of a deeper order.

This presentation introduces the Phylogenetic Meta-Programme Hypothesis: the claim that speciation is not the incidental by-product of auxiliary processes linked to natural selection, but is structured by higher-order regulatory systems, encoded in the germline, that govern the mode and tempo of evolution. These are not fixed typological essences but dynamic, multi-scale architectures intrinsic to life’s organisation. Framed within the broader perspective of Genomic Essentialism, the hypothesis advances the view that biological organisation is driven by genomic programmes that are constitutive of life itself, rather than by emergent properties alone.

Four systemic functions illustrate this architecture:

#Initiators: timers and triggers that delimit and precipitate transformation, including tandem-repeat turnover, germline resets, hybridisation, duplication, and viral invasion.
# Generators: mechanisms that expand and rewire genomic material, such as bursts of transposons, endogenous retroviruses, segmental duplications, retrocopying, and 3-D architectural change.
# Coordinators: processes that synchronise transformations across populations, including viral and symbiotic dynamics and germline programmes that align thresholds.
# Stabilisers: systems that preserve lineage coherence, such as centromeric divergence with drive suppression, piRNA surveillance, inversions, supergenes, imprinting, and incompatibility complexes.

These functions do not direct development itself but transform the regulatory logic that structures it. In this sense, the system constitutes a meta-programme: a higher-order genomic architecture that converts existing developmental programmes into novel ones, linking organisms across space and time. Crucially, they also resolve the anomalies: stasis reflects stability maintained by stabilisers, sudden transformations occur when initiators cross thresholds, reticulated histories arise from coordinating processes across lineages, and hybrid dysfunction stems from divergence in stabilising systems.

On this basis, the hypothesis yields distinctive predictions: genomic turnover should track clade-specific tempos of speciation; bursts of mobile elements and duplications should cluster around radiation events; shared viral or symbiotic agents should generate concordant genomic change; and hybrid dysfunction should correlate with divergence in coherence-preserving systems. Evolutionary anomalies, on this view, are not noise but signatures of a genomic meta-programme in action.

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==Short Bio==
Andreas Nicolaides studied Medicine at Manchester University (1982) and Philosophy at London University (2024). He is currently employed part-time at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust as a Consultant Head and Neck Surgeon and is affiliated with Hull York Medical School as an Honorary Senior Lecturer.

He has had a lifelong interest in evolutionary theory, which he has pursued independently of his clinical work. This has led him to advance a systems biology approach to the anomalies of speciation at the molecular level. Through this, he has developed the idea of Genomic Essentialism, based on the Constitutive Genomic Programmes hypothesis: systems-level regulatory architectures encoded in all genomes that direct both the reliable unfolding of embryonic development and the patterned transformation of species.
This project has firm foundations in the naturalised teleology of Aristotle, which recognised the purposiveness of organisms but lacked a mechanism to parallel that of natural selection. By showing how genomic programmes act through well-recognised regulatory pathways, Genomic Essentialism supports an internalist explanation of life’s organisation that subsumes, rather than denies, the externalism of natural selection.

Dr Nicolaides draws on sources from classical philosophy, evolutionary theory, and molecular biology to argue that life’s anomalies — such as episodic bursts in the fossil record, synchrony in molecular evolution, and the peculiar molecular logic observed in the germline — only make sense when understood as parts of an integrated programme. His work aims to bring together systems science, genomics, and philosophy in order to offer a unifying account of life’s organisation.

[[Category: Videos]]
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Mini Symposium 2026 04 22 - Kevin Dye

Laouris — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 10:30:49 GMT

Abstract

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	\| photo= ~~ZaidKhan~~.~~png~~		\| photo= Kevin Dye Portrait in MIT Sloan School Red Bow Tie.jpg
	\| name=[[~~Zaid Khan~~]]		\| name=[[Kevin Dye]]
	\| title=Generative AI in Modeling		\| title=Generative AI in Modeling
	\| date=~~Mar 25~~, 2026		\| date=Apr 22, 2026
	\| presentation=		\| presentation=
	\| link=https://vimeo.com/1185665004}}		\| link=https://vimeo.com/1185665004}}
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	==Abstract==		==Abstract==
	Examples of the use of Large Language Models to support and simulate Structured Deliberations will be presented. This includes the production of Interpretive Structural Models, Causal Loop Diagrams, Text Visualization, and Conversation Analysis. A current application case study, hosted by the ISSS and Future Worlds Center called Reimaging Our World will focus the discussion.		Examples of the use of Large Language Models to support and simulate Structured Deliberations will be presented. This includes the production of [[Interpretive Structural Models]], [[Causal Loop Diagrams]], [[Text Visualization]], and [[Conversation Analysis]]. A current application case study, hosted by the [[ISSS]] (SIG: Systemic Dialogue]], [[IFSR]], [[Club of Rome]], [[Global Agoras]] and [[Future Worlds Center]] called Reimaging Our World will focus the discussion.


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	==Short Bio==		==Short Bio==
	Kevin designs and facilitates interdisciplinary, stakeholder-based, structured deliberations regarding policy, planning and design of collaborative initiatives. Over a 40 year career he completed projects in: a Global Disease Elimination Program with the World Health Organization; rapprochement through Economic Integration and Education Reform with Turkish and Greek Cypriots; Economic Development for Peace initiatives in Northern Ireland and Mexico; Reinventing Democracy in the Digital Era in the Middle East for the UN Democracy Fund; launching new scientific fields in Green Chemistry, Patient Safety, and Regulatory Science with the US Food & Drug Administration; projecting the Future of Energy Efficiency for the Pacific Northwest and the U.S.; Sustainable Coastal Tourism in Cyprus and Denmark; R&D Strategic Planning in the Pharmaceutical sector, Mental Health services on the Internet; the Future of Autonomous Systems and Integration of Electronic and Cyber-warfare for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratories. He co-founded two software companies in Decision Support Systems and led the introduction of Computer Aided Engineering and Knowledge Based Systems in Otis Elevator. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and was sponsored as a Sloan Visiting Fellow at MIT.		Kevin designs and facilitates interdisciplinary, stakeholder-based, structured deliberations regarding policy, planning and design of collaborative initiatives. Over a 40 year career he completed projects in: a Global Disease Elimination Program with the World Health Organization; rapprochement through Economic Integration and Education Reform with Turkish and Greek Cypriots; Economic Development for Peace initiatives in Northern Ireland and Mexico; Reinventing Democracy in the Digital Era in the Middle East for the UN Democracy Fund; launching new scientific fields in Green Chemistry, Patient Safety, and Regulatory Science with the US Food & Drug Administration; projecting the Future of Energy Efficiency for the Pacific Northwest and the U.S.; Sustainable Coastal Tourism in Cyprus and Denmark; R&D Strategic Planning in the Pharmaceutical sector, Mental Health services on the Internet; the Future of Autonomous Systems and Integration of Electronic and Cyber-warfare for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratories. He co-founded two software companies in Decision Support Systems and led the introduction of Computer Aided Engineering and Knowledge Based Systems in Otis Elevator. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and was sponsored as a Sloan Visiting Fellow at MIT.

Mini Symposium 2026 04 22 - Kevin Dye

Laouris — Thu, 23 Apr 2026 10:19:48 GMT

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{{Mini Symposia
| photo= ZaidKhan.png
| name=[[Zaid Khan]]
| title=Generative AI in Modeling
| date=Mar 25, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/1185665004}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> Generative AI in Modeling"</span>

==Abstract==
Examples of the use of Large Language Models to support and simulate Structured Deliberations will be presented. This includes the production of Interpretive Structural Models, Causal Loop Diagrams, Text Visualization, and Conversation Analysis. A current application case study, hosted by the ISSS and Future Worlds Center called Reimaging Our World will focus the discussion.

{{#ev:vimeo| 1185665004 |600|left|}}

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==Short Bio==
Kevin designs and facilitates interdisciplinary, stakeholder-based, structured deliberations regarding policy, planning and design of collaborative initiatives. Over a 40 year career he completed projects in: a Global Disease Elimination Program with the World Health Organization; rapprochement through Economic Integration and Education Reform with Turkish and Greek Cypriots; Economic Development for Peace initiatives in Northern Ireland and Mexico; Reinventing Democracy in the Digital Era in the Middle East for the UN Democracy Fund; launching new scientific fields in Green Chemistry, Patient Safety, and Regulatory Science with the US Food & Drug Administration; projecting the Future of Energy Efficiency for the Pacific Northwest and the U.S.; Sustainable Coastal Tourism in Cyprus and Denmark; R&D Strategic Planning in the Pharmaceutical sector, Mental Health services on the Internet; the Future of Autonomous Systems and Integration of Electronic and Cyber-warfare for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratories. He co-founded two software companies in Decision Support Systems and led the introduction of Computer Aided Engineering and Knowledge Based Systems in Otis Elevator. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering and was sponsored as a Sloan Visiting Fellow at MIT.

[[Category: Videos]]
[[Category: Videos by Kevin Dye]]
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Mini Symposium 2026 Apr 1 - Charles Hall and Timothy McWhirter

Laouris — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 17:01:04 GMT

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	\| photo= ~~Timothy_McWhirter~~.~~jpg~~		\| photo= Hall_McWhirter.png
	~~\| photo= Charles_A_S_Hall.jpg~~
	\| name=[[Charles Hall]] & [[Timothy McWhirter]]		\| name=[[Charles Hall]] & [[Timothy McWhirter]]
	\| title=~~The~~ Evolution ~~of Our Understanding of Thermodynamics~~: A Systems Approach		\| title= Energy and Evolution: A Systems Approach
	\| date=Apr 1, 2026		\| date=Apr 1, 2026
	\| presentation=		\| presentation= Webinar_Hall_and_McWhirter_ISSS_Final.pdf
	\| link=https://vimeo.com/1179359909}}		\| link=https://vimeo.com/1179359909}}

	<span style="font-size:200%"> ~~The~~ Evolution ~~of Our Understanding of Thermodynamics~~: A Systems Approach"</span>		<span style="font-size:200%"> Energy and Evolution: A Systems Approach </span>

File:Webinar Hall and McWhirter ISSS Final.pdf

Laouris — Mon, 13 Apr 2026 17:00:39 GMT

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Mini Symposium 2026 Apr 1 - Charles Hall and Timothy McWhirter

Laouris — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 18:05:36 GMT

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	\| name=[[Charles Hall]] & [[Timothy McWhirter]]		\| name=[[Charles Hall]] & [[Timothy McWhirter]]
	\| title=The Evolution of Our Understanding of Thermodynamics: A Systems Approach		\| title=The Evolution of Our Understanding of Thermodynamics: A Systems Approach

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Mini Symposium 2026 Apr 1 - Charles Hall and Timothy McWhirter

Laouris — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 18:00:52 GMT

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{{Mini Symposia
| photo=
| name=[[Charles Hall]] & [[Timothy McWhirter]]
| title=The Evolution of Our Understanding of Thermodynamics: A Systems Approach
| date=Apr 1, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/1179359909}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> The Evolution of Our Understanding of Thermodynamics: A Systems Approach"</span>

==Abstract==
Some scientists have argued that evolutionary biology is poised for a third major synthesis. In the first synthesis, Darwin conceptualized and presented evidence for his evolutionary theory. The second used genetic mechanisms to explain how evolution worked. The third is based on energy. In the wake of Boltzmann’s work, a thermodynamic school of evolutionary theory has emerged, offering a number of principles alleged to guide evolutionary development. These include the principle of maximum energy flux, the maximum power principle, the minimum entropy production principle, the maximum entropy production principle, the constructal law, the maximum efficiency principle, and the equal fitness paradigm. Collectively, these principles have sometimes been described as contradictory, disunited, local, and as referring to apples and oranges. So far, different scientists have championed their principle of choice and argued that it is more “accurate” or more “general” than the other principles. In some cases, scientists have used straw man arguments that portray the other principles inaccurately. This has undermined our ability to understand the relations among these principles. The thesis of this book project is that many of these principles are fundamentally related and interdependent, and we can develop a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the evolutionary process if we view this process from a systems perspective, as a property that emerges from the interaction of many different parts. Part of the reason for the different optimality principles scientists have developed is that they focus on different parts of the process: the maximization of power, the production of entropy, the persistence of biodiversity, the evolution of design, etc. These principles provide an ability to predict, and in some cases, explain phenomena in these different parts of the evolutionary process. This book seeks to bring the interaction among these parts of the process into clearer focus by accurately describing the relations among these optimality principles and how they can evolve over time. In the process, we hope to provide a more accurate and comprehensive understanding of the role of energy in evolutionary development, which is like listening to only the cellos in Beethoven’s Hymn to Joy when focusing exclusively on one optimality principle. This systems theory of thermodynamic evolution should help to provide a fundamental component of the third major synthesis of evolutionary biology. (383 words)

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==Short Bio==
[[Charles Hall]] received his Ph.D. from the University of North Carolina from the great systems ecologist Howard Odum. He has been a research scientist at Brookhaven and Oak Ridge National Laboratories and at the Marine Biological Laboratory, Woods Hole, and professor at Cornell University, University of Montana, and the SUNY College of Environmental Science and Forestry. He is the author of 14 books and more than 340 peer-reviewed papers, many in our “best” journals. In his mid-career, he turned his main interests from systems analysis and modeling of the energetics of natural ecosystems to increasingly, human-dominated “economic” systems. He is especially well known within the scientific community for initiating and developing (with colleagues) the concepts of EROI (Energy Return on Investment) and BioPhysical Economics. He is the recipient of many academic awards including the Hubbert Award from the American Society for the Study of Peak Oil and the Lifetime Achievement award from the International Society of BioPhysical Economics. (159 words)

[[Timothy McWhirter]] received his Ph.D. in philosophy from Florida State University. While in graduate school, he published a paper that described the empirical evidence in the contemporary sciences that supported Nietzsche’s principle of the will to power. In 2012, he published a paper on Nietzsche’s critique of morality that described how the will to power appeared to be similar, in important respects, to the maximum power principle developed by H. T. Odum. This was the first published paper that discussed the relation between these two principles. A decade later, he received an email from the ecologist Charles A. S. Hall, who was astonished that he was quoted by a philosopher about the maximum power principle. Since then, they have worked together on a number of projects: the book Maximum Power and its Philosophical Roots, McWhirter as the author and Hall as the editor; they coauthored the paper Maximum Power in Evolution, Ecology, and Economics; and they worked together on a chapter entitled The Equal Fitness Paradigm: a thermodynamic synthesis in evolutionary biology. Their next project is ambitious. They intend to write a book that outlines a systems theory of thermodynamic evolution, which explains the relations between all the different optimality principles that have been described by scientists in the thermodynamic school of evolution. (217 words)

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Mini Symposium 2026 Mar 18 - Bruno Vaz

Laouris — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:57:26 GMT

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	\| photo= Bruno N Vaz.png		\| photo= Bruno N Vaz.png
	\| name=[[Bruno Vaz]]		\| name=[[Bruno Nunes Vaz]]
	\| title=Space Governance in the New Space Era: A Systems Sciences Perspective		\| title=Space Governance in the New Space Era: A Systems Sciences Perspective
	\| date=Mar 18, 2026		\| date=Mar 18, 2026
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Mini Symposium 2026 Mar 18 - Bruno Vaz

Laouris — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:54:52 GMT

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{{Mini Symposia
| photo= Bruno N Vaz.png
| name=[[Bruno Vaz]]
| title=Space Governance in the New Space Era: A Systems Sciences Perspective
| date=Mar 18, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/1174909288}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> Space Governance in the New Space Era: A Systems Sciences Perspective"</span>

==Abstract==
The space sector is undergoing a profound transformation. The transition from "Old Space" — characterised by state-led programmes and Cold War-era treaties — to "New Space" has introduced unprecedented complexity. Private actors now rival national agencies in capability, the global space economy exceeds $600 billion, and emerging domains such as space mining and in-orbit manufacturing are reshaping the sector's boundaries.
Yet governance structures have not kept pace. The 1967 Outer Space Treaty offers little guidance for an era of mega-constellations, 130 million pieces of orbital debris, space militarisation across multiple nations, and private companies pursuing lunar resource extraction. The recursion levels that once organised the sector — from the UN to governments, agencies, and contractors — are now blurred, whilst bilateral accords like the Artemis Accords compete with multilateral frameworks for legitimacy.
This presentation draws on systems sciences, particularly the Viable System Model, to diagnose these structural deficits in the New Space era.

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==Short Bio==
Bruno Nunes Vaz is a PhD candidate at the Technological Institute of Aeronautics (ITA) and a visiting researcher at Politecnico di Milano, focusing on innovation within the New Space sector. With a background in mechanical engineering and orbital mechanics, he bridges the gap between academic research and industrial applications. He is a partner at N7 Ventures, a venture builder for deep-tech startups, and a shareholder at Orbital Engenharia, a Brazilian space and defense company.

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File:ZaidKhan.png

Laouris — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:50:49 GMT

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Mini Symposium 2026 Mar 25 - Zaid Khan

Laouris — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:50:32 GMT

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{{Mini Symposia
| photo= ZaidKhan.png
| name=[[Zaid Khan]]
| title=A Humble Posture Towards Systems Change
| date=Mar 25, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/1177081671}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> A Humble Posture Towards Systems Change"</span>

==Abstract==
When faced with complex, interconnected challenges, the traditional impulse is often to try and engineer top-down solutions. "A Humble Posture Towards Systems Change" challenges this instinct, advocating for a fundamental shift from a mindset of control to one of stewardship, deep listening, and adaptability.

This session explores how practitioners can engage with complex systems with greater reverence for their inherent nature and pace. Drawing on a branch of ecological systems thinking, this talk translates these foundational theories through a practical design and strategy lens. Attendees will explore how systems approaches can emphasize a system's natural rhythms to find the right time to foster a shift

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==Short Bio==
Zaid Khan is a strategist and systemic designer based in Toronto who helps organizations navigate complexity. As the co-founder of the systemic design studio Contexture and a co-organizer for Systems Thinking Ontario, his work consistently bridges academic theory and on-the-ground practice. Holding an MDes in Strategic Foresight and Innovation, his practice focuses on building adaptive capacity and guiding institutions through systemic shifts.

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Mini Symposium 2026 Apr 8 Andreas Nicolaides

Laouris — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:42:08 GMT

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	<span style="font-size:200%"> Speciation through Genomic Reorganisation: The Phylogenetic Meta-Programme Hypothesis"</span>		<span style="font-size:200%"> Speciation through Genomic Reorganisation: The Phylogenetic Meta-Programme Hypothesis</span>


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	# Stabilisers: systems that preserve lineage coherence, such as centromeric divergence with drive suppression, piRNA surveillance, inversions, supergenes, imprinting, and incompatibility complexes.		# Stabilisers: systems that preserve lineage coherence, such as centromeric divergence with drive suppression, piRNA surveillance, inversions, supergenes, imprinting, and incompatibility complexes.

	These functions do not direct development itself but transform the regulatory logic that structures it. In this sense, the system constitutes a meta-programme: a higher-order genomic architecture that converts existing developmental programmes into novel ones, linking organisms across space and time. Crucially, they also resolve the anomalies: stasis reflects stability maintained by stabilisers, sudden transformations occur when initiators cross thresholds, reticulated histories arise from coordinating processes across lineages, and hybrid dysfunction stems from divergence in stabilising systems.		These functions do not direct development itself but transform the regulatory logic that structures it. In this sense, the system constitutes a meta-programme: a higher-order genomic architecture that converts existing developmental programmes into novel ones, linking organisms across space and time. Crucially, they also resolve the anomalies: stasis reflects stability maintained by stabilisers, sudden transformations occur when initiators cross thresholds, reticulated histories arise from coordinating processes across lineages, and hybrid dysfunction stems from divergence in stabilising systems.

	On this basis, the hypothesis yields distinctive predictions: genomic turnover should track clade-specific tempos of speciation; bursts of mobile elements and duplications should cluster around radiation events; shared viral or symbiotic agents should generate concordant genomic change; and hybrid dysfunction should correlate with divergence in coherence-preserving systems. Evolutionary anomalies, on this view, are not noise but signatures of a genomic meta-programme in action.		On this basis, the hypothesis yields distinctive predictions: genomic turnover should track clade-specific tempos of speciation; bursts of mobile elements and duplications should cluster around radiation events; shared viral or symbiotic agents should generate concordant genomic change; and hybrid dysfunction should correlate with divergence in coherence-preserving systems. Evolutionary anomalies, on this view, are not noise but signatures of a genomic meta-programme in action.

Mini Symposium 2026 Apr 8 Andreas Nicolaides

Laouris — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:41:22 GMT

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{{Mini Symposia
| photo= AndreasNicolaides.jpg
| name=[[Andreas Nicolaides]]
| title=Speciation through Genomic Reorganisation: The Phylogenetic Meta-Programme Hypothesis
| date=Apr 8, 2026
| presentation=
| link=https://vimeo.com/1181357175}}

<span style="font-size:200%"> Speciation through Genomic Reorganisation: The Phylogenetic Meta-Programme Hypothesis"</span>

==Abstract==
Darwin’s On the Origin of Species left unresolved the problem named in its title: how new species arise. The Modern Synthesis, though uniting Mendelian genetics with natural selection, has produced no coherent theory of speciation. Instead, evolutionary biology has accumulated a patchwork of mechanisms, often treating anomalies—such as long periods of evolutionary stasis, apparently sudden transformations, reticulated phylogenies (branching complicated by cross-lineage gene flow), and recurrent hybridisation (interbreeding between distinct lineages)—as exceptions rather than signals of a deeper order.

This presentation introduces the Phylogenetic Meta-Programme Hypothesis: the claim that speciation is not the incidental by-product of auxiliary processes linked to natural selection, but is structured by higher-order regulatory systems, encoded in the germline, that govern the mode and tempo of evolution. These are not fixed typological essences but dynamic, multi-scale architectures intrinsic to life’s organisation. Framed within the broader perspective of Genomic Essentialism, the hypothesis advances the view that biological organisation is driven by genomic programmes that are constitutive of life itself, rather than by emergent properties alone.

Four systemic functions illustrate this architecture:

#Initiators: timers and triggers that delimit and precipitate transformation, including tandem-repeat turnover, germline resets, hybridisation, duplication, and viral invasion.
# Generators: mechanisms that expand and rewire genomic material, such as bursts of transposons, endogenous retroviruses, segmental duplications, retrocopying, and 3-D architectural change.
# Coordinators: processes that synchronise transformations across populations, including viral and symbiotic dynamics and germline programmes that align thresholds.
# Stabilisers: systems that preserve lineage coherence, such as centromeric divergence with drive suppression, piRNA surveillance, inversions, supergenes, imprinting, and incompatibility complexes.

These functions do not direct development itself but transform the regulatory logic that structures it. In this sense, the system constitutes a meta-programme: a higher-order genomic architecture that converts existing developmental programmes into novel ones, linking organisms across space and time. Crucially, they also resolve the anomalies: stasis reflects stability maintained by stabilisers, sudden transformations occur when initiators cross thresholds, reticulated histories arise from coordinating processes across lineages, and hybrid dysfunction stems from divergence in stabilising systems.

On this basis, the hypothesis yields distinctive predictions: genomic turnover should track clade-specific tempos of speciation; bursts of mobile elements and duplications should cluster around radiation events; shared viral or symbiotic agents should generate concordant genomic change; and hybrid dysfunction should correlate with divergence in coherence-preserving systems. Evolutionary anomalies, on this view, are not noise but signatures of a genomic meta-programme in action.

{{#ev:vimeo|1181357175 |600|left|}}

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==Short Bio==
Andreas Nicolaides studied Medicine at Manchester University (1982) and Philosophy at London University (2024). He is currently employed part-time at York Teaching Hospital NHS Foundation Trust as a Consultant Head and Neck Surgeon and is affiliated with Hull York Medical School as an Honorary Senior Lecturer.

He has had a lifelong interest in evolutionary theory, which he has pursued independently of his clinical work. This has led him to advance a systems biology approach to the anomalies of speciation at the molecular level. Through this, he has developed the idea of Genomic Essentialism, based on the Constitutive Genomic Programmes hypothesis: systems-level regulatory architectures encoded in all genomes that direct both the reliable unfolding of embryonic development and the patterned transformation of species.
This project has firm foundations in the naturalised teleology of Aristotle, which recognised the purposiveness of organisms but lacked a mechanism to parallel that of natural selection. By showing how genomic programmes act through well-recognised regulatory pathways, Genomic Essentialism supports an internalist explanation of life’s organisation that subsumes, rather than denies, the externalism of natural selection.

Dr Nicolaides draws on sources from classical philosophy, evolutionary theory, and molecular biology to argue that life’s anomalies — such as episodic bursts in the fossil record, synchrony in molecular evolution, and the peculiar molecular logic observed in the germline — only make sense when understood as parts of an integrated programme. His work aims to bring together systems science, genomics, and philosophy in order to offer a unifying account of life’s organisation.

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Laouris — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:41:04 GMT

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Mini Symposium 2026 Mar 11 - Peter Erdi

Laouris — Thu, 09 Apr 2026 17:34:51 GMT

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	<span style="font-size:200%">Re-~~imagining our world~~, ~~making friends and making a difference~~"</span>		<span style="font-size:200%"> Students exploring agent-based modeling software, NetLogo, through its applications to complex systems in daily life"</span>