Norma Romm joined ISSS in 1966. Norma is a South African critical systems thinker interested in Transformative Research and links with Indigenous onto-epistemology. She is a (retired) professor in the Department of Adult, Community, and Continuing Education at the University of South Africa. Norma was previously Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Eswatini[1]; Deputy director of the Centre for Systems Studies, at the University of Hull[2]; and Dean of Social Sciences and Humanities at the European University of Cyprus. (See her ORCID page for details.)
2015: Award (plaque) by the University of South Africa in recognition of being rated by South Africa’s National Research Foundation for being an established researcher in the fields of researcher accountability, responsible research practice, and constructivist epistemology (2015-2020).
2016: Chancellor’s Prize for Excellence in Research (Award given by the University of South Africa).
2020: Re-rating (for the period 2021-2026) by the South African National Research Foundation: Category B2 in the specialization fields of responsible research practice, transformative research, and the Indigenous paradigm. (Definition of B2: All or the overriding majority of reviewers utilized to review the application are firmly convinced that the applicant enjoys considerable international recognition for the high quality and impact of his/her recent research outputs.)
2022: Awarded a prize from the University of South Africa: Women in Research Leadership Award for Excellence in Research (from Vice-Principal: Research, Postgraduate Studies, Innovation & Commercialization).
1996: Diversity Management: Triple Loop Learning (co-authored with Robert Flood). Wiley.
2008: Assessment of the Impact of HIV and AIDS in the Informal Economy in Zambia (co-authored with Veronica McKay). International Labor Organization.
CO-EDITED BOOKS (reverse chronological order)
2022 (Ed.): Covid-19: Perspectives Across Africa (co-edited with A. Fymat and J. Kapalanga). The compilation of this book emanated from the (virtual) annual conference of the Society for the Advancement of Science in Africa (SASA), 2020/2021. Tellwell.
2019 (Ed.): Mixed Methods and Cross-Disciplinary Research Towards Cultivating Eco-systemic Living (co-edited with Janet McIntyre-Mills). Springer.
2019 (Ed.): Democracy and Governance for Resourcing the Commons (co-edited with Janet McIntyre-Mills and Yvonne Corcoran-Nantes). Springer.
2017 (Ed.): Balancing Individualism and Collectivism: Social and Environmental Justice (co-edited with Janet McIntyre-Mills and Yvonne Corcoran-Nantes). Springer.
1996 (Ed.): Critical Systems Thinking: Current Research and Practice (co-edited with Robert Flood). Plenum.
1994 (Ed.): Social Theory (co-edited with Michael Sarakinsky). Heinemann.
SOME NOTABLE ARTICLES (in reverse chronological order; please see selected publications for selected additional works):
2025. Facilitation of focus groups towards conflict resolution among pastoralists and farmers in Northern Uganda: An Indigenous relational approach (co-authored with F.A. Adyanga and D. Toolit). The Qualitative Report". 30, 8: 4078-4105. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2025.7619
2023: Towards eco-systemic living: Learning with Indigenous leaders in Africa and Indonesia through a community of practice (co-authored with J. J. McIntyre-Mills, P. V. Lethole, M. Makaulule, R. Wirawan & I. Widianingsih). Systems Research and Behavioral Science40, 5: 779-786. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/sres.2976?af=R
2022: Reflections upon our way of invoking an indigenous paradigm to co-explore community mobilization against irresponsible practices of foreign-owned companies in Nwoya District, Uganda (co-authored with F. A. Adyanga). The Qualitative Report, 27, 7: Art. 13.
2022: Structured dialogical design as a problem structuring method illustrated in a Re-invent democracy project (co-authored with Y. Laouris). European Journal of Operational Research, 301, 3: 1072-1087.
2026 (February). Invited by the ISSS to present in the mini-symposia series (2025-2026). My presentation was entitled “The importance of recognizing the systemic thinking of Indigenous sages and scholars”.
2023 (October). Invited by the Taos Institute to co-prepare a video for the 30th anniversary of the Institute (one of 30 videos for the celebration). The recording (in conversation with Francis Adyanga) is called “Indigenous views of relationality from Africa”.
2022 (November). Invited to speak in a panel discussion in a session entitled “research in multiple worlds” at a conference organised by the Taos Institute around the theme of Unfolding Dialogues: Relational Resources for Global Good (12-18 November 2022).
2025: Indigenous ways of worlding as systemic understanding of human and more-than-human influence in generating worlds in becoming. Journal of the International Society for the Systems Sciences: Proceedings of the 68th Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (held in 2024). Article site: https://journals.isss.org/index.php/jisss/article/view/4192
2025: Responsibility to heed the call through a community of practice: The influence of indigenous wisdom (co-authored with M. Makaulule, P. Lethole, V. Netshandama, B. Mabunda, E. Pitsoane and J. McIntyre-Mills). Journal of the International Society for the Systems Sciences: Proceedings of the 68th Meeting of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (held in 2024). Article site: https://journals.isss.org/index.php/jisss/article/view/4202/1271
2025: Harvesting Indigenous onto-epistemologies for contributing to a more balanced and sustainable future: Exploring options for performing better worlds, in Harnessing Indigenous Epistemologies for Sustainable Progress, 51-72, edited by P. Ngulube. IGI Global.
2024: Metalogue on constructivism and why thinking matters (with J. J. McIntyre-Mills, A. Rayner, D. Finlayson, and R. Treviño-Cisneros), in Affirmative Intervention to Support Multispecies Relationships, 371-386, edited by J. J. McIntyre-Mills. Springer.
2024: Exploring lessons on re-generative living with a community of practice in South Africa and Indonesia (with J. J. McIntyre-Mills, P. V. Lethole, M. Makaulule, R. Wirawan, and I. Widianingsih, in Affirmative Intervention to Support Multispecies Relationships, 441-474, edited by J. J. McIntyre-Mills. Springer.
2024: Re-generating local, regional and international leadership through community engagement on earning, learning and growing a future (with J. J. McIntyre-Mills, M. Makaulule, Y. Laouris, P. V. Lethole, K. Dye, H. Mahareeq, F. Younis, T. Makhlouf, I. Solomou, G. Mabezere, V. Netshandama, R. Riswanda, and I. Widianingsih), in Affirmative Intervention to Support Multispecies Relationships, 475-494, edited by J. J. McIntyre-Mills. Springer.
2023: Indigenous interventions, sociological understandings of inequalities and Covid-19, in Critically Diverse Perspectives on Covid-19: Interviews with a Varied Range of South Africans, 70-81, edited by S. Dey and S. Chattopadhyay. UNISA Press & National Institute for the Humanities & Social Sciences.
2022: Redesigning education for regeneration and well-being: Exploring the potential of digital engagement in the COVID-19 context (co-authored with J. McIntyre-Mills, P.V. Lethole, M. Makaulule, and R. Wirawan), in Covid-19: Perspectives Across Africa, 264-314, edited by A. Fymat, N.R.A. Romm and J. Kapalanga. Tellwell. (This book emanated from the virtual annual conference of the Society for the Advancement of Science in Africa (SASA), 2020/2021.)
2022: Collective action for regeneration of the web of life in the face of disruptive injustice”(co-authored with F. Adyanga), in Transformative Education for Re-generation and Wellbeing, 93-115, edited by J. J. McIntyre-Mills and Y. Corcoran-Nantes. Springer.
2022: Rethinking professional researcher involvement in community-engaged evaluation research: A case of adult education in South Africa (co-authored with A. Arko-Achemfuor), in Reimagining Development Education in Africa, 191-208, edited by D. Addae and O.A.T. Kwapong. Springer.
2021: Responsibly and performatively researching multi-species relationships, in From Polarization to Multispecies Relationships, 223-260, edited by J. McIntyre-Mills and Y. Corcoran-Nantes. Springer.
2021: Prospects for sustainable living with focus on interrelatedness, interdependence and mutuality: Some African perspectives (co-authored with P. V. Lethole), in From Polarization to Multispecies Relationships, 87-114, edited by J. McIntyre-Mills and Y. Corcoran-Nantes. Springer.
2020: Reflections on a post-qualitative inquiry with children/young people: Exploring and furthering a performative research ethics. Forum: Qualitative Social Research, 21, 1: Art 6.
2020: Systemic research practices towards the development of an eco-community in Vietnam: Some joint post-facto reflections (co-authored with H.T.N. Hoang). Systemic Practice and Action Research, 33, 6: 599-624.
2019: Academic-practitioner collaboration with communities towards social and ecological transformation (co-authored with A. Arko-Achemfuor & L. Serolong). International Journal of Transformative Research, 6, 1:1-9.
2018: Systemic thinking and practice toward facilitating inclusive education: Reflections on a case of co-generated knowledge and action in South Africa (co-authored with L.D.N. Tlale). Systemic Practice and Action Research, 31: 105-120.
2018: A systemic approach to processes of power in learning organizations: Part I – literature, theory, and methodology of triple loop learning (co-authored with R.L. Flood). The Learning Organization, 25, 4: 260-272.
2018: A systemic approach to processes of power in learning organizations: Part II – triple loop learning and a facilitative intervention in the “500 Schools Project” (co-authored with R.L. Flood). The Learning Organization 25, 5: 344-352.
2017: Researching Indigenous ways of knowing-and-being, in Handbook of Research on Theoretical Perspectives on Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Developing Countries, 22-48, edited by P. Ngulube. IGI Global publications.
2017: Researching Indigenous science knowledge integration in formal education: Interpreting some perspectives from the field (co-authored with F.A. Adyanga). International Journal of Educational Development in Africa, 3, 1 (doi:10.25159/2312-3540/2696).
2015: Ubuntu-inspired training of adult literacy teachers as a route to generating “community” enterprises (co-authored with K.P. Quan-Baffour), Journal of Literacy Research, 46, 4: 455-474. For a podcast presentation please visit: http://www.voiceofliteracy.org/posts/63144.
2015: Reviewing the transformative paradigm: A critical systemic and relational (indigenous) lens. Systemic Practice and Action Research, 28: 411-427.
2014: Indigenous ways of knowing and possibilities for re-envisaging globalization: Implications for human ecology. Journal of Human Ecology, 48, 1: 123-133.
2008: A systemic approach to addressing HIV/AIDS in the informal economy in Zambia: Methodological pluralism revisited (co-authored with V. McKay), International Journal of Applied Systemic Studies1, 4: 375-397.
2002: Responsible knowing: A better basis for management science, Reason in Practice2, 1: 59-77.
2002: A Trusting Constructivist approach to systemic inquiry: Exploring accountability, Systems Research and Behavioral Science, 19, 5: 455-467.
2002: Reconsidering the exploration of power distance: an active case study approach (co-authored with C-Y. Hsu), Omega30, 6: 403-414.
2001: Critical facilitation: Learning through intervention in group processes (co-authored with W. Gregory), Management Learning32, 4: 453-467.
1996: Inquiry-and-intervention in systems planning: Probing methodological rationalities, World Futures47: 25-36.
1995: Knowing as intervention: Reflections on the application of systems ideas, Systems Practice8, 2: 137-167.
