KindSoCIETIE KNoT
ModeWorkshop
ThreadEnabling Technologies
Skills Developed
Systems ThinkingFutures ThinkingVisual Communication
Created By
Sungyeon Hong — Affiliate (College of Systems & Society )
About this KNoT
Explore self-organisation, feedback, and resilience — then apply cybernetic thinking to design hopeful, adaptable futures.
Preparation
- Gershenson, C. Self-organizing systems: what, how, and why?. npj Complex 2, 10 (2025). Self-organizing systems: what, how, and why?
- Emergent Complexity by Emergent Garden on YouTube. Emergent Complexity (YouTube video)
What You’ll Learn
As part of Cybernetics for Social Impact KNoTs, this workshop will provide students with space and time to think through what it means by self-organisation, interact with other peers to embody the concept, and understand what makes systems resilient.
We will discuss the emergence of patterns in natural and social contexts and identify key elements, such as agents, interactions, feedback, disruption, to analyse self-organised systems. At the end of the session, we will apply the insights into designing resilient and hopeful futures. Participants will be equipped with a systemic lens to recognise and work with self-organising dynamics in socio-ecological contexts and get inspired to imagine hopeful, emergent futures.
We will discuss the emergence of patterns in natural and social contexts and identify key elements, such as agents, interactions, feedback, disruption, to analyse self-organised systems. At the end of the session, we will apply the insights into designing resilient and hopeful futures. Participants will be equipped with a systemic lens to recognise and work with self-organising dynamics in socio-ecological contexts and get inspired to imagine hopeful, emergent futures.
Tips & Advice
Facilitator
Sungyeon's background is in computational physics with a core interest in pattern formation - whether they be structural or behavioural - via self-organisation in complex systems. Curiosity driven, her love of nature has provided lessons, insights and investigations into intricate connections that have inspired her journey to gain a deeper understanding of how we think, how we operate, and how we strive for the greater good together.
She teaches in ANU's School of Cybernetics as well as being a McCusker Institute Affiliate. Her research aims to better understand the resilience of complex adaptive systems in linguistics and artificial intelligence through a topological lens, as well as to push the boundaries of tech-enabled arts.
Sungyeon's background is in computational physics with a core interest in pattern formation - whether they be structural or behavioural - via self-organisation in complex systems. Curiosity driven, her love of nature has provided lessons, insights and investigations into intricate connections that have inspired her journey to gain a deeper understanding of how we think, how we operate, and how we strive for the greater good together.
She teaches in ANU's School of Cybernetics as well as being a McCusker Institute Affiliate. Her research aims to better understand the resilience of complex adaptive systems in linguistics and artificial intelligence through a topological lens, as well as to push the boundaries of tech-enabled arts.
How to Complete This KNoT
Group activity of "Designing for hopeful futures" in free formats, e.g., via drawing, storytelling, mapping, flowchart, etc.
Submit your Completion Task here:
Submit your completion task for this KNoT via the Qualtrics survey (ANU Login required). You have 10 calendar days after the KNoT to submit it.