The challenge of change

Creating change is hard; creating transformational change is even harder. Why? This unit explores fundamental questions around how change happens, why purposeful change can be so difficult, and how change can be understood and influenced at multiple levels.

The unit draws on rich, illustrative examples from political, social and natural sciences, and interdisciplinary sustainability theories, to help you make sense of change within complex systems. You will learn how to identify hidden patterns and dynamics, how to diagnose the nature of real-world problems, and become familiar with factors which enable or prevent behavioural, organisational and systemic change in real-life contexts. In addition, you will gain an appreciation for the ethics of change, and for the need to engage in a collaborative approach to creating change, at the individual level, and up to the level of public policy.