ENS5510 Innovation to influence system change

Leadership toward sustainable development requires you to address complex problems that are often systemic and politically charged. This unit will empower you to make sense of large complex systems, use structured processes to influence change, and develop innovative ideas to create sustainable outcomes for real-world situations.

You will learn key theories of system and political change and apply these to examine components of real systems we live in, such as transport, energy, water and more – their structures, rules, norms, values, politics and technology. This will enable you to clearly define problems, reveal and avoid biases and uncover root causes of systemic issues. Your strategic understanding of systems will let you recognise the factors that help or hinder sustainable development and identify opportunities for guided change.

Having built this strategic understanding, you will then gain tactics and tools to innovate and influence change. You’ll practice with industry-relevant methods and develop personal skills required to succeed across sectors and scales. These include collaborative processes, system mapping, creative visioning, rapid prototyping of ideas, advocacy and winning support for your initiatives.