The Significance! CybSights—The President’s Series

Written by Angus Jenkinson · 2 min read >
Details
Date:

February 7

Time:

08:31 am - 08:31 am

Event Category:

CybSights President's Series

The President’s CybSight Series consists of talks by distinguished speakers on issues and challenges confronting modern society.

Hosted by our President, Dr. John Beckford FCybS, the CybSights President’s Series is a new programme that will bring interesting people together to explore the relevance and contribution of cybernetics to addressing important challenges.

Each event will consist of contributions by two different speakers. Each will be followed by individual Q&A. These are then brought together by the President in a lively and engaging plenary discussion. Each will seek areas of convergence and divergence between the ideas explored.

Events will be held via Zoom on the 2nd Wednesday of each month from 1700 to 1900.

Meetings are open to members of the Cybernetics Society and also the general public. Non-members are invited to join or give a donation. Booking is required.

The inaugural CybSights President’s Series event will be on 14th October 2020.

#1 : October 14: The Significance!

The Cybernetics Society has been hosting conversations and lectures since the late 1960s. In July 2020 the Society addressed the key question of Why Cybernetics Still Matters. Speakers from three different areas, Policing, Corporate ICT, and Systems of National Infrastructure, shared their perspectives and the contributions cybernetics makes to their professional lives. This event, the first of 12 now being planned, continues that exploration of the relevance of the supra-discipline of cybernetics to the challenges facing society today.

Introduction and Welcome: Dr. John Beckford, FCybS, President of the Cybernetics Society

John Beckford is a partner in Beckford Consulting, Non-Executive Chair of the Board of Rise Mutual CIC, a Non-Executive Director of both Fusion21 and CoreHaus (social enterprises) and Visiting Professor in both the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering at University College London and the Centre for Information Management, School of Business and Economics, Loughborough University. John holds a PhD in cybernetics from the University of Hull, is a Fellow of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and of the Royal Society for the Arts and a Member of the Institute of Management Services. He is President of the Cybernetics Society.

Paulo Rui Gonçalves da Costa, MCybS, Consulting Architect

From Architecture to Cybernetics and Back.

Paulo reflects on his professional practice and the learning he has taken from and given to the ideas of cybernetics.

Paulo da Costa is a chartered architect both in Portugal and in the UK. He has been based in London since 2008 and has since collaborated in outstanding private residential projects in Great Britain and in continental Europe. Paulo is a keen student of the History of Ideas with a focus on practical applications in design and education. He has been surveying the field of Cybernetics since 2010 and is a council member of The Cybernetics Society.

Followed by discussion and Q & A

Professor Michael Jackson

Organisational Cybernetics: Past, Present and Future.

Mike explores the challenges facing the supra-discipline of cybernetics and its practitioners.

Michael C. Jackson is Emeritus Professor at the University of Hull, editor-in-chief of Systems Research and Behavioral Science, and MD of Systems Research Ltd. He graduated from Oxford University, gained an MA from Lancaster University and a PhD from Hull, and has worked in the civil service, in academia and as a consultant. Between 1999 and 2011, Mike was Dean of Hull University Business School, leading it to triple-crown accreditation. Mike has been President of the International Federation for Systems Research and the International Society for the Systems Sciences. In 2011 he received an OBE for services to higher education and business. In 2017 he received the Beale Medal of the UK Operational Research Society. He has been central to the development of critical systems thinking (CST).

Followed by discussion and Q & A

Plenary Discussion

The aim of this session, moderated by John Beckford, is to draw out the complementary and competing ideas emerging from the two sessions.

Cybernetics Society – a learned society

The Cybernetics Society promotes and offers education and research opportunities in the rich field of cybernetics. In the CybSights series, including the President’s Series, we offer isghts conversations, lectures, case studies, analysis, education, and thoughtful entertainment.,

The Cybernetics Society – http://CybSoc.org – is a specially authorised learned society regulated by the FSA and established by a 1974 Act of Parliament. To join visit our membership system or pick the Join ticket.

Cybernetics plays into and strongly influences many scientific and practice fields including design, epistemology, ecology, biology, psychology and living behaviour, technology and engineering, social policy, and business practice, amongst others. Many feature in this wonderful set of aware and successful designers and thinkers.

Cybernetics offers a distinct “go” — techniques — to address local and global challenges of the 21st century.

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