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In this talk Gary will be reflecting on new insights that have arisen during his engagement with the system science community over the last 10 years, undertaking a trip of discovery.   We will be exploring the nature of health and disease, cancer, pathogens, inflammation, and the immune response. From this context we will be making explicit the architectural parallels between biosystem and human organisational pathology, health, defence, and security.   We will reflect on the COVID pandemic and how a systems approach explains how the COVID-19 virus took advantage of a chink in our defence and security processes (in our biochemistry, biosystems and in our societies).As we progress through the journey, we will be reflecting on the systems thinking necessary in the discovery process and those aspects of systemness revealed under study. In applying a systems approach and the power of analogy and paradox, new understandings and opportunities arise for enhancing the health and vitality of organisations.   Building upon previous material in the ISSS futures report, an elaboration of recommendations will be suggested for discussion based on these insights.      Gary Smith is a Senior Expert Systems Engineer at Airbus Defence and Space. He is their overall architect for engineering processes and provides technical leadership in the digital transformation of the division. He is an INCOSE certified Expert Systems Engineering Professional and a senior editor of the Systems Engineering Body Of Knowledge. Since 2019 he has been the VP for Systems Practice at the ISSS and their relationship manager with INCOSE.   Systems practice has been a continuous theme through Gary’s life experience. He began his career as a lab technician in industrial chemistry at the age of 16, he taught himself how to write software applications in the early 80s, and then after his chemistry degree moved on to relational database systems, software development and project management. As a Project Manager, he was responsible for the delivery of telecommunications infrastructures across Europe before taking on the corporate leadership of the PM discipline. Later, Gary was recruited by Airbus to develop the discipline of technical management and worked to bridge the SE and PM disciplines. During this time with Airbus, he has had several roles as Chief Engineer and Architect of System of Systems Solutions.    Gary is a system junky, his passion extends beyond his professional work and into areas of personal interest to understand the nature of things, to appreciate complexity and to address the big ‘why’ questions. Since the early 2000s Gary has been applying systems thinking to topics such as cancer, inflammation, sepsis, pre-eclampsia and presented to the ISSS on this topic at their Washington conference – “Understanding disease with Systems Thinking”.  Working across and with several organisations and contributors, Gary has been applying systems approaches and processes to integrate system science, systems thinking and systems practice.

 

https://www.isss.org/members-mini-symposiums/     

Saturday time zones for March   San Francisco:    7 AM on a Saturday Mexico:              9 AM on a Saturday New York:          10  AM on a Saturday London, UK:        2  PM on a Saturday Central Europe:   3  PM on a Saturday South Africa:       4  PM on  a Saturday