A global community connected through systems science and practice
"To gain knowledge, we must learn to ask the right questions; and to get answers, we must act, not wait for answers to occur to us."
ISSS Past President Anatol Rapoport
The ISSS is a community of researchers, learners, and practitioners who are devoted to the interdisciplinary inquiry into the nature of complex systems and the application of systems approaches for transformative change.
Conceived in 1954, the ISSS advances systems science theory and application by connecting and enabling researchers and practitioners, and disseminates the knowledge of systems to a global audience.
Conference 2021 The Art and Science of the Impossible: July 8-13
Please save the date for our 65th Annual Meeting and Conference to be held around the world online. Updates and information will be shared here. Membership
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Video News
Delia MacNamara, ISSS President 2020-2021, explains her Art at the American Society for Cybernetics conference in 2014
ISSS News Articles
ISSS 2021 Conference and Annual Meeting
Posted on Feb 17th, 2021
Save the dates 8-13 July 2021 for the first ISSS online virtual conference and second online Annual General Meeting. The theme announcement, call for papers and registration information is coming soon.
Mary Catherine Bateson
Posted on Jan 5th, 2021
We learned from Nora Bateson that Mary Catherine Bateson died on 2 January 2021.
Many of us in the systems and cybernetic world were deeply touched and informed by the work of Mary Catherine. She most recently spoke at the ISSS meeting in Berlin in 2015. Many of us shared many conversations and fun times in Berlin. A great loss to our community. See the We Remember Page.
Springer Handbook of Systems Sciences
Posted on Jul 8th, 2020
The Springer Handbook of Systems Sciences will be ready in early 2021
Editors: Gary Metcalf, Professor Emeritus Kyoichi Kijima and Professor Hirsohi Deguchi
Gary says "Let me simply say that organizing the writing of 50 chapters into a book of over 1000 pages has been challenging. It has taken much longer than I expected, but we are now in the final phases". Well done Gary Jim and Hiroshi.
Read More >>
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Blog
Posted on August 2, 2020 1:30 PM
Activities
ISSS members are engaged in a number of activities around the world. Read more at https://www.isss.org/activities/
Many member activities are collaborative in nature and also involve partnerships and collaborations with other organizations:
American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE) Systems Science Working Group
Systems Literacy
Systemic Action at the Village Level to encourage and support sustainable development.
Calendar
Saturday Sessions
Saturday, March 6, 2021
10am to 12pm
Every Saturday members of ISSS meet to discuss Systems Science development and application.
10 am Eastern Time USA
Monday Online Conversations
Monday, March 8, 2021
10am to 12pm
Every Monday members of ISSS meet to discuss Systems Science development and application.
10 am Central African Time, 8 am GMT UK, 7 pm AEDT
Saturday Sessions
Saturday, March 13, 2021
10am to 12pm
Every Saturday members of ISSS meet to discuss Systems Science development and application.
10 am Eastern Time USA
World of Systems
The ISSS is one of the oldest organizations dedicated to the study, development and application of systems science, systems thinking, cybernetics and complexity science.
We are assembling lists of organizations, social network pages and groups, and also maps of the evolution of the field of systems and cybernetics. Here are some examples
Please email me with comments, additions or corrections. Peter D Tuddenham peterdtuddenham at gmail.com
Meeting Proceedings
We Remember
We Remember
Mary Catherine Bateson 1939 - 2 January 2021
Charles Bocage died 21 August 2020
Peter Caws May 25, 1931 - April 20, 2020 (ISSS President 1966)
Joe Simpson - June 2020
Jack Ring - April 2020
Enrique Herrscher 2019
Charles Francois 2019
Systems Science & Applications Spotlight
Members of ISSS are researching and applying Systems Science in a variety of situations and circumstances. we are creating a temporary Editorial Board to decide what new research and application by ISSS Members to feature here. For more information please email webadmin@isss.org
AAAS Affiliate
In 1954 the founders of the current ISSS met at meetings of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS). They decided to start the Society for General Systems Theory later renamed Society for General Systems Research and now called the International Society for the Systems Sciences. One of the early group of founders and first presidents of our society in 1957, Kenneth Ewart Boulding was President of AAAS in 1980