Title: Elevating Systems Science to Address Humanity’s Greatest Challenges
Advancing Real-World Applications; Converging on General Systems Science; Harnessing the Power of AI
The 70th Anniversary (Platinum) Conference of the International Society for the Systems Sciences (ISSS) marks a pivotal moment—not just for the society, but for the world.
Building on the 2025 conference’s emphasis on internal collaboration and unity within the systems sciences community, the 2026 gathering sets its sights outward. It is time for systems science to engage more visibly and meaningfully with the world’s most influential institutions: the United Nations, European Union, World Bank, OECD, IMF, African Union, national governments, major universities, and civil society at large.
Today’s global challenges (e.g., democratic erosion, rising inequality, climate crises, pandemics, and AI disruption) demand more than fragmented expertise or short-term solutions. They call for holistic, integrated, and adaptive thinking rooted in systems science. Yet while the need has never been greater, the discipline itself faces fragmentation and marginalization. Almost all academic systems science departments have closed, and many academics and practitioners remain scattered across fields, departments, and sectors.
This conference calls on systems thinkers (scientists, practitioners, educators, and decision-makers) to close this gap. We must reinvigorate our field by aligning our diverse theories and methodologies into a coherent general systems science and demonstrating its practical value on the global stage. Systems science principles and practices offer powerful tools for addressing contemporary issues, such as enhancing governance, resolving conflicts, promoting peace, and reforming education, healthcare, financial institutions, local authorities, and many other areas.
Importantly, the 2026 conference will spotlight both the promise and peril of artificial intelligence. AI can amplify systemic insight, support anticipatory governance, and help coordinate solutions at scale. But without ethical and systemic oversight, it also risks deepening inequities, automating harm, and eroding human agency. We must therefore explore how systems science can serve as a compass in navigating AI’s uncertain terrain.
ISSS’s Platinum Conference is a call to action to elevate systems science and cybernetics from a niche academic pursuit to a central pillar of planetary stewardship. We invite you to join us in shaping this transition, spanning disciplines, sectors, institutions, and generations.
Let us move from theory to action, and from siloed expertise to systemic solutions.