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DTSTART;TZID=Europe/Berlin:20260917T090000
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DTSTAMP:20260709T201337Z
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SUMMARY:100 Years of Stafford Beer: Celebrating his Life\, his Legacy and Beyond
DESCRIPTION:Metaphorum 2026 marks the centenary of Stafford Beer with a landmark international gathering dedicated to celebrating his life\, legacy\, and continuing influence on organisational cybernetics. More than fifty years after the Viable System Model and Team Syntegrity reshaped the field\, Beer’s ideas remain urgently relevant as organisations and societies confront escalating complexity\, ecological limits\, technological disruption\, and crises of governance. This conference invites participants to explore Beer’s holistic intellectual and human legacy\, reflecting on the ethical\, creative\, and philosophical foundations that shaped his work and continue to inspire new generations. It also opens space for examining the evolving landscape of methods and tools in organisational cybernetics\, from innovations that extend the power of the VSM and Team Syntegrity to practice based insights that reveal how these principles are being adapted\, challenged\, and refined across diverse contexts. \nAt the same time\, Metaphorum 2026 looks boldly beyond Beer\, engaging with the pressing socio ecological challenges of our era. Contributors are invited to consider how cybernetic thinking can strengthen resilience\, support regeneration\, and enable democratic\, ethically grounded governance in a world marked by climate disruption\, inequality\, and systemic instability. The conference also embraces the spirit of “Barefoot Cybernetics\,” exploring how grounded\, justice centred approaches can help design organisations and communities that advance equity\, autonomy\, cohesion\, and social wellbeing. Finally\, it turns toward the future\, asking how technological acceleration\, including artificial intelligence\, might enhance\, challenge\, or transform viable systems in the decades ahead. Metaphorum 2026 is conceived as a living conversation\, honouring Beer not by fixing his ideas in time but by engaging with them as an evolving tradition shaped through dialogue\, critique\, creativity\, and practice. The programme will feature workshops\, panels\, creative exhibits\, case studies\, and collaborative sessions designed to deepen collective learning and spark new directions for research and action. Participants will also have opportunities to contribute to forthcoming special issues in Systemic Practice and Action Research\, Systems Research and Behavioural Science\, and a new Metaphorum online journal\, Organisational Systems. \nWho We Are Inviting\nWe welcome: \n\nRelatives and collaborators who knew Stafford personally and will share insights into his life and character.\nResearchers advancing his legacy by adapting his original thinking and developing innovative cybersystemic methodologies.\nConsultants and practitioners who continue to evolve his theories through creative and impactful applications.
URL:https://ifsr.org/event/100-years-of-stafford-beer-celebrating-his-life-his-legacy-and-beyond/
LOCATION:Alliance Manchester Business School\, Manchester\, United Kingdom
ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/png:https://ifsr.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/Image-100-years-SB.png
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