By Bramka Arga Jafino
Master Candidate in Engineering and Policy Analysis
Delft University of Technology
Being introduced to and having fallen in love with System Dynamics back in 2013, I’m excited that I finally will manage to attend the International System Dynamics Conference, #ISDC16, for the first time this year. The conference will be held from July 17 to July 21, 2016 in Delft, The Netherlands. The main theme of the conference is “Black Swans and Black Lies: System Dynamics in the Context of Randomness and Political Power-play”. Academics, consultants, practitioners, students, managers and policy makers from across the globe will discuss their work, especially with regard to how System Dynamics is applied in systems that are full of uncertainties and how the approach is orchestrated in a multi-actor, political context. You can see the numerous works that will be presented in here and the tentative schedule here.
As a student who aims to be a policy analyst of the future, I believe that System Dynamics can be well utilized for model-based decision making. The novelty of the System Dynamics approach is its ability to explicitly map out mental models of stakeholders and to unveil unintended consequences of proposed policies. I’m excited to see how various modelers have used a System Dynamics approach to tackle broad aspects of our interconnected society in the upcoming conference, and to see many new System Dynamics state-of-the-art techniques. It doesn’t stop there, the conference is also a networking platform to connect with people who are interested in this field, especially young modelers who will shape the future!
So please join me in attending the conference events: ranging from parallel sessions, plenary sessions, workshops, PhD colloquium, and even a banquet dinner! If you’re new to this field, you don’t have to worry since this conference also provides a newcomer orientation event. Currently doing research and you want to ask some questions with regard to your model? Or probably you simply want to know more on how to use System Dynamics software? You can join the modeling assistance workshop. You can register for the conference here.
I can’t wait to meet other young modelers and to prolong our discussions afterwards!
Passionate about systems thinking, traveling and social change initiatives. Learn more at angelikaschanda.net
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