We are pleased to invite you to contribute to the upcoming Special Issue on Systems Thinking to Advance the Sustainable Development Goals in Systemic Practice and Action Research, edited by Matt Hutcheson, Koko Zhou and myself.
This Special Issue aims to bring together papers that demonstrate how Systems Thinking can be applied to address sustainability challenges and accelerate progress towards the SDGs. We particularly welcome contributions that:
- Showcase innovative applications of Systems Thinking to address complex sustainability challenges across geographical, cultural, and institutional contexts, for example, using system dynamics, causal loop diagrams, soft systems methodology, or critical systems heuristics etc.
- Illustrate how Systems Thinking can enhance shared understanding, inform policy or enable collective action for sustainable development.
- Reflect on the methodological strengths and limitations of Systems Thinking in sustainable development problem contexts.
- Identify gaps and future research directions for advancing the use of Systems Thinking in pursuit of SDGs.
Paper submission: 1 December 2025 – 3 April 2026.
Kind regards,
Irene, Koko and Matt
SI Guest Editors
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Dr Irene Pluchinotta
Lecturer in “Systems Thinking for Sustainability”
Deputy Director of Education
Institute for Environmental Design and Engineering
The Bartlett Faculty of The Built Environment
University College London