Systemic Design Association’s changes in 2022

The Systemic Design Association’s changes in 2022 included an increase in the number of board members to nine people and changes to its composition. I want to recognise Benedicte Wildhagen’s enormous contribution to establishing the Systemic Design Association. We will miss her continuous engagement but will continue to seek her advice and support as an active member of the systemic design community. We welcomed four new board members at the General Assembly in October, and I look forward to serving with Sine Celik, Palak Dudani, Ryan Murphy (Co-Secretary), and Jonathan Romm, and returning board members Evan Barba, Marie Davidová, Peter Jones (Vice-Chair), and Cheryl May (Co-Secretary). We are an increasingly multi-national and diverse board, motivated to serve our beloved systemic design community.

I’m very thankful for those of us who had the chance to meet again in person during RSD11. Thanks to Ben Sweeting and the Radical Methodologies Research Group at the University of Brighton, who organised the event in hybrid mode. The symposium cycle continues, with Georgetown University as host, and Evan Barba and Cheryl May have already started coordinating RSD12, which will include programming that supports face-to-face sessions again. However, this year the board has endorsed a hub model, an alternative format that we hope will promote inclusivity and acknowledge the environmental impacts of international travel. After moving online with RSD9 and to hybrid formats for RSD10 and RSD11, there’s little doubt that RSD12 will once again provide an opportunity to share our work and advance systemic design – and I am confident that our host, Georgetown University, will surprise us!

This year’s major board project was Contexts: The Systemic Design Journal. The publication team, Peter Jones, Cheryl May, and myself, were strongly supported by Amina Pereno and Josina Vink. The first issue includes articles by Harold Nelson, Elena Porqueddu, and Dulmini Perero and Tony Fry. Contexts will be available in January, marking a critical growth stage and celebrating systemic design’s global associations.

As we look to the new year and challenges for the future, the Systemic Design Association is strongly committed to starting new projects, enriching our symposium, activating partnerships, and developing networking sessions for our members. I want to take this opportunity to make a special wish for the new year that we continue to connect people with design and build a future of peace and friendship. The future is now, and we are responsible for designing a better world.