Fwd: [Test] October 2nd WICI Seminar with Mr. Brian Neff, University of Waterloo

[Megan Bean]

Dear All:

Would you kindly forward this seminar announcement from WICI on to your
respective faculty/student mailing lists?

Thank you,

Megan


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               Upcoming WICI Seminar!
         On *Wednesday, October 2, 2013 from 12.00-2.00pm* in *M3 2134*,
Mr. Brian Neff, Ph.D. candidate, Geography and Environmental Management,
University of Waterloo, will discuss social-ecological systems. All are
welcome! *Reserve* your (free) ticket on the event's page
here<http://wici.ca/new/event/wici-speaker-series-traps-and-transformations-of-social-ecological-systems-commentary-from-the-caribbean/>.

     The adaptive cycle metaphor provides insight into how and why
social-ecological systems change. Social-ecological systems literature has
built upon these insights and further developed the concepts of resilience,
adaptation, and transformation to describe social-ecological system
behavior. Furthermore, this literature describes systems that do not
change, even when such change is desirable, as being in a trapped state.
However, relatively little research has explored why such systems are
trapped and how to free them.

In this talk, Mr. Neff summarizes recent research to resolve how to
identify, evaluate, and free a system caught in a trapped state, using
water management in the small island developing state of Grenada as a case
study. Nomenclature to quantify and describe traps is provided and a
framework is presented to assess transformability of a given system based
on the 3-phase process of transformation described in the social-ecological
systems literature. When applied empirically, this framework enables a
quantifiable assessment of transformability and illuminates points of
failure of transformation, which Mr. Neff defines as the cause of a given
trap. Once identified, policy entrepreneurs can devise specific strategies
to address the points of failure, advance transformation, and break free of
a trap. In the Grenadian water management case, the point of failure of
transformation is an inability to seize windows of opportunity to pass key
legislation which would provide legitimacy to integrating management of the
water sector. Policy entrepreneurs and networks of system actors actively
advocated for policy reforms, but were limited in scope. Critical failures
in seizing windows of opportunity are explained within the three streams
model of policy change. Mr. Neff concludes the talk by exploring options
for policy entrepreneurs and networks to seize future windows of
opportunity.

      Upcoming Events Speaker: Dr. Sheldon Solomon, Professor of Psychology
at Skidmore College, NY
Title: Afraid of the Dark: Humanity at the Crossroads
Date: Friday, October 4th, 2013, 3-5 PM
Location: Mathematics 3, room 2134
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  *Copyright © WICI 2013 All rights reserved.*

The Waterloo Institute for Complexity and Innovation is a research hub that
promotes the rigorous transdisciplinary study of innovation within—and the
resilient and beneficial transformation of—the complex adaptive systems
essential to human well-being.

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-- 
Megan Bean, MEd
Administrative Assistant, Waterloo Institute for Complexity and
Innovation<http://www.wici.ca>
University of Waterloo, Environment 3, Rm. 4273
200 University Ave. West
Waterloo, ON N2L 3G1
(519) 888-4567 ext. 31813
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