Research teams use systems thinking to tackle greatest challenges

Dr Peter De Cruz and his team from Austin Health

As part of a veski masterclass, research teams from Austin Health, Biomedical Research Victoria, Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and Monash University converged at the Queen Victoria Women’s Centre on Tuesday, 27 October 2015 to explore the relationships between the elements of a ‘system’ in their team and organisation. 

Dr Seanna Davidson and Dr Philip Wallis from the Monash Sustainability Institute designed the veski masterclass in systems thinking for research teams wanting to explore and better understand the systemic issues that influence and direct the context in which they work, and use the approach to strategically plan and implement strategies to improve their team’s greatest challenges. 

The masterclass led the participants to discuss the challenges affecting their team, with a common theme of challenges created by resources including staff management and funding. They then used the systems thinking approach to strategically plan effective actions to improve this. 

Tools used in the masterclass included conversation mapping, problem formulation and multiple cause diagramming, they then used these tools to interrogate different options for systems transformation. 

The masterclass was offered to veski connection members as part of veski’s program to deliver opportunities for skills, training and education.