Visualizing Nepal’s electricity supply resilience from a whole-systems perspective: A participatory approach

AbstractUK academic researchers have been vying for a ‘whole’ systems perspective on energy issues for more than a decade. This research programme has exposed challenges in complex systems thinking and in the dialogue between academic disciplines and epistemic cultures that is needed to mediate the social, technological, and environmental impacts of energy systems. This chapter examines these efforts starting from existing studies that include detailed reports on experiences of interdisciplinary research. By extending these findings via interviews and ethnographic research, this chapter pays particular attention to the role of interdisciplinary computer modelling that was expected to represent complex energy transitions and energy infrastructures of the future. In doing so, this chapter demonstrates how interdisciplinarity has actually worked in three exemplary areas: the diversity of computer models that seek to represent everyday energy demand and how they simplify both demand and other disciplines in so doing; the need for collaborative, cross-cutting research in foresight of future energy scenarios; and how modelling scholars strongly envision their models should become ‘useful’ for imagined policy and planning stakeholders.

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Estimating the EROI of whole systems for 100% renewable electricity supply capable of dealing with intermittency

Energy Policy ◽

10.1016/j.enpol.2018.04.045 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 119 ◽

pp. 648-653 ◽

Cited By ~ 6

Author(s):

Ted Trainer

Keyword(s):

Electricity Supply ◽

Renewable Electricity ◽

Whole Systems

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Gazing with Soft Eyes

Integrative Nursing ◽

10.1093/med/9780199860739.003.0042 ◽

2014 ◽

pp. 541-544 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Mary Koithan

Keyword(s):

Systems Perspective ◽

Whole Person ◽

Meaning And Purpose ◽

The One ◽

Participatory Engagement ◽

Whole Systems

Chapter 42 provides an overview of integrative nursing by one of the authors, including how practising nursing from a whole-person/whole-systems perspective begins with the recognition that the one we seek to help is a whole person who lives in a particular context (social, relational, temporal, geographical, cultural). She also demonstrates that integrative nurses find meaning and purpose in relationship. She suggests that what makes this resource stand out is that it lays out guidelines to how our commitment to provide opportunities for healing within a co-created relationship is based on mutuality and participatory engagement.

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Health and homelessness ‐ a whole‐systems perspective

Housing Care and Support ◽

10.1108/14608790200800003 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 11 (1) ◽

pp. 7-10 ◽

Cited By ~ 4

Author(s):

Sue Read

Keyword(s):

Systems Perspective ◽

Whole Systems

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Prioritising pain in policy making: The need for a whole systems perspective

Health Policy ◽

10.1016/j.healthpol.2008.03.008 ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 88 (2-3) ◽

pp. 166-175 ◽

Cited By ~ 37

Author(s):

Ceri Phillips ◽

Chris Main ◽

Rhiannon Buck ◽

Mansel Aylward ◽

Gwenllian Wynne-Jones ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Policy Making ◽

Systems Perspective ◽

Whole Systems

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Considering the Other Half of the Gut Microbiome: Bacteriophages

mSystems ◽

10.1128/msystems.00102-19 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 (3) ◽

Author(s):

Corinne F. Maurice

Keyword(s):

Targeted Drug Delivery ◽

Bacterial Communities ◽

Temporal Dynamics ◽

Future Research ◽

Human Gut ◽

Systems Perspective ◽

Ecological Concepts ◽

Complementary Techniques ◽

Microbial Systems ◽

Whole Systems

ABSTRACT Bacteriophages, viruses specific to bacteria, regulate bacterial communities in all known microbial systems. My research aims to determine how they interact with the trillions of bacteria found in the human gut. To do this, I apply a whole-systems perspective on both communities, considering bacteriophage replication cycles, bacterial and bacteriophage diversity, temporal dynamics, interactions, and responses to perturbations. Building upon ecological concepts and an array of independent and complementary techniques, I study the human gut from a microbial perspective. In contrast with bacteria, working with bacteriophage communities comes with many significant challenges, starting with the limited experimental toolkit and curated databases. Yet an increasing number of studies are pushing these scientific boundaries every day. In the human gut, future research that includes bacteriophages will lead to many exciting and warranted research avenues. From phage therapy and immunization to targeted drug delivery, the sky is the limit in my opinion.

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From complex social interventions to interventions in complex social systems: Future directions and unresolved questions for intervention development and evaluation

Evaluation ◽

10.1177/1356389018803219 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 25 (1) ◽

pp. 23-45 ◽

Cited By ~ 51

Author(s):

Graham F. Moore ◽

Rhiannon E. Evans ◽

Jemma Hawkins ◽

Hannah Littlecott ◽

G.J. Melendez-Torres ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Complex Systems ◽

Social Systems ◽

Complex Interventions ◽

Intervention Development ◽

Social Interventions ◽

Systems Perspective ◽

Relevant Evidence ◽

Intervention Science ◽

Whole Systems

Complex systems approaches to social intervention research are increasingly advocated. However, there have been few attempts to consider how models of intervention science, such as the UK’s Medical Research Council complex interventions framework, might be reframed through a complex systems lens. This article identifies some key areas in which this framework might be reconceptualized, and a number of priority areas where further development is needed if alignment with a systems perspective is to be achieved. We argue that a complex systems perspective broadens the parameters of ‘relevant’ evidence and theory for intervention development, before discussing challenges in defining feasibility in dynamic terms. We argue that whole systems evaluations may be neither attainable, nor necessary; acknowledgment of complexity does not mean that evaluations must be complex, or investigate all facets of complexity. However, a systems lens may add value to evaluation design through guiding identification of key uncertainties, and informing decisions such as timings of follow-up assessments.

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