肆客足球

?The UNESCO Chair in Complex Systems and Transformative African Futures has been awarded to two Stellenbosch 肆客足球 (SU) researchers, Associate Professor Rika Preiser and Tanja Hichert, who are based at the Centre for Sustainability Transitions (CST). The Chair, awarded for a four-year period (March 2022 to 2026), forms part of the global UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs Programme. This programme involves a network of over 850 institutions in 117 countries, and promotes international inter-university cooperation and networking to enhance institutional capacities through knowledge-sharing and collaborative work.

The UNESCO Chair in Complex Systems and Transformative African Futures will draw on the expertise of the two co-chairholders to integrate in-depth knowledge of complex systems, combined with the conceptual and practical applications of futures studies. Preiser specialises in theories of complex systems, while Hichert, who is a research fellow at CTS, specialises in the practice of futures studies and foresight.

The Chair will develop capacities for studying and exploring the nature of complex interdependent social-ecological systems, how change comes about in such systems, and how to create the conditions for ecologically sustainable and socially just futures.

As part of UNESCO's Global Futures Literacy Network, the chair will develop and apply the theories and practices of 'using-the-future' by conducting research and facilitating multi-stakeholder engagements that address the urgent need to develop more inclusive, critical, and participatory processes for convening and training students, researchers, and decision-makers of looking to, thinking, and caring about the future. 

The Chair will develop a regional hub where African experts can engage and share insights on how to better respond to the global sustainability challenges that we face in the world today.

A unique characteristic of this Chair is that it promotes a transdisciplinary approach by integrating theory and practice by means of appointing co-chairs; one specialised in theories of complex systems, the other in practice of futures and foresight.

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