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Leonardo da Vinci believed that everything is connected. The idea is often repeated throughout history but is rarely applied in any depth at our teaching institutions or in the business world. A group of leading academics at the 精品无码国产自产 are using their knowledge and experience to change that 鈥� and help save the planet in the process.

精品无码国产自产 is widely referred to as 'Britain鈥檚 Ocean City'. It is home to Marine Research 精品无码国产自产 鈥� a partnership of its three major science institutions: the Marine Biological Association; 精品无码国产自产 Marine Laboratory; and the 精品无码国产自产 Marine Institute, one of the foremost centres of learning in the world for marine research and related environmental issues.

鈥溇肺蘼牍圆� has been a focus for marine science for over 100 years,鈥� says Richard Thompson, Professor of Marine Biology. 鈥淲e have in the southwest of England a confluence of species from southern waters and northern waters that provides immense biodiversity. Our environmental research here has led us to the realisation that events on land are inextricably linked with those in the sea.鈥�

Professor Thompson is also Director of the Marine Institute and with Professor Will Blake, Director of the Sustainable Earth Institute, he is using Systems Thinking to shape an approach to environmental research. This takes interconnectedness to another level. It鈥檚 a school of critical thought that sees a problem as part of a much larger tapestry in which multiple elements are shaping and reshaping outcomes. For that reason, problems should be treated holistically rather than in isolation.

Systems Thinking is particularly useful for applying to environmental issues because it recognises the dynamic relationship between interacting factors and the value of transdisciplinary collaboration.

鈥淲e鈥檝e become Systems Thinkers here,鈥� explains Blake, 鈥渂ecause we鈥檙e trying to solve complex problems, we have learnt through experience to practise it in order to find real solutions. These sorts of problems can鈥檛 be solved in a linear way or by one discipline or from a single perspective.鈥�

Thompson鈥檚 research has made him the world鈥檚 leading expert on microplastics; he coined the term in a ground-breaking paper, Lost at Sea, in 2004. Since then he has broadened understanding of the impacts of plastics and put forward potential solutions to the problem.

鈥淚 spotted a proliferation of these tiny, granular pieces of plastic on beaches that had broken down from much bigger items 20 years ago, but it has taken this long to reach a consensus on the issue,鈥� he says. 鈥淣ow, policymakers and industry leaders are jumping at solutions. But we have to understand the wider circularity of the story. If people act independently without appreciating the complexity of the problem, there will be unintended consequences. I had one supermarket approach me with the idea of using bio-sourced plastics 鈥� until I pointed out that this alone wouldn鈥檛 stop the vast wastage.鈥�

For Blake, the realisation that a Systems Thinking approach was fundamental came through his work on soil erosion in East Africa. There, soil is washed off the land into rivers, resulting in sedimentation and pollution. Erosion affects not just food production (millions of hectares of arable land and grazing areas are lost) but also water quality and even energy because of disruption to hydropower plants.

鈥淲e came up with all the evidence but when people asked 鈥楬ow are we going to change this?鈥� I realised I鈥檇 been looking at it through a single lens,鈥� he says. 鈥淥nly when I began working with social scientists did I appreciate the true complexity of the problem. For example, 鈥榦vergrazing鈥� was not a cause but a symptom of wider socioeconomic and cultural pressures.

鈥淯sing a process of co-design brought us tangible solutions and Systems Thinking became a very intuitive process.鈥�

Systems Thinking is also influencing policy in Britain at governmental level, and we are now seeing positions such as the Head of Systems in Defra 鈥� incidentally taken by a former student of Thompson鈥檚. Blake and Thompson are keen to encourage collaboration and instil in students an appreciation that will inform their field work.

鈥淚t鈥檚 about changing the way students approach complex problems,鈥� says Blake. 鈥淎 key aspect for me is the interdisciplinarity,鈥� adds Thompson. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not dumbing down specialisms, it鈥檚 about connecting them. Our faculties have areas of disciplinary excellence and the institutes are a melting pot for those ideas and knowledge.鈥�

Building on substantial funding success in environmental research, several more applications that are out for projects will bring together academics from across the University, including medicine and the arts, to tackle a range of challenges.

The Song of the Sea project, launching during COP26, attempts to explain the complexity of cause and effect on the ocean through a piece of data-inspired music created by experts at the University. It takes the notes of the old sea shanty Drunken Sailor and distorts them using digital signals from the February 2014 storm that battered the South West.

鈥淲e are illustrating climate change as a large storm event. Choosing Drunken Sailor is a way of suggesting humanity鈥檚 overindulgence,鈥� says Thompson. 鈥淚 see the arts as absolutely fundamental to how we visualise and explain problems to an audience who wouldn鈥檛 engage with a scientific paper. It鈥檚 another example of the way that Systems Thinking is needed. For me, it is a key direction of travel, not just for the University but for the planet.鈥�