Celebrating systems thinking through student projects
Taking a look at the Kumu maps created by students during the 2023 Map the System contest
Every year, Oxford University hosts the Map the System contest. It’s a global learning program and social innovation competition that equips students to use systems thinking to tackle social and environmental challenges.
For quite a few years already, Kumu has been the preferred tool to use during this contest. We are honored to be able to work with bright students from all over the world that are tackling very diverse, and certainly very “wicked” problems. As the university puts it:
Systemic global problems won’t be solved by a lone genius. To confront the complex societal issues young people have inherited, we must invest in a new kind of leader. Systems leaders catalyse social change by empowering others and prioritise a deep understanding of the unjust systems they are trying to dismantle. It is crucial that systems leadership education reaches as many young people as possible, so that future systems leaders have the diversity of perspectives needed to tackle the complex global problems of tomorrow.
In this blog, we’d like to highlight and celebrate the projects coming out of this year’s competition.
Please find the incredible work of the top 3 winners of Map the System 2023 below!
1. No Longer Daughters: Child Marriage in Indonesia
Team Bebas | Wesleyan University: Valensia Tandeas, Podchara Boonbhati & Sida Chu
This research project aims to gain a deeper understanding of the factors driving child marriage in Indonesia. The team found that child marriage, though illegal, remains a persistent problem in Indonesia, due to the interplay of cultural and religious beliefs, low educational attainment, economic disparity, and inadequate legal frameworks.
Team Bebas interviewed researchers, NGO workers, and four child marriage survivors to learn about the lived experiences of being child brides across generations. Subsequently, the team critically dissected the problem of child marriage using various systems thinking tools, including causal loop diagrams, an iceberg model, a stakeholders map, and a power & interest map.
For further information, visit their Research Summary and Systems Maps here.
2. The Kafala System in Lebanon
Team Phoenix | American University of Beirut: Joe Bou Saba, Saad Melhem, Elishammah Nyaba & Ali Rahwanji
Team Phoenix from the American University of Beirut explored the impacts and root causes surrounding the rights of migrant workers in Lebanon.
They specifically looked at the Kafala system, where domestic migrant workers are brought to Lebanon under misleading information to supposedly do simple housework, but end up in abusive situations without laws or regulations to stop the Kafeel (sponsor). Their research investigates and evaluates the structures that foster the operation of this system, exploring how these structures play into the systematic violence and abuse experienced by domestic workers.
For more information, take a look at their Research Summary and
Systems Maps.
3a. SCHOOLSICK: Educational Support for Children with Chronic Diseases in Nashville, Tennessee
Team Capybara | Vanderbilt University: Lan Yao, Xingzhi Cheng, Ai Jing
Team Capybara from Vanderbilt University analyzed the system around educational support available for children living with chronic diseases in Nashville, Tennessee.
Combining a literature review and semi-structured interviews with system thinking models, they investigated the relationship between different stakeholders, determined some perpetuating factors, and identified potential root causes of funding shortage at different levels. They also located negatively reinforcing causal loops in four subsystems: patient-centered care, school districts, educational research, and mission-driven organizations. Interlocking with each other, four causal loops form into one large systemic vicious circle that reinforces the funding shortage status quo.
Based on their findings, they proposed a communication model between service providers for hospitalized students, suggesting a potential transformation in the services provided by school districts, healthcare, research, and mission-driven organizations.
For further information, visit their Research Summary and Systems Maps.
3b. Optimal Aging: Create an Elderly-friendly Environment in Taiwan
National Taiwan University: Yu-Chun Lin, Pei-Ting Fu, Chia-Wei Lin
National Taiwan University’s project ‘Optimal Aging’ focuses on creating an age-friendly environment in Taiwan, where the dependency ratio of the aging population and those in the labor force is predicted to grow from 25% in 2022 to 70% in 2050.
“Aging is just another word for living.”
An iceberg model approach helped them identify some of the mental models and systemic structures leading to the patterns of suboptimal aging in Taiwan. The team’s system map centers around a core of three dimensions, and their systemic loops, as they affect each other within the experience of aging: physical health, social participation, and mental health. Some of these loops are structural (e.g. an unsafe environment disincentivizing the elderly to participate in social events), while others are mental models (e.g. traditional perceptions of mental illness deterring them from proper treatment).
The students then framed these systemic loops as levers for change with two sets of solutions: some that are implementable in short-term and have immediate effects, and a second stage requiring more stakeholders’ involvement (see their interactive theory of change Kumu project here).
For more information, visit their Research Summary and Systems Maps.
Kumu was created to help people wade through complexity, and we think these students did an incredible job embracing the complexity of the social challenges they investigated and visualized. You can see the teams present their work here. Reach out if you’d like to learn how to use Kumu for your own change-making goals in this very complex world!
Interested in the Map the System Competition?
You, too, can be a part of Map the System 2024! Find out how below:
University Partnerships
Map the System has been running since 2016, in partnership with over 130 Universities. Want to bring Map the System to your campus from September 2024? Learn how to run your own competition and register your institution as a global Map the System partner:
How to join as a Map the System partner
Take Part as a Student
Students spend several months applying systems thinking to dive deep into a social or environmental topic they are passionate about, creating visual systems maps to articulate their findings in a way that people can meaningfully understand, share, and learn from.
Find out more about participating as a student
