All of the sessions… have been of value in supporting our collective learning on systems thinking and implementing this into broader policy work
Deputy Head of the Research Collaboration Advice Team
Research security policy challenge
The Department for Science, Innovation and Technology's mission is to accelerate innovation, investment, and productivity through world-class science, and to ensure that new and existing technologies are safely developed and deployed across the UK. This includes responsibility for research security, which looks to mitigate national and economic security impacts arising from the misuse or exploitation of UK research. Its challenge was to develop a shared understanding of research security, and how the complex set of regulatory and non-regulatory measures interact.
While DSIT understood that the policy space was complex, it wanted a better understanding of the nature of that complexity. “We understood the individual components within the policy area,” says the Deputy Head of DSIT’s Research Security Policy Team. “How they fit together, particularly understanding interdependencies and identifying tensions within the system, was the real issue challenge.”
Why systems thinking?
Systems thinking can help. Just as engineers use systems thinking to manage complex and evolving situations, policymakers can utilise similar tools to better understand the landscape they’re working in, allowing them to tackle policy challenges with a firm footing.
DSIT approached the Royal Academy of Engineering, which created a bespoke support programme for the department. The programme helped them achieve two things: it helped them develop a systems thinking mindset, and it made their policy challenge more manageable.
Implementation of the programme
The Academy’s bespoke programme for DSIT comprised two main parts: two bespoke workshops, and a series of systems coaching sessions.
Systems workshops
During the workshops, the team used systems tools including causal loop diagrams – visual maps illustrating all the interdependencies within a system – to build a common understanding of research security sector landscape.
The workshops were chaired by Academy Fellows with extensive experience in both the private and public sectors: Professor Bryn C Hughes FREng, who has held senior S&T roles in defence and security in government, and Andrew Rutter FREng, a chemical engineer and technology consultant.
Key stakeholders from the sector, including researchers, academic institutions, regulators, and different government departments, were also present letting them ask crucial questions as they came to mind, and bounce around ideas.
“It was structured in a really effective way, and everyone could contribute,” says a senior policy official within DSIT’s Research Collaboration Advice Team. “It was a very positive environment.”
Coaching
In the group coaching sessions, the Academy continued to support the DSIT officials in building a systems mindset by training them in systems tools, refining their thinking, and encouraging them to reflect on the output from the causal loop mapping and other activities in the workshops.
“The ability to co-create the content with the Academy to ensure utility to the group has been very helpful and has increased the impact of the individual sessions.”
Results
How has the bespoke support programme changed the DSIT policy team’s perspectives on the policy challenge? “It has given me a much greater ability to understand the interdependencies and knock-on implications of individual activities,” says a DSIT policy official.
As every policy team will have different goals and different challenges, the Academy works to make its bespoke support as collaborative as possible. “It was not just us commissioning the Academy to do a piece of work that then produces an output,” says a RCAT Senior Adviser. “It was a really collaborative exercise, which I think has been why it's been so powerful for us.”
The biggest short-term impact has been being able to go out and articulate the approach with stakeholders.
It has directly fed into our longer term look at how we address policy in this space.
Shortly after the programme, DSIT delivered a presentation about systems thinking to the Higher Education Export Control Association, a national network of research security professionals. A DSIT policy official confirmed that the presentation landed really well, where “we were comfortable to talk through what systems thinking is, which approaches are useful, and how we’ve used it. We would not have been able to do that if we hadn’t gone through the process of coaching.”
Developing policy does not happen overnight, but the bespoke support provided by the Academy is already influencing DSIT’s work. “The biggest short-term impact has been being able to go out and articulate the approach with stakeholders,” says a DSIT policy official. “It has directly fed into our longer-term look at how we address policy in this space.”
Contact us to discuss systems thinking
To find out more about how the Academy can help you integrate systems thinking into your organisation, contact us at [email protected]
Browse more case studies
Impact case studies
The impact case studies highlights the impact of the Academy's systems workshops and the benefits of engineering system…
A whole systems approach to managing the energy transition
Advising the National Energy Systems Operator on systems thinking for energy
Reducing emissions from Scotland’s domestic buildings
Testing potential public responses to heat in buildings regulations with systems approaches
Building a network of system thinkers in the Policy Profession
A partnership with the Policy Profession to support civil servants' systems thinking journey.