Dr Anna Birney

CEO, School of System Change

Background

I am passionate about designing and facilitating programmes for individuals, organizations and systems to learn and find innovative approaches to change. This requires an experimental approach which drives cutting edge system change practice.

I am currently driving the School of System Change which is curating and offer access to the best learning experiences, tools and case studies so as to build a global learning community, for accomplished and aspiring change agents. Continuing the work of the System Innovation Lab exploring the edges of system change practice - looking at how we might accelerate the next wave or the fundamental paradigm system change required.

My own journey has meant I have worked on a wider range of system change strategies and projects. I started facilitating multi stakeholder processes around the WSSD in 2002. At WWF-UK I ran a six year system change education programme, including a project with the NCSL to set up 56 communities of practice to knit innovative practices together. This experience supported me in developing practical strategic system change frameworks for WWF-UK and Forum but also for organisations such as Unilever, Nike, Shell Foundation, Caluste Gulbenkian Foundation, Innovate UK and the NHS; whilst coaching on a wide number of projects and initiatives across sectors and systems.
I have a postgraduate diploma at Bath University in action research and a PhD at Lancaster on ‘How might people and organisations, who seek a sustainable future, cultivate systemic change?’.

My dream project?

Exploring how we can shift our values and perspectives so we see ourselves as embedded in the continuum of life. I am interested in meeting interesting people who are up for finding ways to create transformative change and addresses questions of life, preferably over good food and wine.

Anna is the author of Cultivating System Change: a Practitioner's Companion. If you would like a discounted copy please get in touch with her directly.

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Latest

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Pathways to transforming unethical recruitment practices

If a strong foundation of trust among diverse stakeholders is established in a complex system, how can this be built on to create lasting, effective change? In the last of a three-part blog series, we explore possible pathways to an effective changemaking system in responsible recruitment, and opportunities for value chain actors to act in transformative ways.
The women of Madre Tierra are fighting for farmworker justice. Here’s how.

Hormis, Elvira and Claudia are three of over two million farmworkers working to grow and harvest crops for the over 331 million people who live in the US. For Farmworker Awareness Week, Christina Daniels-Freeman, Programs Advisor at Forum for the Future, sat down with these three fierce advocates to learn about their stories, groundbreaking potential of the upcoming Farm Bill, and the role we all must play in fighting for farmworker justice.
FeedBack Nashville

FeedBack Nashville is a systems transformation initiative that brings community members together to imagine and build a just and sustainable food future for our city and its residents.

Josh Weinberg

Associate Director of Finance
Libby Lyon

Senior Change Designer
Rowan Kinchin

Network Operations Director at the School of System Change
Glen Jones-Smythe

Interim Global Financial Controller
Duncan Williams

Principal - Food and Regenerative Agriculture
Ayesha Khosla

Senior Sustainability Strategist
Aditi Khurana

Senior Fundraising and Development Manager
Siva Balasubramanian

Principal Sustainability Strategist
Lisa Ivanow

Administrative Assistant
Nitin Kesar

Senior Communications and Marketing Manager

The Five Capitals - a framework for sustainability

The Five Capitals Model provides a basis for understanding sustainability in terms of the economic concept of wealth creation or ‘capital’. Any organisation will use five types of capital to deliver its products or services. A sustainable organisation will maintain and where possible enhance these stocks of capital assets, rather than deplete or degrade them.
Jobs

We are a growing organisation and we are regularly on the look out for new recruits to join our teams around the world.
For a just and regenerative future

Forum for the Future is a leading international sustainability organisation running out of offices in the UK, US, India and Singapore.
Growing our Future US

Working together to accelerate the transition to a just and regenerative agriculture system in the United States.
Sustainability and system change

Climate change, malnutrition, inequality, poverty, ecological degradation. The global challenges we face are so urgent and tricky that we need a solution to match their scale and complexity. This is where system change comes in. We use systems thinking to understand the web of interrelations that create complex problems, anticipate unintended consequences, and identify how and where to take action to meet the SDG goals.
What is Net Positive?

We reinvent strategies for a 1.5°C world. Our Net Positive approach helps business put back more into society and environment than it takes out. Unilever’s pioneering commitment to eliminate fossil fuels from its operations and directly support the generation of more renewable energy than they consume was driven behind the scenes by Forum.
Transport or Mobility: What’s the difference and why does it matter?

Recently, the word transportation is being replaced with mobility. Why is this happening? What’s the difference between them? And why should we care about this change?
Become a system change agent

Learn more about upcoming system change programmes and express your interest.
6 ways Unilever has achieved success through sustainability - and how your business can too

A year ago this week, Unilever launched its Sustainable Living Plan (USLP), one of the most ambitious strategies that a global company has ever embarked on. Pioneering a bold new business model, the company pledged to double in size at the same time as halving its environmental footprint.
Transforming the Purpose of Business

More and more businesses like are setting ambitious targets for positive impact on their operations, value chains and wider operating context. For more than 25 years we have partnered with businesses to navigate this complexity and design impactful solutions that deliver the deeper change that’s needed. Why not get in touch to find out more?