Systems Change Lab: Closing the loop for 2025

Celebrating progress (and the people behind it)

We started the day by celebrating and sharing the outcomes of our Task and Finish Group work streams. The session provided space for each group to outline progress, highlight successes, and reflect on the barriers they encountered, as well as plan their next steps. Although each group explored a different area, the overlap between them became increasingly visible as the Lab evolved. 

Here’s a quick snapshot of what each group shared:

Policy and standards

The group explored how professional registration, regulation and standards influence who gets to practise engineering – and how these frameworks can either support or constrain innovation. Early findings from their survey will help shape engagement with PEIs ahead of the 2026 Engineering Council standards review.

Education and upskilling

This group focused on how to scale up existing UK initiatives that support teachers and open up engineering learning for people of all ages. They’re now gathering case studies and planning a workshop to bring key stakeholders together, aligned with the 2025 Industrial Strategy.

Roles and values

Looking at how engineers’ identities and values shape the profession, this group is now developing an online repository to connect initiatives, a communications concept to challenge stereotypes, and exploring an engineering oath to spark conversations about ethics and responsibility. Their survey, investigating how engineers understand their roles, what drives them, and how engineering is perceived across society, is still open – take part here.

Stories of change

This group put a spotlight on the people behind systems change. They’re now developing a video-podcast series, hosted by Dr Shini Somara, to champion engineers as changemakers and shift traditional narratives around what engineering looks like. If you’d like to help bring this work to life, the group is currently seeking partners to sponsor this project – get in touch at [email protected].

Click here to view or download the poster summary from each group.

Exploring what our community could become

With the Lab winding down for 2025, we found ourselves looking ahead – imagining how our work and community could take its next steps. In a dynamic workshop led by Oliver Broadbent, participants stepped inside a prototype version of what the Systems Change Lab community could become. 

Rather than talking about community structures, we modelled them – testing how different roles might interact, from general members at the heart of the community to self-organising action groups and a light-touch steering group.

This simulation surfaced barriers, opportunities, and critical questions about governance, shared purpose and participation. Many participants reflected on where they saw themselves contributing to this emerging ecosystem.

“There are many things we can do in a better way by connecting like-minded people.”

– Participant in the 2025 Systems Change Lab

In conversation: Mark Enzer OBE and Georgia Elliott-Smith

Our closing session brought together Mark Enzer OBE, a leading systems thinking advocate and former Chief Technical Officer for Mott MacDonald, and Georgia Elliott-Smith, Chair of Engineers Without Borders UK, for an energising conversation about how systems thinking is key to creating long-term change in the engineering sector.

In a short keynote, Mark explored the what, why and how of systems change. He proposed a central problem statement: we have connected systems and connected challenges, however, we’ve got siloed organisations facing this using siloed information.

To address this, Mark’s clear call to action was to shift from project-based thinking, focused on outputs, toward systems thinking, focussed on outcomes. And this is not something any one of us can do alone – it requires genuine collaboration across disciplines and organisations.

Over the past two years Mark has worked with the Built Environment Connective – ‘a system of systems thinkers advancing joined-up thinking in the built environment’ – to develop recommendations for governments and industry to unlock the value of systems thinking. For our Lab, these insights offer both inspiration and practical guidance, showing how the approaches we’ve explored together – collaboration, outcome-focused thinking, and cross-system connections – can be applied to drive change.

Following his keynote, Mark was joined by Georgia to explore how we can activate communities, incentivise change, and find (and pull) the right levers to transform systems at scale. 

Watch the full conversation:

Be part of what happens next

This final Lab strengthened relationships, deepened our systems-thinking skills, and reminded us that change doesn’t always require waiting – often, the levers for progress are already within reach. 

As the Lab enters a brief hibernation, we’re reflecting on the conversations, insights, and energy from these sessions to shape what comes next. Whatever form it takes, the next phase will build on the momentum generated by this incredible community.

Here’s how you can stay involved:

Share your feedback

If you’ve been part of the Lab’s journey, we’d love to hear your reflections. Your insights will help us understand the Lab’s impact and will also support research by Abby Booker, a postgraduate Humanitarian Engineering student at the University of Warwick, who is exploring how the Lab’s design and methodologies create the conditions for systemic change. 

>> Join a focus group on Monday 8 December, 12:00-13:00 or Wednesday 10 December, 12:00-13:00.

Reflect on your practice

As the Lab transitions to its next phase, we’re encouraging the community to pause, reflect and take stock. Our new self-assessment tool, linked to the Competency Compass, gives you a personal snapshot of your strengths and growth areas in globally responsible engineering. You’ll receive a visual portrait along with tailored prompts to guide your ongoing development. Create your Global Responsibility Portrait.

Stay connected

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A huge thank you to the organisations that have enabled the 2025 Systems Change Lab to happen, including our supporting partner Ramboll. Thank you also to the IOM3 for generously offering to host our final event free of charge. If your organisation is interested in supporting the Systems Change Lab in its next iteration, please get in touch at [email protected].