“Today has allowed me to challenge my own understanding, hear other voices and see the possibilities for change.”
So said a participant at our third Systems Change Lab event in Glasgow, where 40 people gathered last Thursday in the stunning setting of Adelaide Place. The quote powerfully captures some of the the core aims of the Lab:
- Challenging our own lens and biases;
- Opening our minds to the views and ideas of those with backgrounds and perspectives different from our own; and
- As a result, glimpsing fragments of inspiration that can trigger transformative actions, impacting people and planet for the better.
Since March 2025, the Systems Change Lab has created many of these extended moments of collaboration and blue-sky thinking, during which participants from across the country, including academics, students, PEI representatives, practising engineers and more have gathered to inspire and to be inspired, and to earnestly explore the question: how can the education and practice of engineering be transformed to be more globally responsible?
Following on from the discover phase in March and then define in Bristol, Thursday 3 July saw us into the third phase of the Lab journey: develop. This is where we start engaging in creative ideation and focused solution development. Adopting a similar layout to previous Lab events, the day comprised three main elements:
1. Building on Task and Finish Group work
The morning provided space for our Task and Finish groups to profit from a much needed dose of Glaswegian insight and input on their workflows. The Task and Finish groups are our smaller, more focused working groups meeting regularly to work in parallel to the Lab, with a focus on the following themes.
Policy and standards
The Policy and standards group explores the perception and reception of professional registration, regulation and standards – how they may potentially constrain who can practise engineering and how, as well as how they shape incentives for practice, research and innovation. The group is currently working to better understand the policy and standards landscape to identify whether certain misconceptions exist and how they might be addressed.
Education and upskilling
The Education and upskilling group is focused on bringing together fragmented efforts across academia, industry, and learners to create a more coherent, lifelong approach to engineering education – one that prioritises communication skills, harnesses educational technology, and builds on existing frameworks rather than starting from scratch. The group is working toward a stakeholder-informed workshop to chart a practical path toward equipping engineers with the skills needed for 2030 and beyond.
Roles and values
The Roles and values group is working to rearticulate what it means to be an engineer today by spotlighting engineering’s real-world impact, diverse motivations and entry points – particularly around community, change, and global responsibility. They are currently exploring a storytelling value-based outreach that, amongst other things, aims to challenge outdated stereotypes and engage those resistant to change, and to build a foundation for a unifying campaign that resonates beyond the usual audiences.
Stories of change
The Stories of change group is developing a storytelling campaign that challenges dominant narratives about engineering by centring systems change, human impact, and diverse lived experiences. Building a digital story bank, the aim is to shift public perceptions of what engineering is, who it’s for, and what it’s ultimately in service of – people and planet.
2. Creative systems thinking through ideation
In the afternoon we were joined by 1851 Fellow Oliver Broadbent, who is founder of Constructivist and author of newly published, ‘The Pattern Book for Regenerative Design.’
Oil led us in an exercise on ‘divergent thinking’, during which we explored the design brief for the Systems Change Lab, pulling it apart and teasing out all the potential relevant information, questions and ideas associated with it. Oli called this ‘juicing the brief’.
3. Creative systems thinking through solution development
Finally, we were introduced to the idea of ‘convergence’. Through a method known as ‘affinity clustering’, we gathered with others who had similar ideas to our own. Each group spent time developing the ins and outs of their final output idea, using ‘ambition loops’ as the framework. For this, groups mapped out three key stakeholder groups that must be bought in for any systems change to occur. These are:
“I’m feeling very inspired to start, even at the smallest scale.”
“I am inspired to look at challenges through the lens of Systems Change as part of my problem solving approach now.”
It was fantastic to witness such creative and innovative ideas, ranging from a skills gap bridging initiative, to a nationally televised advertising campaign, and community hubs as an evolution of the Lab. More importantly, it was clear that many were encouraged by the process of working with minds that work differently to their own. One participant noted:
”The Systems Change Lab has enabled me to bridge different perspectives.”
What’s next?
Glasgow marked the beginning of the develop phase of the Lab. Be sure to get Tuesday 9 September in your diaries to join us for the continuation of this key section of the Lab’s journey. We want your voice and input there! Register here.
In the meantime, if you are part of a Task and Finish group, the next all-group online event will be taking place on Tuesday 12 August from 10am till 12pm. Register here.
A reminder of the full roadmap for the 2025 Lab is below.
Be part of the change
While many organisations are grappling with the issues facing engineering behind closed doors, the Lab offers something different: a shared, open space to work through complexity together – across the sector, disciplines and generations.
Whether you’re an educator, student, practitioner, or policymaker, your voice matters in shaping the future of engineering. If you’re passionate about building a better engineering system, we would love for you to a be part of the change.
Register here to be kept in the loop with upcoming events, developments and outcomes from the Lab. For questions, visit our FAQs page or reach out to [email protected].
